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H  I  S  T  O  R  Y 


OF   THE 


UNITED    STATES, 


FROM 

THE  EARLIEST  PERIOD 


TO   Till] 


ADMINISTRATION  OF  PRESIDENT  JOHNSON. 


BY 


J.  A.  SPENCER,  D.  D., 

MEMBER    OF    THE    AUKKICAN     KTHXOLOGICAL    SOCIETY    AUTHOR    OF    "EGYPT    AN'I)    THE    HOLY 

'LAND,"   ETC.,   ETC.,    ETC'. 


illustrate  toitlj  btcjblij  Jfhibfjcb  «§tecl  <£ngrafainjg3, 

IXCLUDIXO 

HISTORICAL  SCENES  AND  FULL-LENGTH  PORTRAITS, 

FROM    ORIGINAL    ]'  A  I  X  T  1  N  G  S    Jl  Y   LEUTZE,    WEIR,    POWELL,    C  11  A  P  P  F.  I.     AM.S'7', 
AM)    OTHSR    AMERICA*'  ARTISTS. 


VOLUME  I. 

Stfo  fork: 

JOHNSON,  FRY  AND  COMPANY" 

27    BEE  KM  AX    STREET. 


Entered,  recording  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  tlie  year  one  thousnnd  eigTu  hundred  and  sixty-dx, 

UT  JOHNSON,    F  K,  Y    A    COMPANY, 
It  the  Clerk's  Office  ot  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  Southern  District  cf  New  Y  ,rk. 


.Add  to  Lib. 

&v  r^ 

Gli-T 


v.l 


TO    THt 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 


IN  MEMORY 


OF 


fCoftjj  sgruuipUiS  aatl 

OH 

THE   MEN    WHO    FOUNDED    THE    UNION, 
ONE   AND   FOREVER, 

THE 

INDISSOLUBLE    BOND    OF    OUR   FREEDOM    AND    INDEPENDENCE, 

&bis  Jpistorn 

IS   RESPECTFULLY   AND    EARNESTLY 
DEDICATED. 


M80956; 


PREFACE. 


IN  presenting  to  the  public  a  new  HISTORY  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES,  the 
indulgence  of  the  reader  is  asked  to  a  few  preliminary  remarks  respecting 
the  object  had  in  view  in  these  volumes,  and  the  claims  whtch  they  have 
upon  the  attention  of  the  American  people. 

The  one  great  object  ever  before  me  has  been  to  present  a  truthful, 
impartial,  and  readable  narrative  of  the  origin,  rise,  and  progress  of  that 
mighty  Republic  which,  extending  from  ocean  to  ocean,  is  destined  to  assume 
yet  higher  rank,  and  to  wield  larger  and  larger  influence  among  the  family 
of  nations.  Having  an  entire  and  thorough  conviction  of  the  superintending 
care  and  control  of  Divine  Providence  in  our  country's  affairs  ;  having  no 
ends  to  gain  but  those  of  truth  and  right ;  having  no  theories  to  establish,  no 
partisan  views  or  wishes  to  gratify  ;  I  have  honestly  endeavored  to  ascertain 
what  the  truth  is,  and  then  to  set  it  forth  as  clearly,  and  as  fully,  as  was 
possible  within  the  limits  to  which  I  was  restricted.  Mere  speculations  on 
historic  points,  I  have  avoided  ;  attempts  to  penetrate  or  pronounce  upon 
the  motives  of  men  and  nations,  beyond  what  may  be  regarded  as  plainly 
and  fairly  deducible  from  their  acts,  I  have  deemed  of  little  value  ;  and,  in 
general,  I  have  preferred  to  leave  the  intelligent  reader  to  draw  his  own  con 
clusion  from  an  impartial  presentation  of  the  facts  and  circumstances  of  the 
case.  At  the  same  time,  in  cases  of  difficulty  or  doubt,  I  have  carefully  and 
conscientiously  sought  to  compare  and  sift  conflicting  accounts,  and  to  arrive 
at  that  which  seemed  to  be  the  nearest  approximation  to  the  truth  which, 
probably,  under  the  circumstances,  can  now  be  attained. 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.    I. 


BOOK    FIRST. 

FROM  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA  TO  THE  ACCESSION  OF  WILLIAM  III. 


CHAPTER    I. 

1492-1609. 
EARLY    VOYAGES   AND    DISCOVERIES. 

Voyages  of  the  Northmen — Vinland 1 

Knowledge  on  this  subject  in  the  15th  century  ....       2 

Christopher  Columbus 2 

His  early  life,  genius,  labors,  etc 2,  8 

Discovery  of  America — Origin  of  the  name 3,  4 

Amerigo  Vespucci 4 

Sebastian  Cabot's  voyages 5 

Cortereal — Ponce  de  Leon — Verrazzani 6,  7 

Cartier — Robertval — De  Soto 8 

Ribault — Melendez — De  Gourgues 9,  10 

Champlain — Canada — Acadie 11,  12 

CHAPTER    II. 

1492-1600. 
THE   ABORIGINES    OF   AMERICA. 

Origin  of  the  name  INDIANS 13 

American  antiquities 14 

General  characteristics  of  the  Indian  tribes 14 

Manners,  customs,  government,  laws,  etc 14,  15 

War  the  Indian's  great  business 15 

Females — Numbers — Dialects 16 

Intimation  of  prophecy 17 

European  views  of  the  rights  of  Indians 18 

Origin  of  difficulties 19 

CHAPTER    III. 

1553-1606. 
ATTEMPTS    AT   COLONIZATION    BY    THE   ENGLISH. 

Willoughby  and  Chancellor 20 

Reign  of  Elizabeth 21 

Frobbher  and  Drake 22 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  . .   22,  23 

Roanoke  and  VIRGINIA 25,  26 

Lane,  the  governor — Harriot 26,  27 

Abandonment  of  the  colony 27 


New  one  sent  out — White,  the  governor 28 

Virginia  Dare — Colony  lost  entirely 28,  29 

Assignment  of  Raleigh's  patent 29 

Gosnold — James  L 29,  30 

London  company — Plymouth  company 30 

Charter — Instructions  issued  by  the  king 31,  32 

CHAPTER    IV. 

1606-1625. 
COLONIZATION    OF   VIRGINIA. 

The  London  company 32 

Members  of  the  council  and  emigrants 83 

Jamestown — John  Smith 83 

His  eminent  value  to  the  colony 33 

Sickness — Smith  taken  prisoner 24 

Saved  by  Pocahontas 34 

Smith  explores  the  Chesapeake 35 

New  charter — Lord  Delaware  captain-general 35 

Smith  returns  to  England 36 

The  "  starving-time" — Return  of  better  days 37,  38 

Enlargement  of  grant 39 

Marriage  of  Pocahontas 39 

Argall — Yeardley 40 

First  colonial  assembly 4] 

Introduction  of  Negro  slavery 4] 

Massacre  by  the  Indians — Retaliation 42 

Dissolution  of  the  company 43 

Death  of  King  James 43 

CHAPTER    V. 

1609-1640. 
SETTLEMENT    OF   NEW   NETHERLAND. 

Henry  Hudson 44 

Discovers  and  explores  the  Hudson  River 44 

His  conduct  to  the  natives — His  fate 44  45 

Dutch  East  India  company 45 

New  Netherland — The  Walloons 45 

Purchase  of  Manhattan  Island 46 


Vlll 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


Plan  of  colonization 46 

The  patroons  and  their  purchases 46 

Difficulties  of  this  plan 47 

llinuit  recalled — Van  Twiller,  governor 47 

Disputes  with  the  English 47 

The  Swedes  on  the  Delaware 48 

CHAPTER    VI. 
1620-1631. 

FOUNDATION    OF   NEW   ENGLAND. 

Interest  and  importance  of  New  England  history. .  49 

The  Reformation — Its  effects 49 

The  English  Reformation 60 

Progress  under  Henry  VIII.,  Mary,  etc 50 

James  I. — His  education,  etc 50 

The  Puritans  and  the  Church  of  England 51 

Internal  dissensions J£ 

The  Brownists  or  Independents 52 

Elders  Brewster  and  Robinson 52 

Emigration  to  Holland — Removal  to  Leyden. ...  52,  53 

Reasons  for  leaving  Holland 53 

Determination  to  colonize  in  America 54 

Stormy  voyage — Reach  the  coast 54,  55 

Social  compact — Plymouth  rock 55,  56 

Sufferings  during  the  winter 56 

Plantation  at  Wissagusset 57 

State  of  the  colony  in  1630 59 

Massachusetts  Bay  colony 59 

Charter  and  company  transferred  to  New  England.  60 

Foundation  of  Boston — Severe  trials 62 

Theocratic  basis  of  the  government 68 

Position  and  influence  of  the  ministers 63 

CHAPTER    VII. 

1631-1640. 
PROGRESS   OF  THE    NEW    ENGLAND    COLONIES. 

Emigration  in  1632 — Arrivals  in  1633 64 

Rights  of  the  freemen  under  the  charter 64 

Dudley,  governor 64 

Progress  of  the  colony  under  Winthrop 64 

Royal  colonial  commission 65 

Alarm  in  Massachusetts — Measures  taken 65 

Case  of  Roger  Williams — Flight  to  Providence  . .   65,  66 

Mrs.  Hutchinson's  heresies  and  fate 67,  68 

Settlements  in  Connecticut 68 

Origin  and  result  of  the  Pequod  war 69-72 

Religious  dissensions — Effects 73 

Coast  of  Maine — Nova  Scotia  and  Canada 73 

Estimated  cost  of  colonization  up  to  1 640 74 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

1625-1660. 
PROGRESS    OF   VIRGINIA. 

Wyatt,  governor  of  Virginia — Yeardley — West  ...  74 

Harvey,  governor — Revisal  of  the  laws 74,  75 

Jealousy  of  Maryland 76 


Complaints  against  Harvey 75 

Harvey's  administration — Wyatt's  administration  . .  76 

Sir  William  Berkeley — His  character 76 

Second  revisal  of  laws — Colony  firm  in  loyalty. ...  76 

War  with  the  Indians 75 

Independence  of  Virginia 75 

Authority  of  Parliament  enforced 77 

Sir  William  Berkeley,  re-elected 77 

Principles  of  popular  liberty 78 

CHAPTER    IX. 

1632-1660. 
ORIGIN    AND   PROGRESS    OF   MARYLAND. 

Peculiarity  in  the  origin  of  Maryland 78 

Calvert,  Lord  Baltimore — His  character 78 

The  Charter — Boundary  of  the  colony 79 

Opposition  of  Olayborne 79 

Leonard  Calvert  in  command  of  the  expedition  ....  80 

First  settlers — St.  Mary's 80 

Lord  Baltimore's  expenditure  on  the  colony 80 

First  colonial  assembly — Its  acts — Disputes 81 

Second  and  third  assemblies — Statutes 81 

Lord  Baltimore's  policy — Act  of  toleration 81 

Maryland  claimed  by  different  parties 82 

Fendal's  troubles  and  the  result 82 

Population  and  growth  of  Maryland  in  1660 83 

CHAPTER    X. 

1638-1685. 
NEW    NETHERLAND  :    NEW   TORK    AND    NEW   JERSEY. 

Kieft,  governor  of  New  Netherland 88 

Encroachments  of  Connecticut  people 83 

Indian  War — Bitter  fruits 84,  85 

Petrus  Stuyvesant,  governor 85 

Kieft'a  death — Stuyvesant's  efforts 85,  86 

Convention  of  delegates — Dissolved 87 

Reduction  of  the  Swedes — Dispute  with  Maryland.  87 

New  England  restiveness 87 

New  Amsterdam  surrenders  to  the  English 88 

NEW  YORK — Albany — Banks  of  the  Delaware 89 

NEW  JERSEY — Origin — Carteret,  governor 90 

Dutch  attack — Attempt  on  Connecticut 90,  91 

The  Quakers — The  Presbyterians  from  Scotland  ...  91 

Chartered  liberties  granted  to  New  York 92 

CHAPTER    XI. 

1640-1660. 
NEW    ENGLAND    DURING    THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

Condition  of  the  New  England  colonies  in  1640. ...  93 

Fundamental?,  or  Body  of  Liberties 94 

Annexation  of  New  Hampshire. . . , 94 

Articles  of  Confederation  of  United  Colonies  ......  94 

Religions  troubles  in  Massachusetts 90 

Gorton's  heresy — Death  of  Miantonimoh 96 

Sympathy  with  the  Parliament  party 97 

Roger  Williams's  voyage  to  England 97 


CONTENTS   OF  VOL.   I. 


Obtains  a  charter — Providence  plantations. .....  97 

Intolerant  spirit  of  the  theocratic  party 98 

First  execution  for  witchcraft 98 

Death  of  Winthrop — Persecution  of  Quakers 98,  99 

The  magistrates'  defence — End  of  the  troubles.   101,  102 

Eliot  and  his  labors 102 

Progress  in  morals,  social  life,  etc 103 

CHAPTER    XII. 

1660-1688. 
NEW   ENGLAND   UNDER   CHARLES   II.    AND   JAMES   II. 

Restoration  of  Charles  II. 104 

Course  adopted  by  the  colonists 105 

Internal  difficulties  and  trials 105 

Consequences  of  the  restoration  in  England 106 

Massachusetts'  commission — The  king's  reply 106 

Charter  of  Connecticut — Its  principles 107 

Charter  of  Rhode  Island — Toleration 107 

Massachusetts'  reply  to  the  king's  requisitions 108 

Commissioners  sent  out — Their  course 108 

The  king's  summons — His  probable  designs 109 

King  Philip's  war — Its  fearful  details 110 

New  Hampshire 112 

Massachusetts'  charter  declared  to  be  forfeited 112 

Andros  appointed  governor — Connecticut 113 

Saving  of  the  charter  of  Connecticut 113 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

1660-1688. 
VIRGINIA    AND   MARYLAND. 

Changes  in  Virginia 114 

Causes  of  these  changes — Classes  of  settlers 114 

Aristocracy — Navigation  act 115 

Intolerance  of  the  ruling  party 115 

Culpepper  and  Arlington — Charter  solicited 116 

Causes  which  led  to  Bacon's  rebellion Til 6 

Course  pursued  by  Berkeley 117 

Progress  of  the  contest — Success  of  Bacon 117 

Bacon's  sudden  death — "  Bacon's  laws" 117 

Subsequent  suffering  of  the  colony 119 

Affairs  in  Maryland — General  prosperity 120 

Efforts  in  favor  of  church  establishment 120 

Insurrection  stirred  up  by  Fendal 121 

Writ  issued  against  the  charter 121 

Downfall  of  James  II. . ,  .121 


CHAPTER    XIV. 
1630-1690. 

ORIGIN   AND   PROGRESS    OK   THE   C'AROLINAS. 

PA  • 

Heath's  patent  in  1 630 — Settlements  about  1 660 .   121,122 

Measures  adopted  towards  the  settlers 122 

Albemarle — Clarendon — Second  charter 123 

The  "  Grand  Model"  of  John  Locke 124 

Spanish  intrigues — Discontents — Emigration 126 

Proprietaries  dissatisfied — Increase  in  population  . .  127 

The  buccaneers — Favored  by  the  Carolinians 1 27 

James  II.  and  the  Quo  Warranto  troubles 128 

Progress  of  North  and  South  Carolina 128 

CHAPTER    XV. 

1661-1688. 
PENN    AND   PENNSYLVANIA. 

"William  Penn — His  education,  character,  etc.  .  .129,  130 

PENNSYLVANIA — Terms  of  the  charter 130 

Course  pursued  towards  the  Indians 131 

Frame  of  government — Provisions 131 

Quit-claim  from  the  Duke  of  York 132 

Penn's  voyage  to  New  York — Freemen  assembled.  132 

Code  of  laws — Boundary  question 132,  133 

Penn's  intercourse  with  the  natives 133 

Meeting  of  the  legislative  body — Its  acts 134 

Penn's  trials  and  difficulties  with  the  colonists 135 

The  result — Lower  counties  on  the  Delaware 135 

Penn  deprived  of  his  administration 135 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

1626-1689. 
FRENCH    COLONIAL   ENTERPRISE. 

New  France — Labors  of  Franciscans  and  Jesuits,. . .  136 

Their  explorations — Charlevoix's  account 137 

War  with  the  Five  Nations — A  truce 138 

Company  of  New  France  given  up 138 

Marquette  and  the  Mississippi 139 

La  Salle — Enterprise  and  activity 139 

LOUISIANA — La  Salle  goes  to  France — Expedition. . .  140 

Descends  the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth 140 

Fatal  termination — Affairs  in  Canada 141 

De  la  Barre — Denonville 141,  142 

War  with  the  Five  Nations 142 

French  attempts  at  colonization — English  attempts.  143 

Accession  of  William  III. — War  in  consequence. . .  143 


BOOK    SECOND. 

FROM  THE   ACCESSION  OF  WILLIAM   III.   TO  THE   DECLARATION    OF   INDEPENDENCE. 


CHAPTER    I. 

1689-1697. 
KEW  ENGLAND    AND    NEW  YORK  :    FIRST   INTERCOLONIAL    WAR. 

Accession  of  William  III. — Its  effects 147 

War  with  France — Intercolonial  War 148 


Course  pursued  by  Massachusetts,  Virginia,  Mary 
land,  and  New  York 146 

"  Protestant  Revolution"  in  Maryland 150 

Jacob  Leisler — His  career  and  fate 160 

Opening  of  the  War — Attack  on  Dover 151 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


Frontenac — Destruction  of  Schenectady 152 

War  party  sent  against  Salmon  Falls 153 

Attempt  at  conquest  of  Canada  unsuccessful 154 

New  charter  of  Massachusetts 156 

Witchcraft  delusion — Development  and  progress. . .  156 
Salem  the  principal  scene — Strange  history  . . .  157-160 
Oj'ster  River — PemaquidFort — Haverhill  disasters.  161 
Brave  Mrs.  Dustin — Peace  of  Ryswick 161,  162 

CHAPTER    II. 

1696-1748. 
NEW  ENGLAND:  SECOND  AND  THIRD  INTERCOLONIAL  WARS. 

Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations f  . . . .  163 

Lord  Bellamont  governor  of  Massachusetts 163 

His  address  and  popularity — Piracy 164 

Bellamont's  death — Dudley  his  successor 165 

Second  intercolonial  war — Preparations 166 

Indians  under  De  Rouville 166 

Deerfield  and  Haverhill  massacres 166 

Expedition  against  Canada  unsuccessful 167 

Combined  attack  projected — Failure  and  loss 167 

Results  of  the  peace  of  Utrecht 168 

Parties  on  the  subject  of  currency  and  commerce  . .  168 

Shute,  governor — Disputes — Piracy  suppressed  ....  169 

Small-pox  and  inoculation 170 

Burnet,  governor — Dispute  about  the  salary 170 

Belcher  successor  of  Burnet 171 

Troubles  on  the  frontier — Retaliation 171 

The  New  England  Courant — Franklin 172 

Belcher  displaced — Shirley,  governor 172 

Boundary  disputes  settled 172 

Third  intercolonial  war 173 

Capture  of  Louisburg — Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  174, 175 

CHAPTER    III. 

1691-1748. 
NEW    YORK NEW   JERSEY PENNSYLVANIA. 

Party  feuds  in  New  York 176 

Fletcher's  administration — Schuyler  and  the  Indians  176 

Fletcher's  efforts  in  Pennsylvania  and  Connecticut  .  178 

Barbarities  of  Indian  warfare 179 

Lord  Bellamont,  governor — His  administration. . . .  179 

Lord  Cornbury  appointed — His  character  and  acts.  180 

Lovelace,  governor — His  death 181 

Expedition  again  Canada 181 

Hunter,  governor — German  emigrants 181 

Burnet  appointed 182 

Cosby,  governor — Trial  of  Zenger    182 

Gov.  Clarke's  disputes  with  the  Assembly 183 

The  "  Negro  plot"  in  New  York 184 

Clinton,  governor 184 

Efforts  against  the  French  and  Indians 184 

Affairs  of  New  Jersey  at  this  date 185 

Trouble  in  Pennsylvania 185 

William  Penn  in  America 186 

"  Charter  of  privileges" — Penn's  return  to  England .  186 

Evans  removed — Gookin,  governor 187 


Sir  William  Keith  his  successor 187 

Governor  Thomas  and  the  controversy  between  the 

proprietaries  and  the  Assembly 188 

CHAPTER    IV. 

1690-1748. 
VIRGINIA MARYLAND THE   CAROUNAS. 

Nicholson,  governor — Dr.  Blair,  commissary 188 

Administration  of  Andros 189 

Founding  of  Williamsburg 190 

Powers  of  the  governor — Spirit  of  liberty 190 

Office  of  governor  made  a  sinecure 191 

Spotswood's  administration — His  acts 191 

Gouch's  administration — Progress  of  Virginia 192 

Affairs  in  Maryland — Dr.  Bray,  commissary 192 

"  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  For 
eign  Parts" 192 

Persecution  of  the  Roman  Catholics 192 

Lord  Baltimore  becomes  a  Protestant 192 

Question  of  boundary — Progress  of  Maryland 193 

Affairs  in  Carolina :  Feuds,  etc 193 

"  Grand  Model"  abrogated — Archdale's  labors 193 

Introduction  of  rice 194 

Dissenters  disfranchised 194 

Church  of  England  established  by  law 194 

Mr.  Bancroft  on  North  Carolina 194 

War  with  the  Tuscaroras 194 

Attack  on  St.  Augustine  unsuccessful 195 

Paper  money  issued — War  with  the  Indians. ...   195,196 

Craven  victorious — Heavy  loss  and  debt 197 

Revolution  in  South  Carolina 197 

Proprietaries  sell  out  to  the  king , , .  „  197 

Treaty  of  peace  and  amity  with  the  Cherokees. . . .  197 

Advance  of  the  colony  despite  its  trials 198 

CHAPTER    V. 

1732-1754. 
FOUNDING    AND   PROGRESS    OF   GEORGIA. 

Origin  of  Georgia 199 

James  Edward  Oglethorpe:  Character,  etc 199 

Object  of  the  colony — Error  of  Judgment 199 

Oglethorpe  at  the  head  of  the  colony 200 

Founding  of  Savannah 200 

Emigration  of  Lutherans  from  Salzburg 200 

Moravians — Jews — Highlanders 200,  201 

Charles  and  John  Wesley  in  Georgia 201 

Slavery  desired — When  introduced 201 

Spanish  claims  to  the  territory 201 

Oglethorpe's  plans — Resists  Spanish  pretensions  . . .   202 

Attack  on  St.  Augustine  unsuccessful 202 

Spanish  hostile  expedition 202 

Oglethorpe's  trial — Charges  against  him 202 

His  complete  vindication 202 

Whitfield  in  America — The  great  revival 202,  203 

Changes — Slow  progress  of  Georgia 205 

Expensiveness  of  the  colony 205 

Royal  governor  appointed — The  people  hospitable.   206 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.   I. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

1698-1753. 

COLONIZATION   AND   PROGRESS   OF   LOUISIANA. 

MM 

D'Iberville — Colonists  led  by  him 206 

Enters  the  Mississippi 207 

English  jealousy — Outwitted  by  Bienville 207 

D'Iberville  ascends  the  Mississippi — Losses 207 

D'lberville's  death — Settlement  at  Mobile 208 

Colonists  kept  alive  by  help  from  abroad 208 

Grant  to  Crozat — Cadillac,  governor 208 

Depressed  state  of  the  colony 208 

The  Mississippi  company — John  Law  and  his  career  209 

Colonists  sent  out — New  Orleans  founded 210 

War  with  Spain — Population  in  1727 210,  211 

Massacre  by  the  Natchez  Indians — Retaliation 211 

War  with  the  Chickasaws 211 

Difficult  to  subdue  this  brave  tribe 211 

Bienville  leaves  Louisiana 211 

Administration  of  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil 211 

Kerlerec  appointed  governor 211 

CHAPTER   VII. 

1700-1750. 
GENERAL   CONDITION    OF   THE   COLONIES. 

A  brief  survey  of  the  condition  of  the  colonies 212 

Population  of  Virginia 212 

State  of  manners,  etc — Trade  and  commerce 213 

Report  to  the  Board  of  Trade 213 

Complaints  by  the  Virginians  of  the  royal  officers  .  213 

Population  of  Massachusetts — Trade,  etc 213 

Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island 214 

Progress  of  New  Hampshire 214 

Earthquake  in  New  England 215 

Religion  in  New  England 215 

Improvement  in  manners — Mode  of  living — Fashions  215 

The  colonists  and  the  subject  of  independence 216 

Progress  of  Maryland — Trade,  etc.,  of  the  Carolinas  217 

New  York — Tea — Contraband  trade 218 

Manners,  etc.,  in  New  York — Albany  and  its  people  218 

New  Jersey — Pennsylvania — Its  trade,  etc 219 

Final  struggle  approaching  between  the  English  and 

French  in  America 219 

CHAPTER    VIII 

1749-1755. 
THE    FOURTH    INTERCOLONIAL    WAR. 

Designs  and  claims  of  the  French 220 

Counter  claims  of  the  English 220 

The  Ohio  company — Its  policy  and  efforts 221 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON — Early  life  and  training 222 

His  father's  death — The  mother  of  Washington  222,  223 

Method,  orderly  habUs,  activity,  spirit,  etc 223 

Becomes  a  surveyor — Military  appointment 224 

His  brother  Lawrence's  death 224 

Bent  to  visit  the  French  post  on  the  Ohio 225 

His  ad  venturous  mission — Return — His  journal.  225,  226 
A  {(pointed  lieutenant-colonel 226 


The  affair  with  Jumonville — True  account 227 

Obliged  to  capitulate  at  Fort  Necessity 228 

Thanks  of  the  Assembly  to  Washington 228 

Plan  of  union  and  confederation 228 

Levy  of  troops  called  for — Dieskau's  force    229 

111  usage  of  colonial  officers 229 

Braddock  commander-in-chief 229 

Braddock's  character  and  conduct 230 

Franklin's  conversation  with  Braddock 230 

Washington  serves  as  aid-de-camp 231 

His  urgent  advice  rejected  by  Braddock 231 

Troops  routed  by  Indians  and  French  in  ambush. . .  232 

Death  of  Braddock 232 

Washington's  preservation — Panic  of  the  army  ....  232 

CHAPTER    IX. 

1755-1763. 
PROGRESS   AND   CONCLUSION   OF   THE    WAR. 

Expedition  up  the  Bay  of  Fundy 233 

Acadie  and  the  French  neutrals — Expatriation  ....  234 

Shirley's  expedition  against  Oswego 234 

William  Johnson — Influence  with  the  Indians 235 

Battle  of  Lake  George — Dieskau's  death 235,  236 

Fort  William  Henry — Indians  on  the  frontier 236 

Washington  made  colonel — Devotion  to  duty  .   236,  237 

War  declared  by  England 237 

London,  commander-in-chief — Bradstreet 237 

Montcalm  takes  Oswego — His  activity 237 

Loudon  against  Louisburg — Too  late 238 

Montcalm  assaults  Fort  William  Henry 238 

Slaughter  of  the  troops  after  surrender 239 

Montcalm's  share  in  this  act  of  treachery 239 

Complaints  and  discontent  general 239 

Pitt  prime  minister — His  energetic  course 239 

Attack  on  Louisburg — This  stronghold  taken 240 

Abercrombie  against  Ticonderoga 240 

Lord  Howe's  death 240 

Abercrombie  repulsed — Superseded  by  Amherst ...   241 

Conquest  of  Canada  determined  upon 242 

Amherst's  expedition — Capture  of  Ticonderoga. . . .  242 

Prideaux  and  Johnson  take  Niagara 243 

Attack  on  Quebec — Wolfe'sand  Montcalm's  death  243, 244 

Canada  subdued — Views  of  French  statesmen 246 

Washington's  marriage 246  • 

Member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses 246 

Great  exultation  in  the  colonies  at  success 247 

Cherokee  war  at  the  south — Conclusion 247 

Otis  against  "  writs  of  assistance" 249 

English  against  the  French  in  the  West  Indies 250 

The  English  masters  on  the  continent 250 

The  conspiracy  of  Poiitiac — End  of  the  contest. . . .  250 

CHAPTER    X. 

1764-1766. 
ENGLAND    BEGINS   THE   CONTENT. 

Progress  of  settlements — Advance  in  wealth,  etc.  251,  252 
Recuperative  energies  of  the  colonies 263 


Xll 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


Causes  which  led  to  the  contest 254 

M.  Guizot's  philosophical  remarks 254 

Policy  of  the  English  government  in  having  ten 

thousand  troops  in  America 256 

Walpole's  view  as  to  taxation — Grenville's  plan  . . .   257 

How  the  news  was  received  in  America 258 

Resolution  of  the  General  Court  in  Massachusetts  . .   258 

Instructions  to  the  agent  in  England 259 

Otis's  bold  pamphlet — Action  in  the  other  colonies.   259 
Reasons  for  delaying  the  passage  of  the  stamp  act. .  259 

View  of  the  colonists  on  this  point 259 

Excitement  in  regard  to  it;  but  urged  forward  ....  260 

Ignorance  in  England  of  America 260 

Taxation  and  representation  inseparable 260 

Townshend's  inquiry — Barrels  eloquent  rejoinder  . .   261 
Franklin's  letter  to  Thompson — The  "  quartering  act"  262 

Patrick  Henry  and  the  Virginia  Assembly 262 

Henry's  speech — COLONIAL  CONGRESS  recommended  .  263 

Popular  outbreaks  in  various  places 264 

Assembling  of  the  Colonial  Congress  in  New  York  .   265 

No  stamps  allowed  to  be  used 265,  266 

Riot  in  New  York — Stamp  act  treated  with  contempt  266 

"  Sons  of  Liberty" — Parliament  of  1766 267 

Pitt's  great  speech — Grenville's  speech — Pitt's  reply  268 
Franklin's  evidence  before  the  House  of  Commons. .  270 

Repeal  of  the  stamp  act  carried 271 

Camden's  views — The  king's  assent 272 

General  joy  in  England  at  this  result 272 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  X. 

I.  Franklin's  letter  to  "W.  Alexander,  Esq 273 

IL  The  Stamp  Act 274-278 

CHAPTER    XI. 

1766-1774. 
PROGRESS   OF   THE   CONTEST. 

Repeal  of  the  stamp  act  acceptable 279 

Conway's  circular  letter 279 

Governor  Bernard's  offensive  course 280 

Change  of  feeling  in  America 280 

Eminent  statesmen  and  orators  of  the  day 281 

Pendleton,  Bland,  Wythe,  R.  H.  Lee,  Jefferson 281 

S.  Adams,  Hancock,  Gushing,  Bowdoin,  Quincy,  etc  282 

Rutledge,  Gadsden,  Laurens,  Ramsay 285 

Change  in  the  English  ministry 285 

Townshend  urged  on  by  Grenville  to  tax  America  .  286 
M.  Guizot's  statements — "Letters  of  a  Farmer"  286,  287 

Petition  to  the  king 287 

Bernard's  course — Spirit  of  the  Assembly 288,  289 

Case  of  the  sloop  Liberty 289 

Excitement  in  Boston  caused  by  impressment 290 

Arrival  of  the  troops — Indignation  of  the  Bostonians  291 

The  general  court  refuse  to  act 292 

Progress  of  the  dispute  with  Bernard 292 

Course  pursued  by  other  colonies 293 

Right  of  taxation  still  maintained 293 

Vacillating  course  of  the  English  ministry 294 

Reconciliation  hardly  possible 294 

The  "  Boston  massacre" — Trial  of  Preston,  etc.   295,  296 


Noble  course  of  Quincy  and  Adams 296 

Lord  North's  proposal — Pownall's  views 297 

Salaries  of  the  governor  and  judges  to  be  paid  by 

the  crown 297 

Very  offensive  to  the  people — Case  of  the  Gaspe  297, 298 

Hutchinson's  letters — Excitement 298 

Franklin's  share  in  the  matter 298 

Action  in  Virginia — A  crisis  at  hand 299 

Determination  that  the  tea  should  not  be  landed. . .   299 

The  famous  "  Boston  Tea  Party" 801 

Insurrection  in  North  Carolina 303 

Daniel  Boone — Emigration  to  America 304,  305 

Ohio  Indians — Speech  of  Logan 307 

Religious  sects  and  influence — Colleges 307,  308 

CHAPTER    XII. 

1774-1775. 
AMERICA   RESISTS    AGGRESSION THE   CRISIS. 

Collision  inevitable 308 

Ignorance  in  England  of  the  spirit  and  energy  of 

Americans — The  king's  message 309 

The  Boston  port  bill — Boston  to  be  punished 310 

Bill  for  regulating  government  of  Massachusetts  . . .   310 

Chatham's  and  Burke's  opposition 311 

Gage,  governor  of  Massachusetts 311 

Views  of  a  town  meeting  held  in  Boston 312 

Quincy's  "  Observations  on  the  Boston  Port  Bill"  . .   312 

Action  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses 31£ 

"Washington's  views  and  course 313 

A  general  congress  recommended 313 

Delegates  to  general  congress  appointed 315 

Port  of  Boston  closed  on  the  1st  of  June 316 

"  Solemn  League  and  Covenant" 316 

Other  coercive  measures  put  in  force 316 

Preparation  for  probable  collision 317 

Gage  fortifies  Boston  Neck 317 

Recent  acts  virtually  nullified 318 

Meeting  of  the  FIRST  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS 318 

Illustrious  men  among  its  members 319 

Henry's  and  Lee's  speeches — Prayers  daily 319 

The  "  Declaration  of  Colonial  Rights" 320 

Measures  resolved  upon  by  Congress 324 

Ability  of  the  papers  issued  by  Congress 325 

Preparation  for  war — Boston  at  this  time 326 

Proceedings  of  Congress  generally  approved 327 

Lord  North's  course — Silly  braggadocio 328 

The  king's  feelings — Chatham's  eloquent  speech  . . .   329 

Course  pursued  by  Parliament 333 

North's  conciliatory  plan — Burke's  and  Hartley's  333, 334 

Gage's  course — His  force  in  Boston 384 

His  rash  procedure — Battle  of  Lexington 335 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XII. 

L  An  Association  signed  by  eighty-nine  mem 
bers  of  the  late  House  of  Burgesses  ....  337 
II.  Address  to  the  People  of  Great  Britain 388 

IIL  Address  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Anglo-Amer 
ican  Colonies 342 

IV.  Petition  to  the  King 848 


CONTENTS   OF  VOL.   I. 


xni 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

1775. 

THE   LAST   TEAR   OF   COLONIAL   DEPENDENCE. 

MM 

Spirit  roused  by  the  battle  of  Lexington 352 

Troops  raised — Boston  besieged 853 

Ethan  Allen  and  Green  Mountain  Boys 853 

Ticonderoga  and  Crown  Point  taken 354 

Second  Continental  Congress — Difficulties,  etc.   354,  355 
Congress  authorize  $3,000,000  in  paper  money  ....  356 

Provincial  Congress  in  New  York. 856 

Appointment  of  a  commander-in-cliief 356 

Washington  unanimously  chosen — His  acceptance. .  357 
Four  major-generals  and  eight  brigadier-generals  . .   357 

Arrival  of  reinforcements  at  Boston 358 

Gage  proposes  active  measures 358 

Breed's  Hill  fortified  by  mistake 358 

Battle  of  Bunker  Hill — Royal  troops  routed. . .   359-361 

Washington  finds  the  army  sadly  in  want 361 

Vigorous  efforts  to  organize  and  discipline  the  army  362 

Further  issue  of  paper  money  by  Congress 362 

Efforts  as  respected  the  Indians 363 

Colonel  Guy  Johnson's  course 865 

Georgia  joins  the  other  colonies 365 

TUB  THIRTEEN  UNITED  COLONIES 365 

"Washington's  trials — Necessity  of  &  regular  army  . .  365 

Correspondence  with  General  Gage 366 

Mecklenburg  Declaration  of  Independence 369 

Expedition  into  Canada — Montreal  taken 370-372 

Quebec  assaulted — Montgomery  killed 372,  373 

Americans  finally  driven  out  of  Canada 374 

Washington  confers  with  Congress  as  to  the  troops.   375 

Outrages  by  English  vessels 377 

Congress  lay  the  foundation  of  the  navy 378 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XIIL 

L  A  Declaration  setting  forth  the  causes  and  ne 
cessity  of  the  colonies  taking  up  arms  . . .   378 
IL  Second  Petition  to  the  King 381 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

1775-1776. 
THE    BIRTH-YEAR   OF  THE   REPUBLIC. 

rtat 

Course  of  Parliament  looked  to  with  anxiety 384 

Debates  in  Parliament 385 

Act  prohibiting  trade  with  colonies 385 

The  crisis  at  hand — Paine's  "Common  Sense". .   386,  387 

Norfolk  bombarded — Conolly'a  Indian  scheme 389 

State  of  feeling  in  New  York 389 

Press  of  Rivington's  Gazette  destroyed 389 

Lee  in  command  in  New  York 390 

Tory  influence  predominant 390 

Washington  and  the  "  round  jackets  and  rifle  shirts"  391 

Singular  aspect  of  affairs 392 

The  alternative,  submission  or  independence 392 

Washington  before  Boston 393 

Scarcity  of  provisions  in  the  city 393 

Dorchester  Heights  occupied 394 

Thanks  of  Congress  to  Washington 398 

Putnam  sent  on  to  New  York — Lee  goes  south  ....  399 

Washington  meets  Congress 399 

Attempt  to  seize  Washington's  person 399 

Proceedings  with  respect  to  colonial  governments. .  400 

Clinton's  attack  on  Charleston 401 

Sergeant  Jasper's  heroic  conduct 402 

Declaration  of  Independence  necessary 402 

Instructions  to  the  delegates 403 

Proceedings  and  debates  in  Congress 403 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 406 

Importance  of  the  ground  then  taken 409 

The  jubilee  day 409 

Moral  force  of  our  fathers'  position 410 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XIV. 

I.  Draft  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 

the  amendments  made  by  Congress 410 

IL  Extract  from  John  Quincy  Adams's  Fourth  of 

July  Oration,  1831 .416 


BOOK   THIRD. 


FROM  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  TO  THE  TREATY  OF  PEACE. 


CHAPTER    I. 

1776. 
EVENTS   OF   THE   WAR   DURING    1776w 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  read  to  the  army.  421 

How  received  -in  New  York 422 

Course  pursued  by  Congress 422 

Necessity  of  some  articles  of  confederation 423 

Defence  of  New  York  to  be  provided  for 423 

Arrival  of  the  British  under  the  Howes 423 

Proclamation  of  the  English  commissioners 428 

Attempt  at  communication  with  Washington 424 

American  operations  in  Canada 425 

Naval  battle  on  Lake  Champlain 426 

Carleton's  failure  to  advance  southwardly 427 

Jealousies  and  quarrels — Washington's  rebuke 428 


Howe's  force— Exploits  of  Captain  Talbot 429,  430 

The  battle  of  Long  Island,  disastrous 432 

Retreat  from  Brooklyn — Encampment  at  Harlem. .  434 

Washington's  letter  to  Congress 434 

Depression  of  the  Americans 435 

Hale's  self-sacrificing  expedition — Death  as  a  spy  . .  436 

Howe's  plan  of  operation 436 

Conduct  of  the  militia — Washington's  danger. .  436,  437 

Retreat  from  New  York — Narrow  escape 437 

Sickness  in  the  camp,  desertions,  etc 438 

Washington's  letter  to  Congress 438 

Army  to  be  reorganized 438 

Howe's  change  of  plan — Washington's  retreat 439 

Battle  of  White  Plains — Fort  Washington  lost .  440, 441 
Retreat  through  the  Jerseys  begun 441 


T1V 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


Retreat  continued — Lee's  capture 442,  443 

British  movements  in  Rhode  Island 444 

Washington's  nobleness  of  character 445 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  L 

Judge  Drayton's  remarks  on  Lord  and  General 

Howe's  Declaration 446 

CHAPTER    II. 

1776-1777. 
PROGRESS    OF  THE   WAR. 

Committee  on  foreign  relations 451 

Franklin's  letter  to  Dumas — Deane  in  Paris  . . .  451,  452 

Extent  to  which  France  was  willing  to  go 453 

Progress  of  negotiations — Position  of  Congress.  454,  455 
Washington's  letter  to  the  president  of  Congress. . .  455 

Vast  powers  conferred  on  him 456 

Action  of  Parliament. 457 

Surprise  and  capture  of  the  Hessians  at  Trenton  . . .  459 

Effects  of  this  success 460 

Washington's  retreat  and  attack  on  Princeton 461 

General  Mercer's  death — Proclamation 462,  463 

Botta's  eulogy  on  Washington 464 

Excesses  and  abominations  of  war 464 

Similar  excesses  on  the  side  of  the  Americans 466 

Sufferings  of  the  prisoners  in  New  York 466 

British  attack  on  Peekskill  and  on  Danbury 469 

General  Wooster's  death — Success  at  Sag  Harbor  . .  469 

Washington's  arrangements  to  meet  Howe 470 

Howe  attempts  to  surprise  Washington 471 

Nsw  Jersey  evacuated  by  the  British 471 

Preparations  in  New  York  for  a  naval  expedition. .  471 

Washington's  first  interview  with  Lafayette 471 

Seizure  of  General  Prescott 47  2 

British  fleet  enter  the  Chesapeake 472 

Washington  determines  to  defend  Philadelphia  ....  473 
Battle  of  the  Brandywine — Wayne  surprised. .  473-475 

Fresh  powers  conferred  on  Washington 475 

Hamilton's  activity — Philadelphia  abandoned 475 

Battle  of  Germantown 476 

British  efforts  to  clear  the  Delaware 478 

Howe's  offer  of  battle  declined — Approach  of  winter  479 
APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  II. 

L  Letter  from  General  Robertson,  and  Governor 

Livingston's  Reply 480 

II.  Charge  of  John  Jay,  Esq.,  to  the  Grand  Jury.  481 

CHAPTER    III. 

1777. 
THE   NORTHERN   CAMPAIGN    OF    1777. 

Burgoyne's  appointment — His  force 484,  485 

Burgoyne's  speech  to  the  Indians 485 

His  grandiloquent  proclamation 486 

St.  Clair  at  Ticonderoga 486 

St.  Glair's  retreat — Pursued  by  the  British. . . .  487,  488 

Severe  loss  to  the  Americans 488 

Consternation  throughout  the  colonies 489 


Schuyler's  efforts  to  retard  Burgoyne's  advance. .    .   490 

Reinforcements  sent  to  the  north 491 

Burgoyne's  slow  progress — Difficulties  in  his  way. .  491 

Sends  an  expedition  against  Bennington 492 

Zeal  of  Langdon — Stark  in  command 492.  493 

Baum  defeated — St.  Leger  on  the  Mohawk 494,  495 

Invests  Fort  Stanwix — Battle  near  Oriskany 496 

Arnold's  stratagem — British  retreat 496,  497 

Gates  appointed  over  Schuyler 498 

Gates's  correspondence  with  Burgoyne 498 

Death  of  Miss  McCrea 499 

Burgoyne  crosses  the  Hudson — Battle  atStillwater.  500 
Crisis  in  affairs — Second  battle — Sharp  contest  ....  501 

Fraser's  death — Lady  Ackland's  heroism 502 

Burgoyne  attempts  to  retreat — Capitulation. . .  503,  504 
Clinton  on  the  Hudson — Vandalism  of  Vaughan  505,  506 
Botta's  remarks — Americans  kind  to  the  foe. . .  507,  508 
Congress  refuse  to  allow  British  troops  to  embark . .  508 
APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  IIL 

L  Burgoyne's  Proclamation,  etc 509 

Poetic  version  of  the  proclamation 511 

II.  Extract  from  Gates's  and  Burgoyne's  corres 
pondence 513 

CHAPTER    IV. 

1777-1778. 
PROGRESS    OF   THE    WAR   DURING    1777-8. 

Effect  of  the  victory  of  Saratoga 515 

Need  of  confederation  and  union 516 

Circular  letter  of  Congress 5lt} 

Winter  quarters  at  Valley  Forge 518 

Intense  sufferings  of  the  army 518 

Distresses  among  the  officers 521 

Washington  advocates  the  half-pay  system 521 

Washington's  trials — His  reputation  assailed 522 

Conway's  cabal — Persons  connected  with  it 522 

Washington's  letter  to  Laurens 524 

Party  in  Congress — Board  of  War 525 

Gates's  and  Mifflin's  asseverations 525 

Conway's  confession 526 

Magnanimity  of  Washington's  conduct 526 

Course  of  the  French  ministry 526 

Effect  of  Gates's  victory  upon  the  French  court. . . .  527 

Lord  North's  conciliatory  bills 528 

Beaumarchais's  connection  with  American  affairs. .   528 

Treaty  with  France 529 

Notice  of  it  to  the  English  court 529 

Conciliatory  plans  sent  to  America 529 

Rejoicings  at  the  treaty  with  France 530 

Address  by  Congress  to  the  people 530 

Royal  commissioners  attempt  negotiation 531 

Reply  of  Congress 532 

British  foraging  expeditions 533 

Lafayette  at  Barren  Hill 533 

APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  IV. 

I.  Articles  of  Confederation 535 

IL  The  Battle  of  the  Kegs 689 


Jfirst 


FROM  THE 

DISCOYEET    OF    AMERICA 

TO  THE 

ACCESSION    OF    WILLIAM    III. 

1492-1689. 


HISTORY 


OP   THB 


UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA. 


CHAPTEE    I. 

1492—1609. 

EARLY     VOYAGES     AND      DISCOVERIES,  . 

Voyages  of  the  Northmen — Vinland  —  State  of  Knowledge  on  this  Subject  in  the  15th  century  —  Christopher 
Columbus — His  early  life,  his  genius,  labors  and  success  —  Discovery  of  America  —  Origin  of  the  namo  — 
Ajierigo  Vespucci  —  Sebastian  Cabot's  voyages  —  Cortereal — Ponce  de  Leon  —  Verrazzani  —  Cartier  —  Ro 
bertval  —  De  Soto  —  Ribault,  Melendez,  De  Gourges  —  Champlain  —  Canada,  Acadie,  New  France. 


1492. 


IT  is  not  unlikely  that  the  Western 
Continent  had  been  visited  by  some 
chance  adventurers  before  the  period 
when  it  was  made  known  to  Europe 
by  COLUMBUS.  The  researches  of 
modern  days  into  American  an 
tiquities  seem  to  have  established,  with 
tolerable  certainty,  the  fact,  that  about 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1000,  some  of 
those  daring  navigators  known 
as  the  "NORTHMEN,"  did  acciden 
tally  di/J30ver  a  part  of  the  Continent 
of  America,  which  they  named  "Vin 
land  ;"  and  it  may  be  that  repeated 
voyages  were  made,  and  even  colonies 
planted  in  the  new  world.  But  this 
discovery,  and  the  many  or  few  visits 

VOL.  I.-3 


1000. 


which  were  made  to  the  region  "Yin- 
land,"  produced  no  impression  upon  the 
old  world,  and  ere  long  everything 
connected  with  the  Northmen  and 
their  voyages  was  buried  in  oblivion; 
moreover,  as  Mr.  Wheaton  justly  ob 
serves,  "  there  is  not  the  slightest 
reason  to  believe  that  the  illustrious 
Genoese  was  acquainted  with  the  Dis 
covery  of  North  America  by  the  Nor 
mans  five  centuries  before  his  time, 
however  well  authenticated  that  fact 
now  appears  to  be  by  the  Icelandic 
records  to  which  we  have  referred."* 

*  "  History  of  the  Northmen,  or  Danes  and  Nor 
mans,  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Conquest  of 
England  by  William  of  Normandy :"  By  Henry 


EARLY   VOYAGES  AND   DISCOVERIES. 


[BK.  L 


1400. 


It  is   certain,   as   Mr.  Irving  states, 
"  that    at   the    becfmniri^    of   the    fif- 

O  o 

teenth  century,  when  the  most  intel 
ligent  rninds  were  seeking  in 
every  direction  for  the  scattered 
lights  of  geographical  knowledge,  a 
profound  ignorance  prevailed  among 
the  learned  as  to  the  western  regions 
of  the  Atlantic ;  its  vast  waters  were 
regarded  with  awe  and  wonder,  seem 
ing  to  bound  the  world  as  with  a  chaos, 
into  which  conjecture  could  not  pene 
trate,  and  enterprise  feared  to  adven 
ture."*  Few,  at  that  time,  dared,  even 
in  dreams,  to  think  of  venturing  forth 
upon  the  great  and  stormy  ocean,  and 
no  man  living  probably  ever  imagined 
the  existence  of  those  vast  regions 
which  lay  beyond  the  Atlantic.  Doubt 
less  many  a  one  thought,  and  thought 
deeply  and  earnestly,  upon  these  things, 
and  we  may  well  believe  that  many  a 
one  desired  much  to  know  what  it  was 
deemed  almost  presumption  to  suppose 
could  ever  be  known  by  mortal  man. 
But  there  was  no  man  who  determined 
resolutely,  and  with  unflinching  intre 
pidity,  which  we  at  this  day  cannot  at 
all  adequately  appreciate,  to  launch 
forth  upon  the  unknown  and  trackless 
waste  of  waters,  before  the  illustrious, 
enthusiastic,  and  noble-hearted  CHRIS 
TOPHER  COLUMBUS  arose  to  set  his  face 


Wheaton,  L.L.D.,  p.  31?  The  reader  who  wishes 
further  information  may  consult  Wheaton's  volume 
to  advantage;  also  the  " Antiquitaies  Americana" 
edited  by  Prof.  Rafn,  1837. 

*  Irving's  "  Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbus"  vol.  i., 
p.  20.  In  proof  of  the  statement  made  above,  the  au 
thor  cites  a  passage  from  Xerif  al  Edrisi,  a  distin 
guished  Arabian  writer,  which  is  a  curious  illustra 
tion  of  the  views  and  feelings  of  even  well-informed 
and  intelligent  men  of  that  day. 


1  135. 


1470. 


westward,  and  open  for  ever  after  the 
pathway  to  the  New  World. 

This  truly  great  man  was  born  in  the 
city  of  Genoa  about  the  year 
1435,  and  had  two  brothers  and 
one  sister  younger  than  himself.  His 
parents  were  poor,  but  they  were  able 
to  give  him,  at  the  University  of  Pavia, 
the  advantage  of  instruction  in  the  Latin 
language,  geometry,  cosmography,  as 
tronomy,  and  drawing.  His  progress 
was  rapid  and  successful.  Strongly 
bent  upon  becoming  a  sailor,  at  the 
early  age  of  fourteen,  he  made  his  first 
voyage  in  company  with  a  hardy  old 
sea  captain  of  the  same  name  as  his 
father.  After  many  years  of  adven 
ture  and  various  fortunes  Columbus,  in 
1470,  removed  to  Lisbon,  which 
city,  at  that  time,  owing  to  the 
ability  and  sagacity  of  Prince  Henry 
of  Portugal,  was  the  most  busy  port 
in  Europe  for  commercial  enterprise. 
He  shortly  after  was  married  to  the 
daughter  of  a  distinguished  navigator 
recently  deceased. 

The  active  and  ardent  spirit  of  Co 
lumbus  was  deeply  stirred  within  him 
by  reflection  and  study,  respecting  the 
possibility  of  reaching  the  rich  and 
attractive  East  Indies  by  sailing  di 
rectly  across  tke  Western  Ocean. 
Heretofore  the  commodities  of  the 
far  East  had  been  brought  overland 
by  a  long,  tedious  and  expensive  jour 
ney  ;  if  a  new  route  could  be  struck 
out,  especially  by  water,  and  if  the 
distance  could  be  shortened — as  was 
then  currently  believed  to  be  possible 
in  a  westerly  direction — it  was  certain 
to  bring  untold  wealth  into  the  hands 
of  that  nation  which  first  succeeded  in 


CH.  I.] 


CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS. 


opening  the  pathway  to  the  Indies. 
Columbus  was  sure  that,  as  the  earth 
was  spherical,  if  one  sailed  directly 
West  he  must  in  due  time  reach  the 
lands  of  the  East,  and  discover  also 
any  islands  or  lands  which  might  lie 
between  Europe  and  Asia.  The  more 
he  thought  of  the  matter  the  more 
sure  he  became,  and  when  once  he  had 
reached  a  conclusion,  it  was  with  him 
a  fixed  and  unalterable  conclusion. 
Henceforth  his  only  aim  was  how  to 
get  the  means  to  prove  the  truth  of 
his  convictions,  by  actually  sailing  over 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  find  the  land  of 
Cathay,  or  the  easternmost  regions  of 
Asia.  "  It  is  singular,"  as  Mr.  Irving 
remarks  in  this  connection,  "  how  much 
the  success  of  this  great  undertaking 
depended  upon  two  happy  errors,  the 
imaginary  extent  of  Asia  to  the  East, 
and  the  supposed  smallness  of  the 
earth  ;  both,  errors  of  the  most  learned 
and  profound  philosophers,  but  with 
out  which  Columbus  would  hardly 
have  ventured  upon  his  enterprise."* 

He  offered  his  services  first  to  John 
II.,  king  of  Portugal ;  but  having  been 
deceived  and  very  unhandsomely  treat 
ed  by  the  king  and  his  advisers,  and 
also  having,  some  time  before,  lost  his 
wife,  he  took  his  sqn  Diego,  and  in 

1484,  bade  adieu   to   Portugal. 

Columbus  next  repaired  to  Spain, 
and  made  his  suit  at  the  court  of  Fer 
dinand  and  Isabella.  The  weary  years 
of  waiting  upon  the  court  of  the  im 
passive,  calculating  Ferdinand,  the  cold 
ness,  the  repulses,  the  neglect,  the 
Biieers  of  contempt,  the  absurd  preju- 

*  Irving's  "  Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbus,"  vol. 
i.,  p.  53. 


14§1. 


dice  and  conceited  ignorance  which  he 
encountered,  might  well  have  worn  out 
a  man  less  resolute  and  determined 
than  was  Columbus  ;  but  he  never  fal 
tered  in  his  course ;  he  never  gave  up 
his  great  plan  and  purpose ;  and  his 
constancy  and  courage  finally  obtained 
thei^  just  reward.  "Let  those,  thenj 
who  are  disposed  to  faint  under  diffi 
culties,  in  the  prosecution  of  any  great 
and  worthy  undertaking,  remember  that 
eighteen  years  elapsed  after  the  time 
that  Columbus  conceived  his  enter 
prise,  before  he  was  enabled  to  carry 
it  into  effect ;  that  the  greater  part  of 
that  time  was  passed  in  almost  hope 
less  solicitation,  amidst  poverty,  neglect, 
and  taunting  ridicule ;  that  the  prime 
of  his  life  had  wasted  away  in  tho 
struggle,  and  that  when  his  persever 
ance  was  finally  crowned  with  success, 
he  was  about  his  fifty-sixth  year.  His 
example  should  encourage  the  enter 
prising  never  to  despair."'"" 

At  last,  through  the  generous  im 
pulses  of  the  noble-hearted  Isabella, 
and  the  substantial  seconding  of  the 
family  of  the  Pinzons,  Columbus  was 
enabled,  on  Friday,  August  3d,  1492, 
to  embark  on  his  adventurous  voyage. 
His  expedition  consisted  of  only  three 
caravels  or  small  vessels,  the  Santa 
Maria,  the  Pinta,  and  the  Nina. 
Happily  preserved  from  the  vio 
lence  of  storms,  on  Friday,  the  12th  of 
October,  1492,  the  eyes  of  Columbus 
were  gladdened  by  the  full  view  of 
land :  the  great  mystery  of  the  ocean 
lay  revealed  before  him ;  the  theory 
which  wise  and  learned  men  had  scoffed 

*  Irving's  "  Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbia?  TO- 
i.  p.  118. 


EARLY    fOYAGES  AND   DISCOVERIES. 


[Bu.  I 


at  was  now  triumphantly  established ; 
and  Columbus  had  secured  to  himself 
a  glory  as  lasting  as  the  world  itself. 
The  land  thus  reached  proved  to  be 
the  island  Guanahani — now  called  Cat 
Island,  one  of  the  Bahamas* — which 
Columbus  named  SAN  SALVADOR,  in 
token  of  his  devout  gratitude  totGod 
our  Saviour. 

Of  the  further  and  important  voyages 
and  discoveries  of  Columbus,  and 

to       of  the  varied  fortune  which  it 

1503.  ,  .       ,    ± 

was  his  lot  to  meet  with,  it 
is  not  our  present  purpose  to  speak. 
Envy,  detraction,  injustice  and  cruelty 
embittered  his  latter  days.  Deprived 
of  the  honor,  which  was  only  his  just 
due,  of  giving  his  name  to  the  newly 
discovered  world,  and  rendered  hope 
less  of  all  redress  by  the  death,  in 

1504,  of  his  patron  and  fast  friend,  the 
good  queen  Isabella,  Columbus  died  at 
Valladolid,  May  20th,  1506,  at  peace 
with  the  world,  and  sustained  in  his 
last  hours  by  the  hopes  and  consola 
tions  of   the  Christian  religion.     The 

O 

selfish  Ferdinand  did  indeed  order  a 
monument  to  his  memory,  with  the 
motto  taken  from  Columbus's  coat  of 
arms — A  CASTILLA  Y  A  LEON  NUEVO 
MUNDO  DIO  COLON  :  To  Castile  and  Leon 
Columbus  gave  a  new  world — but  it 
could  add  nothing  to  the  fame  of  Co 
lumbus;  it  simply  serves  to  stamp  the 
character  and  conduct  of  Ferdinand 
as  one  who  was  an  unfeeling,  ungene 
rous,  ungrateful  king. 

*  Mr.  George  Gibbs,  in  an  interesting  paper  read 
before  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  Oct.  6th, 
1846,  presents  several  cogent  reasons  for  believing 
that  the  Grand  Turk  Island  was  the  one  which  Co 
lumbus  first  touched  at :  his  paper  is  worth  ex 
amining. 


1499. 


The  name  AMERICA  which  was  ap 
plied  to  a  portion  of  the  Western  Con 
tinent  soon  after  its  discovery,  and 
which  has  now  become  its  unal 
terable  title,  took  its  rise  from  a 
voyage  made  in  1499*  by  Amerigo 
Vespucci,  a  distinguished  Florentine 
navigator.  Vespucci  wrote  several  let 
ters  in  Latin  to  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  one 
of  which  was  printed  in  1505,  being 
the  first  of  his  narratives  that  was  pub 
lished.  He  also  wrote  a  letter,  dated 
Lisbon,  September  4th,  1504,  addressed 
to  Rene,  duke  of  Lorraine,  in  which  it 
is  claimed  that  he  discovered  the  main 
land  in  1497.  Now,  as  he  was  a  man 
of  superior  learning  and  intelligence, 
and  as  his  name  was  thus  publicly  con 
nected  with  the  New  World  as  the  Dis 
coverer  of  the  Continent — although  he 
was  not  the  first  to  reach  Terra  Firma. 
Columbus,  and  Cabot,  and  others  hav 
ing  preceded  him — it  happened  that  a 
famous  cosmographer,  Martin  Wald- 
seemiiller,  of  Fribourg,  patronized  by 
Rene,  thought  good,  in  1507,  to  apply 
this  name  AMERICA  to  the  New  World 
The  geographical  works  of  Waldsee- 
miiller,  who  styled  himself  by  the 
Grecianized  title,  Hylacomylas,  went 
through  repeated  editions,  and  thus  the 
name  America  became  familiarized  to 
the  larger  part  of  the  civilized  world. 
And  so  must  it  remain,  though  there 

/  O 

can  hardly  be  any  one  who  can  repress 
a  sigh  of  regret  at  the  injustice  which 
has  thus  been  done  to  Columbus. 

*  Mr.  C.  E.  Lester  ("Life  and  Voyages  of  Ameri- 
cus  Vespucius"  pp.  93 — 108,)  argues  in  favor  of  an 
earlier  voyage,  said  to  have  been  made  in  1497  :  Mi 
Irving  has,  however,  successfully  controverted  this 
view,  and  his  authority  is  followed  in  the  text.  (See 
"Life  of  Columbus?  vol.  iii.,  pp.  330—315.) 


CH.  I.] 


SEBASTIAN   CABOT'S  VOYAGES. 


The  marvellous  discovery  of  a  new 
world  aroused  the  spirit  of  maritime 
enterprise  in  England,  and  to  one  of 
her  sons  indisputably  belongs  the  glory 
of  having  first  reached  the  Continent 
of  NOKTII  AMERICA.  England  had  not 
yet  assumed  that  position  of  preemi 
nence  in  naval  affairs  which  she  after 
wards  acquired.  Long  and  exhausting 
civil  wars  had  prevented  the  develop 
ment  of  that  active  energy  and  hardy 
endurance  which  have  since  character 
ized  the  natives  of  England  on  the 
ocean.  Yet  when  the  news  of  what 
Columbus  had  done  reached  England, 
Henry  VII.,  a  shrewd  and  thrifty  mon 
arch,  was  ready  at  once  to  enter  into 
competition  for  the  prizes  which  the 
new  world  might  disclose.  Accord 
ingly  he  availed  himself  with  eager 
ness  of  the  offer  of  John  Cabot,  a  Ve 
netian*  merchant,  residing  in  Bristol, 
to  fit  out  several  vessels  for  discovery 
which  might  be  made  any  where  north 
of  the  route  originally  taken  by  Co 
lumbus.  In  a  patent  obtained  from 
the  king,  and  signed  at  Westminster, 
March  5th,  1496,  Cabot  was  au 
thorized,  with  his  three  sons, 
Lewis,  Sebastian  and  Sancius,  "  to  saile 
to  all  parts,  countreys  and  seas  of  the 
East,  of  the  West,  and  of  the  North, 
under  our  banners  and  ensisrns,  with 

• 

*  Charlevoix  ("  Travels,  &c.,  in  1720,")  notices  a 
point  connected  with  early  discoveries  in  America 
well  worth  remembering  : — "  I  cannot  dispense  with 
a  passing  remark.  It  is  very  glorious  to  Italy,  that 
the  three  powers  which  now  divide  between  them  al 
most  the  whole  of  America,  owe  their  first  discove 
ries*  to  Italians — the  Spanish  to  Columbus,  a  Genoese, 
the  English  to  John  Cabot  and  his  sons,  Venetians, 
and  the  French  to  Verrazzani,  a  citizen  of  Florence." 
Robastian  Cabot,  however,  as  noted  above,  was  a  na 
tive  of  England. 


149C. 


1497. 


five  ships,  of  what  burden  or  quantitie 
soever  they  may  be,  and  as  many  mari 
ners  and  men  as  they  will  have  with 
them  in  the  said  ships,  upon  their  own 
proper  cost  and  charges,  to  seeke  out, 
discover  and  find  whatsoever  isles,  coun 
treys,  regions  or  provinces  of  the  hea 
then  and  infidels,  whatsoever  they  may 
be,  and  in  what  part  of  the  world  so 
ever  they  may  be,  which  before  this 
time  have  been  unknown  to  all  Chris 
tians."*  The  expedition  sailed  under 
the  command  of  Sebastian  Cabot,  who 
was  born  in  Bristol,  England,  a  youth 
ful  but  sagacious  mariner,  and 
on  June  24th,  149V,  they  discov 
ered  land,  which  was  a  part  of  the  coast 
of  Labrador,  and  which  they  named 
Prima  Vista :  they  saw  also  an  island, 
which  they  called  St.  John's  Island, 
from  the  day  on  which  it  was  discov 
ered  :  it  was  "  full  of  white  bears,  and 
stagges,  far  greater  than  the  English."f 
Disappointed  in  his  expectation  of  find 
ing  a  north-west  passage  to  the  land  of 
Cathay,  or  the  Indies,  with  its  marvels 
and  wonders,  as  old  Marco  Polo  tells 
them,  Cabot  returned  to  England.  He 
made  a  second  voyage  to  America,  the 
particulars  of  which  have  been  but 
scantily  preserved.  On  a  third  voyage, 
in  1517,  Hudson's  Bay  was  undoubt 
edly  entered,  and  Cabot  penetrated  to 
about  the  sixty-seventh  degree  of  north 
latitude ;  but  his  crew,  terrified  by  the 
fields  of  ice,  in  the  month  of  July, 
clamored  for  a  return,  and  Cabot  re 
luctantly  sailed  back  to  England.  This 
eminent  navigator,  having  lived  to  a 

*  Hakluyt's  " Voyages  and  Discoveries"  vol.  m., 
p.  6. 

t  See  Hay  ward's  "•Life  of  Sebastian  Cabot"  p.  8. 


EARLY   VOYAGES   AND   DISCOVERIES. 


[BK.  I. 


149§. 


1501. 


good  old  age,  after  many  and  various 
adventures,  died  in  the  city  of  London. 
It  is  an  instructive  lesson  of  the  uncer 
tainty  of  human  distinction,  that  al 
though  he  gave  a  continent  to  England, 
neither 'the  date  of  his  death  is  known, 
nor  does  the  humblest  monument  show 
where  his  remains  lie  interred. 

In  1498,  Vasco  de  Gania,  under 
the  patronage  of  Emanuel,  king 
of  Portugal,  an  able  and  enter 
prising  monarch,  doubled  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  opened  to  the  Portu 
guese  a  new  and  most  important  route 
to  the  Indies.  The  same  king  sent 
Gaspar  Cortereal  with  two  ves 
sels  to  explore  the  north-western 
ocean.  This  navigator  sailed  some 
seven  hundred  miles  along  the  shores 
of  North  America.  His  only  exploit 
was  the  kidnapping  a  number  of  the 
natives,  and  carrying  them  to  Portugal 
as  slaves. 

Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  a  hardy  old 
Spanish  warrior,  and  one  of  the  com 
panions  of  Columbus,  having  conquered 
Porto  Rico,  greatly  enriched  himself 
by  the  compulsory  labor  of  the  un 
happy  natives.  But,  growing  in  years, 
and  ill  content  to  let  go  his  grasp  upon 
the  possessions  for  which  he  had  fought 
and  toiled,  he  listened  to  the  romantic 
story  of  that  miraculous  fountain  fabled 
to  restore  to  youth  and  vigor  all  who 
bathed  in  its  waters.  He  actually  set 
out  to  find  this  wonder  of  nature. 
In  the  course  of  his  voyage,  on 
Easter  Sunday,  March  27th,  which  the 
Spaniards  call  Pascua  de  Flores,  he 
discovered  that  peninsula  which  sepa 
rates  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  from  the  At 
lantic.  It  was  the  beautiful  season  of 


1512. 


1521 


1513. 


flowers,  and  from  this  as  well  as  the  day 
on  which  he  saw  the  land,  he  gave  to 
the  new  region  the  name  of  FLORIDA. 
On  his  return  from  Spain  some 
years  after,  he  was  unable  to  ef 
fect  a  settlement  in  consequence  of  the 
hostility  excited  among  the  natives  by 
previous  injustice  and  ill  usage. 

It  was  about  this  date  that  another 
famous  Spanish  captain,  Yasco 
Nunez  de  Balboa,  discovered  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  This  memorable  event 
took  place  on  the  26th  September, 
1513.  It  certainly  was  one  of  the 
most  sublime  discoveries  that  had  yet 
been  made  in  the  New  World,  and 
must,  as  Mr.  Irving  says,  have  opened 
a  boundless  field  of  conjecture  to  the 
wondering  Spanish  adventurers  who 
from  the  mountain  summit  gazed  down 
upon  the  vast  ocean,  with  its  waters 
glittering  in  the  morning  sun. 

The  hardy  English  and  French  mari 
ners  had  engaged  with  zeal  and  suc 
cess  in  the  productive  fisheries  on  the 
banks  of  Newfoundland  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  century.  Fishermen  from 
Brittany  discovered  and  named 
CAPE  BRETON  in  1504.  "This 
fishery,"  says  Hildreth,  "on  the  coast 
and  bank  of  NEWFOUNDLAND  formed 
the  first  link  between  Europe  and 
North  America,  and,  for  a  century,  al 
most  the  only  one."* 

Francis  I.  of  France,  although  busily 
occupied  in  his  contests  with  the  astute 
and  powerful  Charles  V.  of  Spain  and 
Germany,  was  not  wholly  unaware  of 
the  importance  of  giving  due  attention 
to  discoveries  and  settlements  in  the  New 

*  Hildreth's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  L, 
p.  37. 


CH.  1.] 


VERRAZZANI'S   DISCOVERIES. 


1524. 


World.  Accordingly,  he  engaged  Juan 
Verrazzani,  a  Florentine,  to  explore,  on 
his  behalf,  new  regions  in  the  un 
known  West.  With  a  single  vessel, 
the  Dolphin,  this  mariner  left  Madeira, 
and  wrote  to  the  king  a  description  of  his 
discoveries,  which  was  the  earliest  ever 
penned,  and  which  is  remarkable  for  its 
freshness  and  graphic  clearness.  After 
"as  sharp  and  terrible  a  tempest  as 
ever  sailors  suffered,  whereof  with  the 
Divine  help  and  merciful  assistance  of 
Almighty  God,  and  the  goodness  of  our 
ship,  accompanied  with  the  good-hap  of 
lier  fortunate  name — the  Dolphin — we 
were  delivered,  and  with  a  prosperous 
wind  followed  our  course  west  by  north, 
and  in  other  twenty-five  days  we  made 
above  400  leagues  more,  when  we  dis 
covered  a  new  land,  never  before  seen 
of  any,  either  ancient  or  modern."  This 
was  the  low,  level  coast  of  North  Caro 
lina,  along  which,  illumined  at  night  by 
great  fires,  they  sailed  fifty  leagues  in 
search  of  a  harbor; — at  length  they 
cast  anchor  and  sent  a  boat  on  shore. 
The  wandering  natives  at  first  fled  to 
the  woods,  yet  still  would  stand  and 
look  back,  beholding  the  ship  and 
sailors  "  with  great  admiration,"  and  at 
the  friendly  signs  of  the  latter,  came 
down  to  the  shore,  "  marvelling  greatly 
at  their  apparel,  shape,  and  whiteness." 
Beyond  the  sandy  coast,  intersected 
"  with  rivers  and  arms  of  the  sea,"  they 
saw  "  the  open  country  rising  in  height 
with  many  fair  fields  and  plains,  full  of 
mightie  great  woods,"  some  dense  and 
others  more  open,  replenished  with  dif 
ferent  trees,  "  as  pleasant  and  delectable 
to  behold  as  it  is  possible  to  imagine. 
And  your  Majesty  may  not  think,"  says 


Verrazzani,  "that  these  are  like  the 
woods  of  Hercynia,  or  the  wild  deserts 
of  Tartar}'-,  and  the  northern  coasts, 
full  of  fruitless  trees ;  but  they  are  full 
of  palm  trees,  bay  trees,  and  high 
cypress  trees,  and  many  other  sorts  un 
known  in  Europe,  which  yield  most 
sweet  savors  far  from  the  shore."  The 
land  he  represents  as  "  not  void  of  drugs 
or  spicery,  and  of  other  riches  of  gold, 
seeing  that  the  color  of  the  land  doth 
so  much  argue  it."  He  dwells  upon 
the  luxury  of  the  vegetation,  the  wild 
vines  which  clustered  upon  the  ground 
or  trailed  in  rich  festoons  from  tree  to 
tree,  the  tangled  roses,  violets,  and 
lilies,  and  sweet  and  odoriferous  flowers, 
different  from  those  of  Europe.  He 
speaks  of  the  wild  deer  in  the  woods, 
and  of  the  birds  that  haunt  the  pools 
and  lagoons  of  the  coast.  But,  after 
his  rude  tossing  on  the  stormy  Atlantic, 
he  is  beyond  measure  transported  with 
the  calmness  of  the  sea,  the  gentleness 
of  the  waves,  the  summer  beauty  of  the 
climate,  the  pure  and  wholesome  and 
temperate  air,  and  the  serenity  and 
purity  of  the  blue  sky,  which,  "  if  cov 
ered  for  a  while  with  clouds  brought 
by  the  southern  wind,  they  are  soon 
dissolved,  and  all  is  clear  and  fair  again." 
Verrazzani  also  entered  the  harbors  of 
New  York  and  Newport,  and  coasted 
northwardly  to  the  fiftieth  degree  of 
north  latitude.  No  settlement,  how 
ever,  resulted  from  this  voyage  of  Ver 
razzani  to  America. 

The  first  attempt  at  colonization  by 
the   English  was  disastrous   in 

4     T        ,  1536. 

the  extreme.     A  London  mer 
chant,  named  Hore,  with  others  who 
joined  him,  undertook  to  found  a  set- 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND   DISCOVERIES. 


IB*,  i 


1534. 


1535. 


tlement  in  Newfoundland.  But  they 
hardly  escaped  from  starvation,  and 
seizing  a  French  fishing  vessel  which 
had  just  arrived,  they  returned  again 
to  England. 

"While  the  Spaniards  were  engrossed 
with  plans  and  efforts  for  conquest  in 
South  America,  Chabot,  admiral 
of  France,  dispatched  Jacques 
Cartier,  an  able  mariner  of  St.  Malo, 
on  an  exploring  expedition  to  the 
north-west  coast  of  America.  After  a 
rapid  passage  over  the  Atlantic,  he 
sailed  across  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence, 
and  entered  a  bay  which  he  called 
Des  Clialeurs,  from  the  extreme  sum 
mer  heat  then  prevailing ;  but  he  soon 
after  returned  to  France.  The 
next  year,  with  three  large  ships 
and  a  number  of  colonists,  Cartier  re 
visited  the  scene  of  his  former  discove 
ries,  entered  the  Gulf  on  St.  Lawrence's 
Day,  and  so  gave  it  that  name  which  it 
now  bears,  ascended  the  river  to  the  isle 
of  Bacchus,  now  Orleans,  and  thence 
advanced  to  Hochelaga  or  Montreal. 
Cartier  wintered  on  the  isle  of  Orleans ; 
but  his  company  suffering  much  from 
the  scurvy,  they  took  a  disgust  at  the 
prospects  of  colonization,  and  Cartier 
was  compelled  to  return  home.  With 
that  too  common  disregard  for  the  rights 
of  others,  he  also  must  needs  carry  off 
some  of  the  natives  to  France. 

Some  years  afterwards,  Francis  de  la 

Roque,  lord  of  Robertval,  in  Picardy, 

attempted  to  colonize  the  same 

1540.  .  . 

to      region.    Cartier  was  furnished  by 

the  king  with  five  vessels,  and  had 

associated  with  him  Robertval  to  act 

as  governor  in  Canada  and  Hochelaga. 

Delays  and  misunderstanding  prevented 


this  effort  likewise  from  beins^  success- 

O 

ful,  and  France  gave  up  for  a  long 
time  all  farther  attempts  at  founding 
colonies  in  North  America.  What  had 
been  done,  however,  served  in  later 
days  as  a  basis  for  claims,  on  the  part 
of  France,  to  the  northern  portion  of 
the  American  Continent. 

The  disastrous  attempt  of  Narvaez, 
in  1528,  to  conquer  and  otrtain  posses 
sion  of  Florida  did  not  deter  other  bold 
spirits  from  efforts  of  a  like  character. 
Ferdinand  de  Soto  had  been  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  companions  of  Pi- 
zarro,  and  a  main  instrument  in  annex 
ing  to  Spain  the  golden  regions  of 
Peru ;  but  in  the  conquest  of  Peru  his 
part  had  been  secondary — the  first 
prize  had  been  carried  off  by  another ; 
and  he  now  sought  to  find  a  country, 
the  glory  of  conquering  which  should 
be  wholly  his ;  and  Charles  V.  was 
quite  willing  to  gratify  his  desires.  He 
was  created  Adelantado  of  Florida, 
combining  the  offices  of  governor 
general  and  commander-in-chief. 

1  '519 

In  May,  1539,  Soto  sailed  from 
Havana  with  six  hundred  men  in  the 
bloom  of  life,  a  number  of  priests,  be 
sides  sailors,  more  than  two  hundred 
horses,  and  a  herd  of  swine.  Arriving 
on  the  30th  of  May  at  the  bay  of 
Spiritu  Santo,  on  the  western  coast  of 
Florida,  he  landed  three  hundred  men, 
and  pitched  his  camp  ;  but,  about  the 
break  of  day  the  next  morning,  they 
were  attacked  by  a  numerous  body  of 
natives,  and  obliged  to  retire.  Having 
marched  several  hundred  miles,  he 
passed  through  a  number  of  Indian 
towns,  to  Mavila,  a  village  enclosed 
with  wooden  walls,  standing  near  the 


Ca.  L] 


FERDINAND   DE  SOTO :  JEAN  K1BAULT. 


1540. 


1541. 


mouth  of  the  Mobile  River.  The  in 
habitants,  disgusted  with  the 
strangers,  and  provoked  by  an 
outrage  committed  on  one  of  their  chiefs, 
brought  on  a  severe  conflict,  in  which 
two  thousand  of  the  natives  and  about 
twenty  Spaniards  were  slain.  A  con 
siderable  number  of  Spaniards  died  af 
terwards  of  their  wounds ;  they  also 
lost  about  forty  horses.  The  village 
was  burnt  in  the  action.  After  this  en 
gagement,  Soto  retreated  to  Chica9a, 
a  small  town  in  the  country  of  the 
Chickasaws,  where  he  remained  until 
March,  1541.  His  army  now  resumed 
its  march  through  the  Indian  territory, 
and  after  many  mishaps  and  very 
grievous  discouragements,  in  the  latter 
part  of  April  Soto  first  beheld 
the  Mississippi :  this  was  proba 
bly  not  far  from  the  thirty-fifth  paral 
lel  of  latitude.  The  river  was  crossed 
by  Soto,  and  still  further  attempts 
were  made  to  discover  the  wealth  and 
magnificence  which  they  had  set  out  to 
find  in  Florida.  But  it  was  all  in  vain : 
chagrined  by  a  conviction  of  total  fail 
ure,  Soto  sank  under  his  disappoint 
ment,  and  died  May  25th,  1542. 
"  To  conceal  his  death,  his  body 
was  wrapped  in  a  mantle,  and,  in  the 
stillness  of  midnight,  was  silently  sunk 
into  the  middle  of  the  stream.  The 
discoverer  of  the  Mississippi  slept  be 
neath  its  waters.  He  had  crossed  a 
large  part  of  the  continent  in  search  of 
gold,  and  found  nothing  so  remarkable 
as  his  burial  place."*  The  remains  of 
this  vaunted  expedition,  in  number  not 


*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  I, 
p.  57. 

VOL.  L— 4 


1542. 


1543. 


half  that  with  which  they  embarked, 
floated  down  the  Mississippi  to 
its  mouth,  and  in  September, 
1543,  reached  a  Spanish  settlement  near 
the  present  site  of  Tampico. 

Florida  was  thenceforth  abandoned. 
Not  a  settlement  was  made ;  not  a  sin 
gle  site  occupied  by  the  Spaniards  ; 
yet  Spain,  under  the  name  of  Florida, 
laid  claim  to  the  entire  sea-coast  of 
America,  as  far  even  as  Newfoundland. 
Their  first  actual  settlement  arose  out 
of  that  bitter  hatred  and  fierce  perse 
cuting  zeal  which  characterized  at  that 
time,  on  the  Continent,  both  Roman 
Catholics  and  Protestants. 

The  illustrious  and  excellent  Admiral 
de  Coligny,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the 
French  Protestant  leaders,  was  desirous 
of  finding  a  home  in  America  for  the 
persecuted  Huguenots.  Accordingly — 
an  expedition  to  Brazil  in  1555  having 
failed — he  fitted  out  an  expedition, 
sanctioned  by  the  bigotted  but  feeble 
Charles  IX.,  and  gave  the  command  to 
Jean  Ribault  of  Dieppe,  an  ex 
perienced  mariner  and  decided 
Protestant.  The  expedition  consisted 
of  two  ships,  with  a  goodly  company 
who  went  out  as  colonists.  Ribault 
reached  the  coast  of  Florida  in  May, 
entered  a  spacious  inlet  which  he  named 
Port  Royal,  and  built  a  fort  called 
CAROLINA,  a  name  which  still  remains 
to  us,  although  the  early  colony  per 
ished.  Twenty-six  were  left  to  found 
a  settlement,  while  Ribault  returned 
to  France  for  supplies ;  but  becoming 
disheartened,  they  hastily  resolved  to 
abandon  the  settlement;  the 
commandant  was  killed  hi  a  mu 
tiny  ;  and  well-nigh  starved,  they  were 


1569. 


10 


EARLY   VOYAGES   AND   DISCOVERIES. 


[Biz.  L 


1564. 


picked  up  by  an  English  vessel,  and  land 
ed  part  in  France,  the  rest  in  England. 
Bibault  found  the  fires  of  civil  war 
burning  throughout  France,  so  that  he 
could  not  obtain  the  needed  supplies  at 
once.  A  sort  of  peace  having  been 
patched  up,  in  1564  Coligny  again  re 
newed  his  efforts.  Three  ships 
were  sent  out,  under  command  of 
Laudonniere,  a  companion  of  Ribault. 
They  landed  in  June  at  the  River  of 
May,  now  the  St.  Joliris,  and  built  a 
fort.  Mutinies  occurred,  and  some  of 
the  colonists  set  out  on  piratical  expe 
ditions,  and  took  two  Spanish  vessels, 
thus  becoming  the  first  aggressors  in 
the  New  World.  In  great  distress  for 
provisions,  they  were  about  to  abandon 
the  settlement  when  the  notorious  Sir 
John  Hawkins,  the  slave-merchant,  re 
lieved  them.  Ribault  arrived  in  August 
with  an  abundant  supply  of  all  kinds. 

But  the  colony  was  by  no  means  as 
yet  in  security.  A  fierce  and  unsparing 
soldier,  Pedro  Melendez,  obtained  per 
mission  from  Philip  II.  of  Spain,  to  con 
quer  and  occupy  Florida,  and  also  to 
drive  out  the  French  as  both  intruders 
and  heretics.  "Death  to  the  Hugue 
nots  !"  was  the  cry ;  and  with  some  three 
hundred  soldiers  and  over  two 
thousand  volunteers,  the  expedi 
tion  left  Spain  in  July ;  although  weak 
ened  by  the  violence  of  a  storm,  Me 
lendez  did  not  delay  in  Porto  Rico ; 
but  anxious  to  make  quick  work  of  his 
enemies,  he  sailed  to  the  coast  of  Flor 
ida,  Land  was  seen  on  St.  Augustine's 
day,  August  28th,  and  Melendez  named 
the  inlet  and  haven  which  he  entered 
two  days  after,  St.  Augustine.  The 
town  here  founded  by  this  name  still 


1565. 


remains,  and  though  not  a  place  of 
much  size,  is  by  more  than  forty  years 
the  oldest  town  in  the  United  States. 
Melendez  was  not  long  in  finding  the 
French  colony.  Ribault's  vessels  cut 
their  cables  and  put  to  sea;  a  violent 
storm  arose,  and  the  French  vessels 
which  had  set  out  to  attack  the  Span 
iards,  were  scattered  and  cast  on  shore 
Melendez  marched  overland  from  St. 
Augustine  through  the  forests  and 
swamps,  surprised  the  French  fort,  and 
indiscriminately  butchered  men,  women, 
and  children.  A  few  escaped  to  the 
woods,  and  having  found  two  small  ves 
sels  in  the  harbor,  after  severe  suffering 
ultimately  reached  Bristol.  But  Ri 
bault  and  his  shipwrecked  companions, 
half  famished,  reached  the  fort  to  find 
it  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards.  Re 
lying  on  the  word,  of  honor  of  the  per 
fidious  Melendez,  they  gave  themselves 
up,  and  were  massacred,  near  St.  Au 
gustine,  with  circumstances  of  most 
shocking  barbarity.  A  number  of  the 
mangled  limbs  of  the  victims  were  then 
suspended  to  a  tree,  to  which  was  at 
tached  the  following  inscription : — "  Not 
because  they  are  Frenchmen,  but  be 
cause  they  are  heretics  and  enemies  of 
God." 

When  intelligence  of  this  horrible 
outrage  reached  France,  it  excited  an 
almost  universal  feeling  of  grief  and 
rage,  and  a  strong  desire  for  vengeance. 
Charles  IX.  was  invoked  in  vain,  by  the 
prayers  of  the  widows  and  orphans  of 
the  slain,  to  require  of  the  Spanish 
monarch  that  justice  should  be  awarded 
against  his  murderous  subjects.  An 
avenger,  however,  was  speedily  found. 
Dominic  de  Gourgues,  a  brave  Gascon, 


CH.  1.] 


FRENCH  ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION. 


11 


1567. 


determined  to  devote  himself,  his  for 
tune,  and  his  whole  being,  to 
the  achievement  of  some  signal 
and  terrible  retribution.  He  found 
means  to  equip  three  small  vessels,  and 
to  put  on  board  of  them  eighty  sailors, 
and  one  hundred  and  fifty  troops. 
Having  crossed  the  Atlantic,  he  sailed 
along  the  coast  of  Florida,  and  landed 
at  a  river  about  fifteen  leagues'  distance 
from  the  river  May.  The  Spaniards, 
to  the  number  of  four  hundred,  were 
well  fortified,  principally  at  the  great 
fort,  begun  by  the  French,  and  after 
wards  repaired  by  themselves.  Two 
leagues  lower,  towards  the  river's 
mouth,  they  had  made  two  smaller 
forts,  which  were  defended  by  a  hun 
dred  and  twenty  soldiers,  wrell  sup 
plied  with  artillery  and  ammunition. 
Gourgues,  though  informed  of  their 
strength,  proceeded  resolutely  forward, 
and,  with  the  assistance  of  the  natives, 
made  a  vigorous  and  desperate  assault. 
Of  sixty  Spaniards  in  the  first  fort, 
there  escaped  but  fifteen;  and  all  in 
the  second  fort  were  slain.  After  a 
company  of  Spaniards,  sallying  out  from 
the  third  fort,  had  been  intercepted, 
and  killed  on  the  spot,  this  last  fortress 
was  easily  taken.  All  the  surviving 
Spaniards  were  led  away  prisoners,  with 
the  fifteen  who  escaped  the  massacre  at 
the  first  fort;  and  were  hung  on  the 
boughs  of  the  same  trees  on  which  the 
Frenchmen  had  been  previously  sus 
pended.  Gourgues,  in  retaliation  for 
the  label  Melendez  had  attached  to 
the  bodies  of  the  French,  placed  over 
the  corpses  of  the  Spaniards  the  fol 
lowing  declaration: — "I  do  not  this 
as  unto  Spaniards  or  mariners,  but  as 


1568. 


unto  traitors,  robbers  and  murderers." 
Having  razed  the  three  forts,  and  not 
being  strong  enough  to  remain  in  the 
country,  he  returned  to  France  in  May, 
1568.  Such  was  the  end  of  the 
efforts  made  by  the  French  Prot 
estants  to  found  settlements  in  Florida. 
Had  France  been  wise  enough  to  have 

O 

protected  her  sons  in  this  attempt,  she 
might  easily  have  obtained  a  flourish 
ing  empire  in  the  south,  before  England 
had  planted  a  single  spot  on  the  Conti 
nent.  But  she  did  not,  and  Spain  con 
sequently  retained  her  claim — such  as 
it  was — to  Florida  undisputed. 

The  long  and  bloody  struggles  be 
tween  Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics 
in  France  during  the  latter  half  of  the 
16th  century,  effectually  prevented  all 
attempts  at  colonization  by  that  nation 
in  the  New  World.  The  accession  of 
Henry  IV.,  his  abjuration  of  Protestant 
ism,  and  especially  the  issue  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  which  secured 
civil  and  religious  freedom  to  the 
Huguenots,  restored  peace  and  prosper 
ity  to  France ;  and  the  wise  and  skil 
ful  administration  of  Sully  fostered  the 
arts  of  peaceful  industry  and  trade. 
A  commission  was  obtained  in  1598,  by 
the  Marquis  de  la  Roche,  of  Brittany, 
to  take  possession  of  CANADA  and  other 
neighboring  countries  "not  possessed 
by  any  Christian  prince ;"  the  attempt, 
however,  failed  entirely.  On  the  death 
of  La  Roche,  Chauvin,  a  naval 
officer,  and  Pontgrave,  a  merchant 
of  St.  Malo,  entered  profitably  into  the 
fur  trade,  without,  however,  doing  any 
thing  of  moment  towards  colonization. 

In  1603,  a  company  of  merchants  was 
formed  at  Rouen,  and  Samuel  Chaui- 


159§. 


1600. 


EARLY  VOYAGES  AND   DISCOVERIES. 


[BK.  1. 


1603. 


1GO4. 


plain,  an  able  and  scientific  officer,  was 
sent  out  in  command  of  an  expedition. 
This  celebrated  man,  after  care 
ful  exploration  and  examination, 
selected  the  site  of  Quebec  as  a  suitable 
place  for  a  fort.  This  same  year  a  patent 
was  issued  to  De  Monts,  a  Huguenot 
gentleman  of  the  king's  bedchamber, 
and  the  sovereignty  of  ACADIE,  from 
the  fortieth  to  the  forty-sixth  degree  of 
north  latitude — i.  e.,  from  about  the 
latitude  of  Philadelphia  as  far  northerly 
as  Cape  Breton — was  granted  to  him, 
together  with  a  monopoly  of  the  fur 
trade,  etc.  In  1604,  the  expedi 
tion,  consisting  of  four  ships, 
sailed  for  its  destination.  Poutrin- 
court,  an  officer  of  the  expedition,  ob 
tained  permission  to  remain  in  the  har 
bor,  which  he  called  Port  Royal,  now 
Annapolis.  Champlain  explored  the 
Bay  of  Fundy,  discovered  and  named 
the  River  St.  John's,  and  selected  a  site 
for  a  settlement  on  the  island  St.  Croix, 
in  the  river  of  the  same  name.  But  the 
spot  was  not  well  chosen,  and  in  the 
spring  of  the  following  year  the 
colony  removed  to  Port  Royal. 
Here  the  first  actual  settlement  on  the 
American  Continent  by  the  French  was 
made.  The  hostility  of  the  natives 
along  the  coast  rendered  it  dangerous 
to  attempt  settlements  in  the  vicinity 
of  Cape  Cod.  During  the  following 
ten  years,  numerous  and  successful  ef 
forts  were  made  by  Jesuit  priests  to 
convert  the  natives. 

The  monopoly  of  De  Monts  having 
been  revoked,  a  company  of  merchants 
of  Dieppe  and  St.  Malo  founded 
Quebec.  This  was  principally  due 
to  Champlain,  who  not  only  laid  the 


16O5. 


160*. 


foundation  of  the  city  of  Quebec,  but 
also  the  next  year  explored  and 
was  the  first  of  white  men  to  en 
ter  the  beautiful  lake  which  bears  his 
name  and  perpetuates  his  memory. 
This  persevering  and  energetic  man 
lived  through  many  and  severe  trials 
and  afflictions  which  beset  his  efforts  in 
establishing  the  authority  of  his  coun 
trymen  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  died 
in  1635.  Consequent  upon  the  explora 
tions  of  Champlain  and  others,  the 
French  laid  claim  to  that  vast  tract  of 
interior  America,  which,  together  with 
Canada  and  Acadie,  was  denominated 
NEW  FKANCE. 

In  concluding  the  present  chapter, 
in  which  has  been  attempted  a  brief 
sketch  of  some  of  the  early  voyagers 
and  discoverers,  to  whom  succeeding 
generations  owe  so  large  a  debt  of  grati 
tude,  the  language  of  Mr.  Bancroft  may 
very  appropriately  be  quoted :  "  Such 
were  the  voyages  which  led  the  way  to 
the  colonization  of  the  United  States. 
The  daring  and  skill  of  these  earliest 
adventurers  upon  the  ocean  deserve  the 
highest  admiration.  The  difficulties  of 
crossing  the  Atlantic  were  new,  and  it 
required  the  greater  courage  to  encoun 
ter  hazards  which  ignorance  exaggera 
ted.  The  character  of  the  prevalent 
winds  and  currents  was  unknown.  The 
possibility  of  making  a  direct  passage 
was  but  gradually  discovered.  The 
imagined  dangers  were  infinite;  the 
real  dangers  exceedingly  great.  The 
ships  at  first  employed  for  discovery 
were  generally  of  less  than  one  hun 
dred  tons  burden ;  Frobisher  sailed  in 
a  vessel  of  but  twenty-five  tons ;  two 
of  those  of  Columbus  were  without  a 


CH.  II.] 


THE  AMERICAN  INDIANS 


13 


deck ;  and  so  perilous  were  the  voyages 
deemed,  that  the  sailors  were  accus 
tomed,  before  embarking,  to  perform 
solemn  acts  of  devotion,  as  if  to  pre 
pare  for  eternity.  The  anticipation  of 
disasters  was  not  visionary ;  Columbus 
was  shipwrecked  twice,  and  once  re 
mained  for  eight  months  on  an  island, 
without  any  communication  with  the 
civilized  world;  Hudson  was  turned 
adrift  in  a  small  boat  by  a  crew  whom 


suffering  had  rendered  mutinous ;  Wil- 
loughby  perished  in  the  cold ;  Robert" 
val,  Parmenius,  Gilbert — and  how  many 
others? — went  down  at  sea;  and  such 
was  the  state  of  the  art,  of  navigation, 
that  intrepidity  and  skill  were  unavail 
ing  against  the  elements  without  the 
favor  of  heaven."* 


*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States ,"  vol.  i. 
p.  115. 


CHAPTER     II. 

1492—1600, 

THE   ABORIGINES    OF   AMERICA. 

Origin  of  the  name  INDIANS  —  Preceding  Races  —  American  Antiquities  —  General  characteristics  of  the  Indian 
tribes  —  Columbus's  Letter  —  Manners  and  customs  —  Government,  laws,  chiefs,  priests  —  Law  of  retaliation  — 
War  the  Indian's  great  business  —  Females  —  Numbers  —  Dialects  spoken  —  Mr.  Schoolcraft's  paper  —  Intima 
tions  of  prophecy  —  View  of  Europeans  as  to  the  rights  of  Indians  —  Decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  — 
Origin  of  difficulties. 


1492. 


WHEN  Columbus  had  succeeded  in 
demonstrating  the  truth  of  his  long  and 
anxiously  advocated  views  respecting 
the  existence  of  land  to  be  discovered 
by  sailing  to  the  west,  he  supposed 
that  he  had  reached  the  far- 
famed  Cathay,  or  the  East  Indies. 
This  natural  error  was  one  which  the 
great  navigator  did  not  li ve  to  correct, 
and  it  led  to  the  name  INDIANS  being 
applied  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands 
and  main  land  of  America.  It  is  a 
name  which  time  and  custom  have 
sanctioned  as  the  designation  of  the 
natives  of  the  soil  when  Columbus  and 
his  successors  reached  the  New  World, 
as  also  of  their  descendants ;  and  how 


ever  inappropriate,  it  is  now  too  late  to 
seek  to  change  it.  Before  proceeding 
with  the  history  of  the  gradual  colo 
nization  of  America,  and  the  many  and 
severe  contests  between  the  new-comers 
and  those  whom  they  found  in  posses 
sion  of  the  country,  it  may  be  well  to 
devote  a  brief  space  to  some  account  of 
the  aborigines  of  the  Western  Conti 
nent,  more  especially  of  North  America. 
Without  entering  into  a  discussion 
of  the  question,  whence  came  the  peo 
ple  who  first  settled  America — a  ques 
tion  more  curious  than  profitable — it  is 
quite  certain  that  the  Indian  tribes 
scattered  over  the  face  of  the  country 
were  the  successors  of  a  race  or  races 


14 


THE  ABORIGINES   OF  AMERICA. 


.  1. 


which  had  passed  away  entirely,  ages 
before  the  discovery  of  the  New  World 
by  Columbus.  The  numerous  and  well 
authenticated  antiquities  found  in  va 
rious  parts  of  our  country  clearly  de 
monstrate  that  there  "was  once  a  peo 
ple  civilized,  and  even  highly  cultiva 
ted,  occupying  the  broad  surface  of  our 
Continent ;  but  the  date  of  their  occu 
pancy  is  so  remote  that  all  traces  of 
their  history,  progress,  and  decay,  lie 
buried  in  the  deepest  obscurity.  Na 
ture,  at  the  time  that  Columbus  came, 
had  asserted  her  original  dominion  over 
the  earth ;  the  forests  were  all  in  their 
full  luxuriance,  the  growth  of  many 
centuries ;  and  nought  existed  to  point 
out  who  and  what  they  were  who  for 
merly  lived,  and  loved,  and  labored, 
and  died,  on  the  Continent  of  America. 
The  Indian  tribes  could  give  no  account 
of  their  predecessors ;  they  knew  noth 
ing  whatever  on  the  subject;  and  so, 
probably,  as  respects  these  the  question 
must  ever  remain  doubtful,  if  not  wholly 
inexplicable. 

As  to  the  Indians  themselves  it  will 
be  sufficient,  for  the  present,  to  note, 
that  in  some  points  there  was  soon  dis 
covered  to  be  a  very  general  resem 
blance  among  all  the  various  tribes. 
They  all  partook  of  the  same  reddish 
hue  of  the  skin,  their  hair  was  found 
to  be  black,  lank,  and  straight,  with  lit 
tle  or  no  beard ;  the  cheek-bones  were 
high,  the  jaw-bone  prominent,  and  the 
forehead  narrow  and  sloping.  Their 
figure,  untrammeled  in  every  move 
ment,  was  lithe,  agile,  and  often  grace 
ful,  but  they  were  inferior  in  muscular 
strength  to  the  European.  Their  intel 
lectual  faculties  were  also  more  limited, 


and  their  moral  sensibilities,  from  want 
of  cultivation,  less  lively.  They  seemed 
to  be  characterized  by  an  inflexibility 
of  organization,  which  rendered  them 
almost  incapable  of  receiving  foreign 
ideas,  or  amalgamating  with  more  civi 
lized  nations — constituting  them,  in 
short,  a  people  that  might  be  broken, 
but  could  not  be  bent.  This  peculiar 
organization,  too,  together  with  the  cir 
cumstances  in  which  they  were  placed, 
moulded  the  character  of  their  domes 
tic  and  social  condition. 

Columbus,  in  a  letter  sent  to  Ferdi 
nand  and  Isabella,  spoke  enthusiasti 
cally  of  those  natives  whom  he  encoun 
tered  on  his  first  voyage.  "  I  swear  to 
your  majesties,"  said  he,  "  that  there  is 
not  a  better  people  in  the  world  than 
these,  more  affectionate,  affable,  or  mild. 
They  love  their  neighbours  as  them 
selves  :  their  language  is  the  sweetest, 
the  softest,  and  the  most  cheerful ;  for 
they  always  speak  smiling ;  and  al 
though  they  go  naked,  let  your  majes 
ties  believe  me,  their  customs  are  very 
becoming ;  and  their  king,  who  is  served 
with  great  majesty,  has  such  engaging 
manners,  that  it  gives  great  pleasure  to 
see  him,  and  also  to  consider  the  great 
retentive  faculty  of  that  people,  and 
their  desire  of  knowledge,  which  in 
cites  them  to  ask  the  causes  and  the 
effects  of  things."  A  larger  acquaint 
ance  with  the  Indians  showed  that 
their  dwellings  were  of  the  simplest 
and  rudest  character.  On  some  pleasant 
spot  by  the  banks  of  a  river,  or  near  a 
sweet  spring,  they  raised  their  groups 
of  wigwams,  constructed  of  the  bark 
of  trees,  and  easily  taken  down  and 
removed  to  another  spot.  The  abodes 


CH.  II.] 


GOVERNMENT  AND  CUSTOMS  OF  THE  INDIANS. 


15 


of  the  chiefs  were  sometimes  more 
spacious,  and  constructed  with  care,  but 
of  the  same  materials.  Their  villages 
were  sometimes  surrounded  by  defen 
sive  palisades.  Skins,  taken  in  the 
chase,  served  them  for  repose.  Though 
principally  dependent  upon  the  hunt 
ing  and  fishing,  its  uncertain  supply 
had  led  them  to  cultivate  around  their 
dwellings  some  patches  of  maize,  but 
their  exertions  were  desultory,  and  they 
were  often  exposed  to  the  severity  of 
famine.  Every  family  did  everything 
necessary  within  itself ;  and  inter 
change  of  articles  of  commerce  was 
hardly  at  all  known  among  them. 

In  strictness  of  speech,  the  Indians 
could  not  be  said  to  have  either  govern 
ment  or  laws.  Questions  of  public  in 
terest  relating  to  war,  peace,  change  of 
hunting  grounds,  and  the  like,  were  dis 
cussed  in  a  meeting  of  the  whole  tribe, 
where  old  and  young  participated,  and 
the  most  plausible  speaker,  or  the  most 
energetic  and  daring  warrior,  general 
ly  carried  the  day.  The  chiefs  among 
them  were  such  by  superior  merit,  or 
superior  skill  or  cunning,  not  on  any 
principle  of  appointment  recognized 
among  civilized  communities ;  and  they 
exercised  their  authority  as  best  they 
might,  without  being  able  to  compel 
obedience.  The  most  powerful  influ 
ences,  however,  under  which  the  In 
dians  were  brought  was  that  exercised 
by  those  who  had  the  skill  to  work 
upon  their  ignorance  and  credulity  to 
establish  a  claim  to  their  obedience. 
Like  all  rude  and  barbarous  tribes, 
they  were  very  superstitious,  and  the 
priests,  or  "medicine  men,"  were  equal 
ly  feared  and  observed  by  the  Indians 


generally.  As  a  consequence  of  this, 
the  tribes  varied  in  their  apparent 
forms  of  government.  Some  were  the 
slaves  of  a  spiritual  despotism;  some 
resembled  a  limited  monarchy ;  others 
an  oligarchy;  and  others  yet  a  de 
mocracy,  in  which  the  principal  war 
riors  stood  nearly  on  a  level. 

In  cases  of  dispute  and  dissension, 
each  Indian  held  to  the  right  of  retali 
ation,  and  relied  on  himself  almost  al 
ways  to  effect  his  revenge  for  injuries 
received.  Blood  for  blood  was  the 
rule,  and  the  relations  of  the  slain 
man  were  bound  to  obtain  bloody  re 
venge  for  his  death.  This  principle 
gave  rise,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  in 
numerable  and  bitter  feuds,  and  wars 
of  extermination  where  that  was  possi 
ble.  War,  indeed,  rather  than  peace 
and  the  arts  of  peace,  was  the  Indian's 
glory  and  delight ;  war,  not  conducted 
on  the  grand  scale  of  more  civilized,  if 
not  more  Christian-like,  people,  but  war 
where  individual  skill,  endurance,  gal 
lantry  and  cruelty  were  prime  requi 
sites.  For  such  a  purpose  as  revenge 
the  Indian  was  capable  of  making  vast 
sacrifices,  and  displayed  a  patience  and 
perseverance  truly  heroic;  but  when 
the  excitement  was  over,  he  sank  back 
into  a  listless,  unoccupied,  well  nigh 
useless  savage.  The  intervals  of  his 
more  exciting  pursuits  the  Indian  filled 
up  in  the  decoration  of  his  person  with 
all  the  refinements  of  paint  and  feathers, 
with  the  manufacture  of  his  arms — the 
club,  and  the  bow  and  arrows — and  of 
canoes  of  bark,  so  light,  that  they  could 
easily  be  carried  on  the  shoulder  from 
stream  to  stream.  His  amusements 
were  the  war-dance  and  song,  and  ath- 


16 


THE  ABORIGINES   OF  AMERICA. 


[B*.  1. 


letic  games,  the  narration  of  his  ex 
ploits,  and  the  listening  to  the  oratory 
of  the  chiefs.  But,  during  long  pe 
riods  of  his  existence,  he  remained  in  a 
state  of  torpor,  gazing  listlessly  upon 
the  trees  of  the  forests,  and  the  clouds 
that  sailed  far  above  his  head;  and 
this  vacancy  imprinted  an  habitual 
gravity  and  even  melancholy  upon  his 
aspect  and  general  deportment. 

As  in  all  uncivilized  communities,  the 
main  labor  and  drudgery  fell  upon  the 
females  ;  planting,  tending  and  gather 
ing  the  crops ;  making  mats  and  bas 
kets  ;  carrying  burdens ;  in  fact,  every 
thing  of  the  kind ;  so  that  their  con 
dition  was  little  better  than  that  of 
slaves.  For  marriage  was  principally 
a  matter  of  bargain  and  sale,  the  hus 
band  giving  presents  to  the  father  of 
his  bride;  and  sooner  or  later,  as  ca 
price  or  any  other  excuse  moved  him, 
degrading  her  to  the  place  of  a  mere 
servant  in  his  house.  In  general,  they 
had  but  few  children ;  and  were  sub 
jected  to  many  and  severe  attacks  of 
sickness  :  famine  and  pestilence  at  times 
swept  away  whole  tribes. 

From  their  migratory  habits,  their 
continual  wars  and  battles,  their  slow 
ness  of  increase,  and  their  liability  to 
famine  and  fatal  diseases,  Mr.  Hildreth 
is  inclined  to  conclude  that  at  no  time 
since  the  discovery  of  America  did  the 
total  Indian  population  east  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  exceed,  if  it  equalled, 
three  hundred  thousand. 

The  dialects  of  the  various  tribes  in 
North  America  are  generally  reduced 
to  five  heads  or  subdivisions.  "The 
most  widely  diffused  of  these  five  lan 
guages,  called  the  Algonquin,  after  one 


of  the  tribes  of  Canada,  from  whom 
the  French  missionaries  first  learned 
it,  is  exceedingly  harsh  and  guttural, 
with  few  vowels,  and  words  often  of 
intolerable  length,  occasioned  by  com 
plicated  grammatical  forms — a  whole 
sentence,  by  means  of  suffixes  and  af 
fixes,  being  often  expressed  in  a  single 
word.  This  character,  indeed,  is  com 
mon,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  to  all 
the  American  languages,  serving  to  dis 
tinguish  them,  in  a  remarkable  manner 
from  the  dialects  of  the  Old  World. 
Tribes  of  Algonquin  speech  extended 
from  Hudson's  Bay  south-east  beyond 
the  Chesapeake,  and  south-west  to  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio.  They  inclosed, 
however,  several  formidable  confedera 
cies,  the  fluronj,  the  Iroquois,  the  Eries^ 
and  others  settled  around  Lakes  Erie 
and  Ontario,  and  occupying  all  the  up 
per  waters  of  the  western  tributaries 
of  the  Chesapeake,  who  spoke  a  differ 
ent  language,  less  guttural  and  far  more 
sonorous,  called  the  Wyandot,  after  a 
tribe  inhabiting  the  north  shore  of  Lake 
Erie.  The  Cherokee  is  peculiar  to  a 
confederacy  of  that  name,  occupants 
for  centuries  of  the  southern  valleys  of 
the  great  Allegany  Chain,  from  whence 
they  have  been  but  very  lately  ex 
pelled.  The  common  name  of  MobHian 
includes  the  kindred  dialects  of  the 
Choctaws,  the  Chickasaws,  the  Creeks 
or  Muscogees,  the  Appalachees,  and 
Yamassees,  ancient  inhabitants  of  the 
valley  of  the  Lower  Mississippi,  and 
thence,  by  the  southern  foot  of  the  Al- 
leganies,  to  the  Savannah  and  beyond 
it.  Compared  with  the  northern  lan 
guages,  the  Cherokee  and  Mobilian  are 
soft  and  musical,  abounding  with  vow- 


Cn.  II.] 


INDIAN   LANGUAGES  AND  TRIBES. 


17 


eb,  thus  indicating  the  long  continued 
influence  of  a  southern  climate.  The 
number  of  syllables  in  the  Cherokee  is 
very  limited — a  circumstance  of  which 
an  uninstructed  but  ingenious  member 
of  that  tribe  recently  availed  himself 
to  invent  a  syllabic  alphabet,  by  means 
of  which  the  Cherokee  is  written  and 
read  with  great  facility.  Of  the  an 
cient  state  of  the  wandering  tribes  of 
the  prairies  west  of  the  Mississippi  little 
is  known ;  but  the  Dacotak  or  Sioux, 
still  spoken  in  a  great  variety  of  dia 
lects,  has  been  probably  for  centuries 
the  prevailing  language  of  that  region. 
The  Catawbas,  who  have  left  their 
name  to  a  river  of  Carolina,  and  who 
once  occupied  a  wide  adjacent  terri 
tory;  the  lichees,  on  the  Savannah, 
subjects  of  the  Creeks ;  the  Natchez, 
a  small  confederacy  on  the  Lower 
Mississippi,  in  the  midst  of  the  Choc- 
taws,  appear  to  have  spoken  peculiar 
languages ;  and  no  doubt,  there  were 
other  similar  cases.  Of  the  dialects 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  hardly 
anything  is  known.'''* 

Mr.  Schoolcraft,  in  a  very  interesting 
paper  read  before  the  "  New  York  His 
torical  Society,"  November,  1846,  at 
tributes  to  the  Red  Race  who  inhab 
ited  the  Continent  of  America,  in  the 
equinoctial  latitudes,  a  very  great  an 
tiquity,  so  great  indeed,  as  to  be  inclined 
to  think  that  they  might  have  reached 
the  Continent  within  five  hundred  years 
of  the  original  dispersion.  That  they 
were  of  the  Shemitic  stock,  too,  can 
hardly  be  questioned.  Civilization,  gov- 


*  Hildreth's  "  History  of  the  United  States?  vol. 
i.  p.  52. 
VOL.  I. — 5 


eminent,  and  arts,  began  to  develop 
themselves  in  the  tropical  regions  of 
Mexico  and  Central  America.  Mexico, 
like  Rome  of  old,  seems  to  have  been 
invaded  by  one  tribe  of  barbarians  af 
ter  another,  who  in  the  end,  as  in  the 
case  of  Rome,  were  meliorated  and 
modified  by  that  civilization  which  they 
came  to  destroy.  Such  was  probably 
the  origin  of  the  Toltecs,  and  the  Aztecs, 
whom  Cortez  subdued. 

Turning  our  view  from  this  ancient 
centre  of  power,  to  the  latitudes  of  the 
American  Republic,  we  find  there,  at 
the  opening  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
various  tribes,  of  divers  languages,  ex 
isting  in  the  mere  hunter  state,  or  at 
most,  with  some  habits  of  horticulture 
supera^dded.  They  had  neither  cattle 
nor  arts.  They  were  bowmen  and 
spearmen — roving  and  predatory,  with 
very  little,  if  anything,  in  their  tradi 
tions,  to  link  them  to  these  prior  cen 
tral  families  of  man,  but  with  nearly 
everything  in  their  physical  and  intel 
lectual  type,  to  favor  such  a  generic 
affiliation.  They  erected  groups  of 
mounds,  to  sacrifice  to  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars.  They  were,  originally,  fire- 
worshippers.  They  spoke  ONE  general 
class  of  transpositive  languages.  They 
had  instruments  of  copper,  as  well  as 
of  silex,  and  porphyries.  They  made 
cooking-vessels  of  tempered  clay.  They 
cultivated  the  most  important  of  all 
the  ancient  Mexican  grains,  the  zea 
mays.  They  raised  the  tobacco  plant, 
and  used  the  Aztec  drum  in  religious 
ceremonies  and  war-dances.  They  be 
lieved  in  the  oriental  doctrines  of  trans 
formation,  and  the  power  of  necro 
mancy,  and  they  were  largely  in  sub 


18 


THE  ABORIGINES   OF  AMERICA. 


|BK. 


jection  to  an  influential  and  powerful 
order  of  priesthood. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this 
race  dwelt  on  the  Continent  of  Amer 
ica  many  centuries  before  the  Christian 
era,  and  also  that  it  is  anterior  in  age 
to  the  various  groups  who  inhabit  the 
Polynesian  Islands.  Probably  they  de 
rived  their  character  and  mental  pecu 
liarities  from  the  early  tribes  of  West 
ern  Asia,  which  was  originally  peopled, 
to  a  great  extent,  by  the  descendants 
of  Shern.  In  this  connection,  Mr. 
Schoolcraft  adduces  the  following  as 
the  fulfillment  of  a  very  ancient  pro 
phecy.  "Assuming  the  Indian  tribes 
to  be  of  Shemitic  origin,  which  is  gen 
erally  conceded,  they  were  met  on  this 
Continent,  in  1492,  by  the  Japhetic 
race,  after  the  two  stocks  had  passed 
around  the  globe  by  directly  different 
routes.  Within  a  few  years  subsequent 
to  this  event,  as  is  well  attested,  the 
humane  influence  of  an  eminent  Span 
ish  ecclesiastic,  led  to  the  calling  over 
from  the  coast  of  Africa,  of  the  Hamitic 
branch.  As  a  mere  historical  question, 
and  without  mingling  it  in  the  slightest 
degree  with  any  other,  the  result  of 
three  centuries  of  occupancy  has  been 
a  series  of  movements  in  all  the  colo 
nial  stocks,  south  and  north,  by  which 
Japhet  has  been  immeasurably  enlarged 
on  the  Continent,  while  the  called  and 
not  voluntary  sons  of  Ham,  have  en 
dured  a  servitude,  in  the  wide-stretch 
ing  valleys  of  the  tents  of  Shem. — 
Gen.  ix.,  27."* 

They  who  came  from  civilized  Eu- 

*  Proceedings  of  the  New  Tori;  Historical  Society, 
1846,  pp.  33— 38.  See,  also,  the  "North  American 
Review,"  No.  L.,  January,  1826. 


rope  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries  found  the  American  Conti 
nent  peopled  by  tribes  without  cultiva 
tion,  refinement,  literature,  fixed  habi 
tations,  or  anything  which  could  give 
them  consideration  and  respect  in  the 
eyes  of  Europeans.  They  looked  upon 
the  Indians  as  mere  savages,  having  no 
rightful  claim  to  the  country  of  which 
they  were  in  possession.  They  inflicted 
upon  the  unhappy  natives  injuries  of 
various  descriptions,  as  caprice,  cruelty, 
lust,  or  rapine  dictated,  and  where  a 
different  course  was  pursued  it  was  not 
so  much  because  the  Indians  had  a 
right  to  just  treatment,  but  simply  be 
cause  it  pleased  here  and  there  liberal- 
minded  persons  to  deal  justly  and 
kindly  by  them.  Every  European  na 
tion  deemed  that  it  had  acquired  a 
lawful  and  just  claim  to  the  possession 
of  that  part  of  the  Continent  which 
any  one  of  its  subjects  might  have  dis 
covered  or  visited,  without  any  refer 
ence  to  the  prior  occupation  and  claims 
of  the  Indian  tribes.  In  later  times, 
too,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  (1810)— Chief  Justice  Marshall 
delivering  the  opinion  of  the  Court — 
has  held,  that  the  Indian  title  to  the 
soil  is  not  of  such  a  character  or  validity 
as  to  interfere  with  the  possession  in 
fee,  and  disposal,  of  the  land  as  the  State 
may  see  fit.* 

Mr.  Justice  Story,  in  speaking  of  this 
matter,  justly  remarks: — "As  to  coun 
tries  in  the  possession  of  native  inhabi 
tants  and  tribes  at  the  time  of  the  dis 
covery,  it  seems  difficult  to  perceive 
what  ground  of  right  any  discovery 

*  See  Cranch's  Reports,  vol.  vi.,  p.  142. 


CH.  II.l 


RIGHTS   OF  THE  INDIANS. 


19 


could  confer.  It  would  seem  strange  to 
us,  if,  in  the  present  times,  the  natives 
of  the  South  Sea  Islands,  or  of  Cochin 
China,  should,  by  making  a  voyage  to, 
and  discovery  of,  the  United  States,  on 
that  account  set  up  a  right  to  the  soil 
within  our  boundaries.  The  truth  is, 
that  the  European  nations  paid  not  the 
slightest  regard  to  the  rights  of  the 
native  tribes.  They  treated  them  as 
mere  barbarians  and  heathens,  whom, 
if  they  were  not  at  liberty  to  extir 
pate,  they  were  entitled  to  deem  mere 
temporary  occupants  of  the  soil.  They 
might  convert  them  to  Christianity ; 
and,  if  they  refused  conversion,  they 
might  drive  them  from  the  soil,  as  un 
worthy  to  inhabit  it.  They  affected  to 
be  governed  by  the  desire  to  promote 
the  cause  of  Christianity,  and  were 
aided  in  this  ostensible  object  by  the 
whole  influence  of  the  papal  power. 
But  their  real  object  was  to  extend 
their  own  power  and  increase  their  own 
wealth,  by  acquiring  the  treasures,  as 
well  as  the  territory,  of  the  New 
World.  Avarice  and  ambition  were 


at  the  bottom  of  all  their  original  en 
terprises."* 

It  must,  we  think,  be  admitted,  that 
it  was  right  in  principle  for  our  fore 
fathers  to  seek  to  cultivate  the  soil  of  a 
country  situate  as  this  of  America  was, 
and  to  open  a  new  pathway  to  the  en 
terprise  and  energy  of  the  human  race ; 
yet,  seeing  that  their  intercourse  with 
the  natives  was  not  always  marked  by 
either  fairness  or  due  regard  to  the  nat 
ural  sentiments  of  those  who  had  lonor 

O 

held  undisputed  possession  of  the  Con 
tinent,  it  is  no  wonder  that  dissensions 
and  collisions  soon  occurred,  and  that  all 
the  fierce  passions  of  the  Indians  were 
aroused  into  savage  and  unpitying  ac 
tivity.  Neither  need  it  occasion  any 
surprise  that  ere  long  the  Indians  per 
suaded  themselves  that  the  white  man 
was,  with  here  and  there  an  exception, 
their  necessary  and  perpetual  foe.  The 
facts  of  history,  as  hereinafter  related, 
will  too  sadly  verify  the  correctness  of 
this  general  statement. 

*  "  Familiar  Exposition  of  the  Constitution?  $.  13. 


20 


ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION   BY  THE  ENGLISH. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

1553—1606, 

ATTEMPTS     AT      COLONIZATION     BY     THE     ENGLISH. 

Enterprise  of  Englishmen  —  Willoughby  and  Chancellor  —  Reign  of  Elizabeth  —  Frobisher — Drake — Sir  Hum 
phrey  Gilbert  —  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  —  Amidas  and  Barlow's  Letter  —  Roanoke  —  VIRGINIA  —  Lane,  governor 

—  Hariot  —  Indian  hostility  —  Abandonment  of  the  colony  —  New  one  sent  out  —  White,  governor — Virginia 
Dare  —  Political  agitations  in  England  —  Colony  lost  entirely  —  Assignment  of  Raleigh's  patent  —  Gosnold 

—  James    I.  —  Hakluyt  —  Pring  —  Weymouth  —  London    Company  —  Plymouth    Company  —  Charter  —  In 
structions  issued  by  the  king. 


THE  enterprising  spirit  of  English 
men  led  them,  from  the  earliest  period, 
to  enter  earnestly  and  vigorously  into 
the  work  of  discovery,  and  to  engage 
with  equal  zeal  and  energy  in  attempts 
at  settlement  and  colonization.  The 
fame  of  Sebastian  Cabot's  efforts,  and 
his  undoubted  skill  and  sagacity  in 
respect  to  naval  affairs,  were  very  in 
fluential  during  the  reigns  of  Henry 
VIII.  and  Edward  VI.  Although  the 
attempt  to  find  a  north-ma^  passage  to 
the  Indies  had  failed,  still  the  idea  of 
there  being  such  a  passage  yet  to  be 
discovered  was  ever  uppermost  in  the 
minds  of  navigators  of  that  age.  By 
Cabot's  advice  and  urgency  a  new  path 
was  sought.  He  presented  various 
reasons  for  thinking  it  probable  that 
there  was  a  passage  to  the 
eagerly  sought  Cathay  by  the 
wtf/  accordingly  a  company  of 
merchants  was  formed,  at  the  head  of 
which  Cabot  was  placed,  and  an  expe 
dition  was  fitted  out  with  special  in 
structions  and  directions  drawn  up  by 
the  celebrated  navigator  himself.  The 
command  of  the  expedition  was  en 
trusted  to  Sir  Hugh  AVilloughby.  "  At 


1553. 


the  first  setting  forth  of  these  north 
eastern  discoverers,"  observes  the  ex 
cellent  Hakluyt,  "  they  were  almost  al 
together  destitute  of  clear  lights  and 
inducements,  or  if  they  had  an  inkling 
at  all,  it  was  misty  as  they  found  the 
northern  seas,  and  so  obscure  and  am 
biguous,  that  it  was  meet  rather  to  de 
ter  than  to  give  them  encouragement. 
Into  what  dangers  and  difficulties  they 
plunged  themselves, '  animus  meminisse 
horret,'  I  tremble  to  relate.  For,  first 
they  were  to  expose  themselves  unto 
the  rigor  of  the  stern  and  uncouth 
northern  seas,  and  to  make  trial  of  the 
swelling  waves  and  boisterous  winds 
which  there  commonly  do  surge  and 
blow."  The  "driftes  of  snow  and 
mountains  of  ice,  even  in  the  summer 
the  hideous  overfalls,  uncertaine  cur 
rents,  darke  mistes  and  fogs,  and  other 
fearful  inconveniences,"  which  the  ex 
pedition  had  to  encounter,  he  contrasts 
with  "  the  milde,  lightsome,  and  tempe 
rate  Atlantick  Ocean,  over  which  the 
Spaniards  and  Portuguese  have  made  so 
many  pleasant,  prosperous,  and  golden 
voyages,  to  the  satisfaction  of  their 
fame-thirsty  and  gold-thirsty  minds 


CH.  III.] 


WILLOUGHBY,   CHANCELLOR,  FROBISHER. 


21 


1554. 


with  that  reputation  and  wealth  which 
made  all  misadventures  seem  tolerable 
unto  them."  Willoughby  and  Chancel 
lor  were  divided  by  storms,  and  after 
doubling  the  "  dreadful  and  mistie 
North  Cape,"  the  terrors  of  a  polar 
winter  surprised  them,  but  with  very 
different  issue.  The  former  sought 
shelter  in  an  obscure  harbor  of  Lap 
land,  to  die  a  fearful  and  a  lingering 
death.  In  the  following  spring  his  re 
treat  was  discovered,  the  corpses 
of  the  frozen  sailors  lay  about 
the  ship,  Willoughby  was  found  dead 
in  his  cabin,  his  journal  detailing  the 
horrible  sufferings  to  which  they  had 
been  reduced.  Chancellor,  more  for 
tunate,  entered  the  White  Sea,  and 
found  a  secure  shelter  in  the  harbor  of 
Archangel.  Here  the  Muscovites  re 
ceived  their  first  foreign  visitors  with 
great  hospitality,  and  Chancellor,  on 
learning  the  vastness  of  the  empire  he 
had  discovered,  repaired  to  Moscow, 
and  presented  to  the  czar,  John  Vasi- 
lowitz,  a  letter  with  which  each  ship 
had  been  furnished  by  Edward  VI, 
The  czar,  who  was  not  deficient  in  saga 
city,  saw  the  advantages  likely  to  ac 
crue  from  opening  a  trade  with  the 
western  nations  of  Europe,  and  accord 
ingly  treated  Chancellor  with  courtesy 
and  attention.  He,  also,  by  a  letter  to 
the  king,  invited  the  trade  of  England, 
under  promises  of  ample  protection 
and  favor. 

The  spirit  of  maritime  adventure, 
though  not  so  active  during  the  reign 
of  Mary,  was  still  on  the  increase.  The 
accession  and  reign  of  Elizabeth  af 
forded  full  opportunity  for  its  large 
development.  "  The  domestic  tran 


quillity  of  the  kingdom,"  says  Dr. 
Robertson,  "maintained  almost  with 
out  interruption,  during  the  course  of  a 
long  and  prosperous  reign ;  the  peace 
with  foreign  nations,  that  subsisted 
more  than  twenty  years  after  Eliza 
beth  was  seated  on  the  throne ;  the 
queen's  attentive  economy,  which  ex 
empted  her  subjects  from  the  burden 
of  taxes  oppressive  to  trade ;  the  popu 
larity  of  her  administration;  were  all 
favorable  to  commercial  enterprise,  and 
called  it  forth  into  vigorous  exertion. 
The  discerning  eye  of  Elizabeth  having 
early  perceived  that  the  security  of  a 
kingdom  environed  by  the  sea  depend 
ed  on  its  naval  force,  she  began  her 
government  with  adding  to  the  num 
ber  and  strength  of  the  royal  navy; 
she  filled  her  arsenals  with  naval  stores ; 
she  built  several  ships  of  great  force, 
according  to  the  ideas  of  that  age,  and 
encouraged  her  subjects  to  imitate  her 
example,  that  they  might  no  longer 
depend  on  foreigners,  from  whom  the 
English  had  hitherto  purchased  all  ves 
sels  of  any  considerable  burden.  By 
those  efforts  the  skill  of  the  English 
artificers  was  improved,  the  numbers 
of  sailors  increased,  and  the  attention 
of  the  public  turned  to  the  navy,  as  the 
most  important  national  object."*  Tho 
queen  gave  every  encourage 
ment  to  her  subjects  to  trade  to 
with  Russia,  to  seek  to  pene 
trate  into  Persia  by  land,  and  in  any 
and  every  way  to  open  new  paths  to 
commercial  enterprise  and  activity. 
The  attempt  to  discover  a  north- 


•  Robertson's  "History  of  America,'"  Book  ix.,  p. 
207. 


22 


ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION   BY  THE  ENGLISH. 


[BK.  I 


1576. 


157§. 


east  passage  having  failed,  a  new  effort 
was  made  to  find  an  opening  to  the 
north-west.  Three  small  ves 
sels  were  placed  under  the  com 
mand  of  Martin  Frobisher,  an  eminent 
mariner  of  that  day ;  but  although  he 
made  three  successive  voyages,  and  ex 
plored  to  some  extent  the  coast  of  La 
brador,  he  did  not  succeed  in  accom 
plishing  the  object  of  his  expedition. 
It  was  about  this  same  date 
that  Sir  Francis  Drake  entered 
upon  his  voyage  of  fortune,  which  by 
its  success  added  a  kind  of  lustre  to  his 
name,  without  producing  any  essential 
benefit  to  legitimate  trade  and  com 
merce.  Drake  had  the  boldness  to 
follow  in  the  track  of  Magellan,  and, 
crossing  the  equator,  he  ranged  the 
Pacific  coast  of  America  to  the  latitude 
of  forty- three  degrees  north,  in  hope 
of  discovering  the  north-west  passage 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific ;  but 
without  accomplishing  that  object. 

In  the  same  year  that  Frobisher's 
third  voyage  terminated  so  fruitlessly, 
an  attempt  was  made  by  Englishmen, 
under  the  queen's  patronage,  to 
plant  a  colony  in  America.  It 
was  mainly  due  to  Sir  Humphrey  Gil 
bert,  a  gentleman  of  distinction  and 
marked  ability,  as  a  soldier  and  a 
writer  on  navigation.  Without  diffi 
culty  he  obtained  a  patent  from  the 
queen  which  empowered  him  to  pro 
ceed  at  once  with  every  hope  of  suc 
cess  in  carrying  out  his  designs.  Six 
years  were  allowed  for  the  establish 
ment  of  the  colony.  As  this  is  the 
first  charter  to  a  colony  granted  by  the 
crown  of  England,  the  articles  in  it 
merit  especial  attention,  as  they  unfold 


the  ideas  of  that  age  with  respect  to 
the  nature  of  such  settlements.  Eliza 
beth  authorizes  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert 
to  discover  and  take  possession  of  all 
remote  and  barbarous  lands,  unoccu 
pied  by  any  Christian  prince  or  peo 
ple  ;  invests  in  him  the  full  right  of 
property  in  the  soil  of  those  countries 
whereof  he  shall  take  possession ;  em 
powers  him,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  to 
dispose  of  whatever  portion  of  those 
lands  he  shall  judge  meet,  to  persons 
settled  there,  in  fee  simple,  according 
to  the  laws  of  England ;  and  ordains 
that  all  the  lands  granted  to  Gilbert 
shall  hold  of  the  crown  of  England  by 
homage,  on  payment  of  the  fifth  part 
of  the  gold  or  silver  ore  found  there. 
The  charter  also  gave  Gilbert,  his  heirs 
and  assigns,  full  power  to  convict,  pun 
ish,  pardon,  govern,  and  rule,  by  their 
good  discretion  and  policy,  as  well  in 
causes  capital  or  criminal  as  civil,  both 
marine  and  other,  all  persons  who  shall, 
from  time  to  time,  settle  within  the 
said  countries ;  and  declared,  that  all 
who  settled  there  should  have  and  en 
joy  all  the  privileges  of  free  denizens 
and  natives  of  England,  any  law,  cus 
tom,  or  usage  to  the  contrary  notwith 
standing.  And  finally,  it  prohibited 
all  persons  from  attempting  to  settle 
within  two  hundred  leagues  of  any 
place  which  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  or 
his  associates,  shall  have  occupied  dur 
ing  the  period  named  for  the  perma 
nent  founding  of  the  colony.* 

Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  embarked  a 
large  part  of  his  fortune  in  this  pro 
jected  expedition,  but  dissensions  and 

*  Hakluyt,  vol.  iii.,  p.  135. 


Cn.  III.] 


GILBERT'S  VOYAGES  AND   FATE. 


23 


1579. 


disputes  among  those  who  had  volun 
teered  to  go  with  him,  rendered  it  vir 
tually  a  failure  before  it  set  out.  With 
only  a  few  tried  and  fast  friends 
he  put  to  sea ;  one  of  his  ships 
was  lost  in  a  storm,  and  it  is  probable, 
also,  that  he  had  an  encounter  with  a 
Spanish  squadron ;  so  that,  disheart 
ened  to  a  great  extent,  he  was  com 
pelled  to  return. 

The  step-brother  of  Gilbert  was  the 
illustrious  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  a  man 
of  surpassing  genius,  wonderful  acquire 
ments,  and  lofty  aspirations.  He  was 
a  soldier  under  Coligny,  eminent  for 
gallantry  and  skill:  he  was  a  states 
man,  a  patriot,  a  devoted  lover  of  his 
country  and  his  country's  fame.  Ra 
leigh  readily  came  to  the  aid  of  his 
brother ;  it  is  even  thought  that  he  ac 
companied  Gilbert  in  his  first  voyage, 
in  1579 ;  by  his  influence  he  enlisted 
the  queen's  special  favor  in  behalf  of 
the  expedition;  he  furnished  a  vessel 
of  two  hundred  tons,  which  bore  his 
name ;  and  did  everything  that  could 
be  done  except  go  in  person  with  the 
expedition.  With  a  fleet  of  five 
ships  and  barks,  the  Delight, 
Raleigh,  Golden  Hind,  Swallow,  and 
Squirrel,  in  which  a  large  body  of  men 
were  embarked,  Gilbert  set  sail  in 
June  on  his  second  voyage.  On  reach 
ing  Newfoundland,  early  in  August,  he 
took  possession  of  it  in  the  name  of 
Elizabeth ;  a  pillar  with  the  arms  of 
England  was  raised,  and,  after  the 
feudal  custom,  the  royal  charter  was 
read,  and  a  sod  and  turf  of  the  soil 
delivered  to  the  admiral.  The  muti 
nous  and  disorderly  conduct  of  many 
of  his  sailors  had  already  been  a  trying 


15S3. 


obstacle.  As  they  steered  towards  the 
south,  to  "  bring  the  whole  land  within 
compass  of  the  patent,"  the  principal 
ship,  owing  to  their  carelessness,  struck 
upon  a  shoal  and  was  totally  lost ;  near 
ly  a  hundred  men  perishing  with  her, 
among  whom  were  Parmenius  the  Hun 
garian — called  Budaeus,  from  his  native 
city — who  was  to  have  been  the  chroni 
cler  of  the  expedition,  as  well  as  "  their 
Saxon  refiner  and  discoverer  of  inesti 
mable  riches,"  and  the  valuable  papers 
of  the  admiral.  They  now  decided  on 
returning  home;  the  autumnal  gales 
were  already  beginning  to  render  the 
navigation  perilous  for  such  small  ves 
sels  ;  yet  Sir  Humphrey,  who  had 
sailed  in  the  Squirrel,  their  "  frigate  of 
ten  tons,"  contrary  to  all  remonstrance, 
persisted  in  remaining  with  his  brave 
shipmates,  rather  than  go  on  board  the 
larger  vessel.  The  two  ships  sailed  in 
company,  Gilbert  from,  time  to  time 
repairing  on  board  the  Hind,  and  en 
couraging  his  companions  with  pros 
pects  of  future  success.  The  weather 
now  became  frightful ;  and  the  oldest 
sailors  never  remembered  more  moun 
tainous  and  terrific  surges.  On  Mon 
day,  the  9th  of  September,  in  the 
afternoon,  the  Squirrel,  which  was  over 
charged  with  artillery  and  deck  ham 
per,  was  nearly  ingulfed  by  a  heavy 
sea,  from  which  she  escaped  as  by  mir 
acle.  As  she  emerged  from  the  watery 
abyss,  a  shout  of  surprise  and  thanks 
giving  burst  from  her  decks ;  and  Gil 
bert,  seated  on  the  stern  with  a  book 
in  his  hand,  calmly  exclaimed,  when 
the  roll  of  the  waves  brought  them 
within  hearing  of  those  on  board  the 
other  vessel,  "  We  are  as  near  to  heaven 


24 


ATTEMPTS   AT  COLONIZATION   BY  THE  ENGLISH 


[BK.  t 


by.  sea  as  by  land" — the  last  words  lie 
was  ever  heard  to  utter.  At  midnight, 
the  Squirrel  being  somewhat  ahead, 
those  on  the  watch  on  board  the  Hind, 
observing  her  lights  to  disappear  in  an 
instant  amidst  the  blackness  of  the 
swell,  cried  out  that  the  general  was 
lost :  the  miniature  frigate  had  sudden 
ly  foundered.  The  Hind,  after  narrow 
ly  escaping  the  tempestuous  weather, 
at  length  reached  Falmouth  in  safety, 
bearing  the  heavy  tidings  of  loss  and 
disaster. 

The  sad  fate  of  his  step-brother  did 
not  deter  Raleigh  from  endeavoring  to 
carry  out  his  favorite  plan  of  coloniza 
tion  and  discovery  in  America.  De 
sirous,  if  possible,  to  secure  a  milder 
climate  for  his  colony,  he  sought  and 
obtained  from  Elizabeth  a  patent  fully 
as  ample  as  that  which  had  been  be 
stowed  upon  Gilbert.  He  was  consti 
tuted  lord  proprietary,  with  powers  al 
most  unlimited,  on  condition  of 
reserving  to  the  crown  a  fifth 
part  of  the  gold  or  silver  ore  which 
might  be  found.  In  April,  two  ships 
set  sail  under  the  command  of  Philip 
Amidas  and  Arthur  Barlow,  and  early 
in  July  they  reached  the  shores  of  Caro 
lina.  Ranging  the  coast  for  a  hundred 
and  twenty  miles,  they  landed  and 
took  possession,  in  the  name  of  the 
queen,  of  the  island  of  Wococon,  the 
southernmost  of  the  islands  that  form 
Ocracock  Inlet. 

Hakluyt  has  preserved  the  glowing 
description  which  Amidas  and  Barlow 
gave  to  Raleigh  on  their  return  to 
England,  in  September  of  the  same 
year.  Their  language  is  graphic  and 
well  worth  quoting : — "  The  soile,"  say 


15§4. 


they,  "  is  the  most  plentiful!,  sweete, 
fruitful!  and  wholesome  of  all  the 
worlde ;  there  are  above  fourteene  seve- 
rall  sweete  smelling  timber  trees,  and 
the  most  part  of  their  underwoods 
are  bayes  and  such  like ;  they  have 
those  okes  that  we  have,  but  farre 
greater  and  better.  After  they  had 
bene  divers  times  aboord  our  shippes, 
rnyselfe,  with  seven  more,  went  twentie 
mile  into  the  river  that  runneth  towarde 
the  citie  of  Skicoak,  which  river  they 
call  Occam ;  and  the  evening  following, 
we  came  to  an  island,  which  they  call 
Roanoke,  distant  from  the  harbour  by 
which  we  entered  seven  leagues;  and 
at  the  north  end  thereof  was  a  village 
of  nine  houses,  built  of  cedar,  and  for 
tified  round  about  with  sharpe  trees 
to  keep  out  their  enemies,  and  the  en 
trance  into  it  made  like  a  turnepike, 
very  artificially ;  when  we  came  to- 
wardes  it,  standing  neere  unto  the 
waters'  side,  the  wife  of  Granganimo, 
the  king's  brother,  came  running  out  to 
meete  us  very  cheerfully  and  friendly ; 
her  husband  was  not  then  in  the  vil 
lage  ;  some  of  her  people  shee  com 
manded  to  drawe  our  boate  on  shore 
for  the  beating  of  the  billoe,  others 
she  appointed  to  cary  us  on  their 
backes  to  the  dry  ground,  and  others 
to  bring  our  oares  into  the  house  for 
feare  of  stealing.  When  we  were 
come  into  the  utter  roorne,  having  five 
roomes  in  her  house,  she  caused  us  to 
sit  down  by  a  great  fire,  and  after 
tooke  off  our  clothes  and  washed  them, 
and  dried  them  againe ;  some  of  the 
women  plucked  off  our  stockings,  and 
washed  them,  some  washed  our  feete 
in  warm  water,  and  she  herself  tooke 


CH.  III.] 


AMIDAS  AND  BARLOW'S   LETTER. 


25 


great  paines  to  see  all  things  ordered 
in  the  best  manner  she  could,  making 
great  haste  to  dresse  some  nieate  for  us 
to  eate.  After  we  had  thus  dryed  our 
selves,  she  brought  us  into  this  inner 
roome,  where  shee  set  on  the  boord 
standing  along  the  house,  some  wheate 
like  furmentie ;  sodden  venison  and 
roasted ;  fish,  sodden,  boyled,  and 
roasted ;  melons,  rawe  and  sodden ; 
rootes  of  divers  kinds ;  and  divers 
fruites.  Their  drinke  is  commonly 
water,  but  while  the  grape  lasteth, 
they  drinke  wine,  and  for  want  of 
caskes  to  keepe  it,  all  the  yere  after 
they  drink  water,  but  it  is  sodden  with 
ginger  in  it,  and  black  sinarnon,  and 
sometimes  sassaphras,  and  divers  other 
wholesome  and  medicinable  hearbes 
and  trees.  We  were  entertained  with 
oil  love  and  kindnesse,  and  with  as 
nitich  bountie,  after  their  manner,  as 
they  could  possibly  devise.  We  found 
the  people  mofet  gentle,  loving,  and 
faithfull,  voide  of  all  guile  and  treason, 
and  such  as  live  after  the  maner  of  the 
golden  age.  The  people  onely  care 
howe  to  defend  themselves  from  the 
cold  in  their  short  winter,  and  to  feed 
themselves  with  such  meat  as  the  soile 
afforeth ;  their  meat  is  very  well  sod 
den,  and  they  make  broth  very  sweet 
and  savorie ;  their  vessels  are  earthen 
pots,  very  large,  white,  and  sweete ; 
their  dishes  are  wooden  platters  of 
sweet  timber.  Within  the  place  where 
they  feede  was  their  lodging,  and 
within  that  their  idoll,  which  they  wor 
ship,  of  whom  they  speake  incredible 
things.  While  we  wfire  at  meate,  there 
came  in  at  the  gates  two  or  three  men 
with  their  bowes  and  arrowes  from 

VOL.  I.— 6 


hunting,  whom,  when  we  espied,  we 
beganne  to  looke  one  towardes  an 
other,  and  offered  to  reach  our  weap 
ons  ;  but  as  soone  as  shee  espied  our 
mistrust,  she  was  very  much  moved, 
and  caused  some  of  her  men  to  runne 
out,  and  take  away  their  bowes  and 
arrowes  and  breake  them,  and  withall, 
beate  the  poore  fellowes  out  of  the 
gate  againe.  When  we  departed  in 
the  evening,  and  would  not  tarry  all 
night,  she  was  very  sory,  and  gave  us 
into  our  boate  our  supper  half  dressed, 
pottes  and  all,  and  brought  us  to  our 
boate  side,  in  which  we  lay  all  night, 
removing  the  same  a  prettie  distance 
from  the  shoare ;  shee  perceiving  our 
jelousie,  was  much  grieved,  and  sent 
divers  men  and  thirtie  women  to  sit  all 
night  on  the  banke-side  by  us,  and  sent; 
us  into  our  boates  five  mattes,  to  cover 
us  from  the  raine,  using  very  many 
wordes  to  intreate  us  to  rest  in  their 
houses ;  but  because  we  were  fewe 
men,  and  if  we  had  miscarried  the  voy 
age  had  bene  in  very  great  danger,  we 
durst  not  adventure  any  thing,  although 
there  was  no  cause  of  doubt,  for  a  more 
kinde'and  loving  people  there  cannot 
be  found  in  the  worlde,  as  far  as  we 
have  hitherto  had  triall."* 

Charmed  with  the  beauty  of  every 
thing  they  saw,  and  quite  willing  to 
believe  that  no  change  could  ever  mar 
the  loveliness  of  a  scene  so  enchanting, 
Amidas  and  Barlow  contented  them 
selves  with  very  limited  explorations, 
and  taking  with  them  two  of  the  na 
tives,  Wanchese  and  Manteo,  they  re 
turned  to  England.  Raleigh  was  in 

*  Hakluyt,  vol.  iu.,  p.  301. 


26 


ATTEMPTS   AT  COLONIZATION   BY  THE  ENGLISH. 


.  L 


raptures  with  the  prospect  before  him, 
and  Elizabeth  expressed  her  desire  that 
the  new  region  should  be  called  VIR 
GINIA,  in  honor  of  the  virgin  queen  of 
England.  Raleigh  soon  after  received 
the  honor  of  knighthood,  and  by 
special  favor  had  granted  to  him  a  lu 
crative  monopoly  of  wines,  which  en 
abled  him  to  carry  on  vigorously  his 
efforts  at  colonization.  It  was  not  dif 
ficult,  under  so  many  favoring  circum 
stances,  to  fit  out  a  new  and  strong  ex 
pedition.  Seven  vessels,  which  carried 
out  one  hundred  and  eight  colonists, 
sailed  from  Plymouth  in  April, 
under  the  command  of  Sir 
Richard  Grenville,  one  of  the  bravest 
men  of  his  age.  Ralph  Lane  was  ap 
pointed  governor  ;  and  Hariot,  an  emi 
nent  mathematician,  and  With,  an  in 
genious  painter,  were  included  in  the 
expedition.  Proceeding  by  way  of  the 
West  Indies,  on  the  20th  of  June  they 
fell  in  with  the  main  land  of  Florida, 
and  having  narrowly  escaped  shipwreck 
at  Cape  Fear,  they  came  to  anchor,  on 
the  26th,  at  Wococon. 

Ralph  Lane  was  a  gallant  officer, 
knighted  subsequently  by  the '  queen 
for  his  valor,  but  he  possessed  rather 
the  qualities  of  the  ardent  soldier  than 
of  the  patient  and  judicious  colonist. 
Hasty  in  resolve,  and  "  sudden  and 
quick  in  quarrel,"  his  rash  and  hostile 
conduct  towards  the  Indians  was  the 
source  of  very  great  tribulation  to  this 
and  other  succeeding  expeditions.  But 
the  first  deadly  offence  was  given  by 
(rrenville  himself.  A  party  was  sent 
on  shore,  accompanied  by  Manteo,  and 
all  might  have  gone  well,  but  for  an 
act  of  hasty  revenge,  the  first  probably 


which  tended  to  arouse  uneasy  and  sus 
picious  thoughts  in  the  breasts  of  the 
confiding  Indians.  One  of  these  had 
been  tempted  to  steal  a  silver  cup ;  its 
promised  restoration  was  delayed ;  upon 
which  the  English  "  burnt  and  spoiled 
their  corn  and  towne,  all  the  people 
being  fled." 

The  colonists  being  landed,  Gren 
ville,  after  a  short  stay,  and  the  col 
lection  of  a  cargo  of  pearls  and  skins, 
returned  to  England,  capturing  on  the 
way  a  Spanish  ship  richly  laden,  "board 
ing  her  with  a  boat  made  with  boards 
of  chests,  which  fell  asunder  and  sank 
at  the  ship's  side,  as  soon  as  ever  he 
and  his  men  were  out  of  it."  With 
this  prize  he  returned  to  Plymouth, 
and  was  warmly  welcomed.  After 
this  first  experience  of  unprovoked  cru 
elty,  the  Indians,  anxious  to  get  rid  of 
the  settlers,  whom  they  now  learned 
both  to  hate  and  fear,  began  to  form  se 
cret  combinations  against  them.  Lane, 
who  was  evidently  but  little  qualified 
for  his  post,  being  alternately  severe 
and  credulous,  received  such  informa 
tion  from  one  of  the  chiefs,  as  induced 
him  to  ascend  the  Roanoke,  partly  in 
quest  of  pearls,  mineral  treasures,  and 
partly  to  explore  the  interior.  The  ad 
venture  was  disastrous ;  the  boats  made 
slow  progress  against  the  rapidity  of  the 
current ;  the  banks  were  desert- 
ed,  and  no  provisions  to  be  ob 
tained  ;  yet  all  agreed  not  to  abandon 
the  enterprise  while  a  half-pint  of  corn 
remained  for  each  man ;  moreover 
they  determined  that  they  would  kill 
their  "  two  mastites,  upon  the  pottage 
of  which,  with  sassafras  leaves — if  the 
worst  fell  out — they  would  make  shi  ft  to 


CH.  III.] 


ROANOKE  ABANDONED   BY  LANE. 


27 


live  two  dayes."  Having  been  treach 
erously  attacked  by  the  Indians,  and 
having  consumed  the  "  dogge's  por 
ridge  that  they  had  bespoken  for  them 
selves,"  and  returned  to  the  river's 
mouth,  and  their  boats  being  unable  to 
cross  the  sound  on  account  of  a  storm 
"  on  Easter  Eve,  which  was  fasted  very 
truly,"  they  were  reduced  to  the  sassa 
fras  without  the  animal  seasoning,  "the 
like  whereof,"  observes  Lane,  "was  never 
before  used  for  a  meate  as  I  thinke." 
The  next  morning  they  arrived  at 
Roanoke  famished  and  dispirited. 

Thomas  Hariot  was  undoubtedly  the 
most  acute  observer  in  the  colony,  and 
his  efforts  at  obtaining  a  correct  knowl 
edge  of  the  country,  the  people,  pro 
ductions,  etc.,  were  unusually  success 
ful.  He  labored  especially  among  the 
simple  natives,  and  endeavored  to  lead 
them  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truths  of 
Christianity.  To  use  his  own  language, 
"  Most  things  they  saw  with  us,  as  ma- 
thematicall  instruments,  sea-compasses, 
the  vertue  of  the  loadstone,  perspective 
glasses,  burning  glasses,  clocks  to  goe 
of  themselves,  bookes,  writing,  guns, 
and  such  like,  so  far  exceeded  their  ca 
pacities,  that  they  thought  they  were 
rather  the  workes  of  gods  than  men,  or 
at  least  the  gods  had  taught  us  how  to 
make  them,  which  loved  us  so  much 
better  than  them ;  and  caused  many  of 
them  to  give  credit  to  what  we  spake 
concerning  our  God.  In  all  places 
where  I  came,  I  did  my  best  to  make 
His  irnmortall  glory  knowne ;  and  L 
told  them,  although  the  Bible  I  shewed 
them  contained  all,  yet  of  itselfe,  it 
was  not  of  any  such  vertue  as  I  thought 
they  did  conceive.  Notwithstanding, 


many  would  be  glad  to  touch  it,  to 
kisse,  and  embrace  it,  to  hold  it  to  their 
breasts  and  heads,  and  stroke  all  their 
body  over  with  it."* 

"Unhappily,  however,  the  majority 
of  the  colonists  were  less  distinguished 
by  marks  of  piety  and  prudence  than 
by  an  eager  and  vehement  desire  of 
gaining  sudden  and  great  wealth.  Fail 
ing  in  this,  and  in  their  vexation  deal 
ing  harshly  with  the  Indians,  the  na 
tives  sought  to  rid  themselves  of  their 
visitors,  willing  even  to  abandon  their 
fields  without  planting,  if  famine  would 
drive  away  the  English.  Lane,  appre 
hensive  of  a  conspiracy  to  destroy  the 
colony,  sought  an  interview  with  "Win- 
gina,  the  most  active  of  the  chiefs,  and 
treacherously  murdered  all  within  his 
reach.  The  stock  of  provision?  which 
they  had  brought  from  England  was 
exhausted  ;  and  the  colony,  reduced  to 
very  great  straits,  was  about  to  dis 
solve  ;  when  unexpectedly  Sir  Francis 
Drake  appeared  with  his  fleet,  on  his 
return  from  a  successful  expedition 
against  the  Spaniards  in  the  West 
Indies.  He  supplied  to  the  full  the 
wants  of  Lane ;  gave  him  a  bark  of 
seventy  tons,  with  suitable  boats,  and 
arranged  everything  for  the  prosperous 
continuance  of  the  colony.  A  sudden 
storm,  however,  destroyed  the  vessel 
which  Drake  had  provided;  and  not 
only  the  colonists  themselves,  but  Lane 
also,  in  great  despondency,  begged  to 
be  permitted  to  return  with  Drake's 
ships  to  England.  The  privilege  was 
freely  given,  and  in  June,  1586,  the 
settlement  at  Koauoke  was  abandoned. 

*  Hakluyt,  vol.  iii.,  p.  324. 


28 


ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION   BY  THE  ENGLISH. 


Their  desertion  of  the  colony  was 
quite  too  precipitate;  for  only  a  few 
days  after  their  departure,  a  vessel  ar 
rived  laden  with  stores.  It  had  been 
sent  by  Raleigh  ;  but  finding  the  col 
ony  broken  up,  the  ship  returned  home 
again.  Within  less  than  two  weeks, 
Sir  Richard  Grenville,  too,  appeared 
off  the  coast  with  three  ships  well  fur 
nished,  in  search  of  the  colony.  Leav 
ing  fifty  men*  on  the  island  of  Roanoke, 
with  two  years'  provisions,  he  also  re 
turned  home.  "The  Paradise  of  the 
World"  thus  far  had  been  little  else 
than  expense  and  disappointment.f 

Raleigh,  however,  was  not  the  man 
to  yield  to  disappointment.  The  valu 
able  descriptions  which  Hariot  gave  of 
the  country  and  its  productions, 
the  soil,  climate,  etc.,  rendered 
it  comparatively  easy  to  collect  a  new 
colony  for  America  ;  and  it  was  deter 
mined  to  found  if  possible  an  enduring 
state.  Emigrants  with  their  wives  and 


1587. 


*  Mr.  Bancroft  says  fifteen  ;  but  Smith,  and  others, 
fifty.  The  latter  seerns  the  more  probable  number. 

f  It  is  asserted  by  Camden,  that  tobacco  was  now 
for  the  first  time  brought  into  England  by  these  set 
tlers  ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Lane  had 
been  directed  to  import  it  by  Raleigh,  who  must 
have  seen  it  used  in  France  during  his  residence 
there.  There  is  a  well-known  tradition,  that  Sir 
Walter  first  began  to  smoke  it  privately  in  his  study, 
and  that  his  servant  coming  in  with  his  tankard  of 
ale  and  nutmeg,  as  he  was  intent  upon  his  book,  see 
ing  the  smoke  issuing  from  his  mouth,  threw  all  the 
liquor  in  his  face  by  way  of  extinguishing  the  fire, 
and  running  down  stairs,  alarmed  the  family  with 
piercing  cries,  that  his  master,  before  they  could  get 
up,  would  be  burned  to  ashes.  From  its  being 
deemed  a  fashionable  acquirement,  and  from  the 
favorable  opinion  of  its  salutary  qualities  entertained 
by  several  physicians,  the  practice  of  smoking  spread 
rapidly  among  the  English;  and  by  a  singular  ca 
price  of  the  human  species,  no  less  inexplicable  than 
unexampled,  it  has  happened  that  tobacco  has  come 
into  almost  universal  use. 


families  were  sent  out  to  make  their 
homes  in  the  New  World ;  municipal 
regulations  were  established ;  Mr.  John 
White  was  appointed  governor,  and  a 
charter  of  incorporation  was  granted 
for  the  "  City  of  Raleigh."  Leaving 
Portsmouth  on  the  26th  of  April,  they 
anchored  off  the  coast  on  the  22d  of 
July.  An  immediate  search  was  made 
for  the  men  left  the  year  before  on  the 
island  of  Roanoke  ;  but  in  vain.  The 
Indians  had  easily  wreaked  their  ven 
geance  upon  them.  Desolation  and  ruin 
brooded  over  the  scene. 

According  to  the  instructions  of 
Raleigh,  Chesapeake  Bay  was  marked 
out  for  the  new  settlement ;  but  dissen 
sion  speedily  arising,  White  was  unable 
to  proceed  farther,  and  the  foundations 
of  the  proposed  city  were  laid  on  the 
island  of  Roanoke.  Manteo,  with  his 
kindred,  joyfully  welcomed  the  Eng 
lish  ;  but  the  Indians  in  general  were 
decidedly  hostile.  As  little  progress 
could  be  made  under  so  many  discour 
aging  circumstances,  the  united  voices 
of  the  colonists  begged  White  to  re 
turn  with  the  ship  to  England  to  se 
cure  prompt  and  abundant  supplies 
and  reinforcements.  Only  a  few  days 
before  sailing,  the  daughter  of  the 
Governor,  Mrs.  Eleanor  Dare — August 
8th — gave  birth  to  a  daughter,  who 
was  the  first  child  born  of  English 
parentage  on  the  soil  of  the  United 
States.  She  was  appropriately  named 
VIRGINIA  DARE.  Reluctantly  leaving 
his  family  and  the  colony,  which  now 
numbered  eighty-nine  men,  seventeen 
women,  and  eleven  children,  White  re 
turned  home.  He  was  never  privi 
leged  to  look  upon  them  again. 


CH.  III.] 


SLOW   PROGRESS  OF  COLONIZATION. 


29 


15§§. 


On  reaching  England,  White  found 

O  O  / 

the  whole  country  aroused  to  prepare  for 
the  great  invasion  threatened  by  Philip 
of  Spain  and  his  Invincible  Armada. 
Yet  Raleigh  was  not  forgetful  of  his 
colony;  even  amidst  his  engrossing 
cares  at  home,  he  managed  to  fit  out, 
in  April,  two  vessels  with  sup 
plies;  but  the  ships'  company, 
eager  after  prize-money,  sought  the 
gains  of  privateering  rather  than  the 
path  of  duty.  Worsted  in  an  engage 
ment,  they  were  compelled  to  put  back, 
and  thus  they  virtually  abandoned  the 
colony  to  ruin.  The  delay  proved  fa 
tal  ;  nothing  further  could  be  done  at 
the  time ;  Raleigh  was  nearly  bank 
rupt  by  the  heavy  outlays  to  which  he 
had  been  subjected ;  and  it  was  not 
till  1590  that  White  was  en 
abled  to  return  and  search  for 
his  family  and  the  colony  he  had  left. 
Roanoke  was  literally  a  desert ;  the 
ruins  of  desolate  habitations,  and  the 
word  "  Croatan,"  on  the  bark  of  a  tree, 
were  all  the  traces  that  remained  of 
the  ill-fated  colony.  It  was  thought 
possible  that  they  might  have  taken 
refuge  with  Manteo  and  his  people ; 
but  nothing  transpired  ever  after  to 
point  out  what  had  been  their  lot. 

Raleigh,  who  had  spent  nearly  $200- 
000  in  his  noble  efforts,  was  unable  to 
do  anything  more.  Accordingly  he  as 
signed  his  rights  as  proprietary  to  Sir 
Thomas  Smith  and  a  company 
of  merchants  in  London,  and 
engaged  in  other  schemes,  especially 
that  of  penetrating  into  the  heart  of 
Guiana,  where  he  fondly  hoped  to  re 
pair  his  shattered  fortunes.  The  Lon 
don  company  did  not  succeed  in  in- 


15§9. 


ducing  colonists  to  go  to  Virginia ; 
they  simply  carried  on  a  traffic  of  no 
great  moment,  by  the  agency  of  a  few 
vessels,  without  being  able  to  effect 
any  settlements  in  the  New  World. 
Hence,  in  1603,  after  a  period  of  more 
than  a  hundred  years  from  the  time 
that  Cabot  discovered  the  Continent 
of  North  America,  and  twenty  from 
the  time  that  Raleigh  sent  out  his 
first  colony,  not  a  single  Englishman 
remained  in  the  New  World.  Thus 
slowly  did  the  work  of  colonization 
go  on ! 

In  the  last  year  of  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  Bartholomew  Gos- 
uold  set  out  in  a  small  vessel  to 
make  a  more  direct  course  to  Virginia 
than  that  which  was  usual  by  way  of 
the  Canaries  and  West  Indies.  In 
seven  weeks  he  reached  the  coast  of 
Massachusetts,  near  Nahant.  Keeping 
to  the  south  in  search  of  a  harbor,  he 
discovered  the  promontory  which  he 
called  Cape  Cod  ;  this  was  the  first 
spot  in  New  England  ever  trod  by 
Englishmen.  Doubling  the  cape,  and 
passing  Nantucket,  they  entered  Buz 
zard's  Bay,  which  they  called  Gosnold's 
Hope.  On  the  westernmost  of  the 
islands  in  the  Bay  they  determined  to 
settle,  and  named  it  Elizabeth,  after 
the  queen.  They  built  a  fort  and 
store-house,  on  a  rocky  islet  in  the 
centre  of  a  small  lake  of  fresh  water, 
traces  of  which  were  seen  by  Dr. 
Belknap  in  1797.  They  were  delight 
ed  with  the  luxuriant  vegetation  of 
early  summer,  the  fragrance  of  the 
scented  shrubs,  the  abundance  of  the 
wild  grapes  and  strawberries  ;  and  the 
natural  impulse  was  to  wish  to  remain 


ATTEMPTS  AT  COLONIZATION  BY  THE  ENGLISH. 


.    J. 


1603. 


there.  But  the  smallness  of  their  num 
ber,  surrounded  as  they  were  with  the 
Indians,  the  want  of  provisions,  and 
the  recollection  of  what  had  befallen 
the  hapless  settlers  in  Virginia,  with 
the  dissensions  that  sprung  up,  induced 
them,  shortly  after,  to  return  to  Eng 
land.  They  arrived  in  less  than  four 
months  from  the  time  of  their  depart 
ure,  without  having  suifered  from  any 
sickness  ;  and  spread  on  all  sides  most 
favorable  reports  of  the  soil  and  climate 
of  the  new-discovered  lands,  while  the 
new  course  they  had  held  was  shorter 
by  one  third  than  any  by  which  the 
shores  of  America  had  been  previously 
visited. 

The  accession  of  James  I.  was  speedi 
ly  followed  by  peace  between 
England  and  Spain.  Many  act 
ive  and  energetic  men  who  had  been 
engaged  in  the  struggle,  were  desirous 
of  new  fields  of  labor  and  enterprise, 
and  nothing*  promised  so  well  as  the 
New  "World.  Merchants  and  others 
became  deeply  interested  in  the  re 
ports  of  Gosnold  and  his  companions, 
and  it  was  not  found  difficult  to  induce 
them  to  undertake  the  following  up 
the  'discoveries  already  made.  These 
projects  were  powerfully  aided  by  the 
judicious  counsel  and  zealous  encour 
agement  of  Richard  Hakluyt,  a  pre 
bendary  of  Westminster,  a  man  of 
eminent  attainments  in  naval  and  com 
mercial  knowledge,  the  patron  and 
counsellor  of  many  of  the  English  ex 
peditions  of  discovery,  and  the  histo 
rian  of  their  exploits.  By  his  per 
suasion,  two  vessels  were  fitted  out  by 
the  merchants  of  Bristol,  under  com 
mand  of  Martin  Pring,  to  examine  the 


discoveries  of  Gosnold,  and  ascertain 
the  correctness  of  his  statements.  They 
returned  writh  an  ample  confirmation 
of  his  veracity.  A  similar  expedition, 
commanded  by  Captain  Wey- 
mouth,  equipped  and  despatched 
by  Lord  Arundel,  not  only  produced 
additional  testimony  to  the  same  effect, 
but  reported  so  many  further  particu 
lars  in  favor  of  the  country,  that  all 
doubts  were  removed;  and  an  associa 
tion  sufficiently  numerous,  wealthy,  and 
powerful,  to  attempt  a  settlement,  be 
ing  soon  formed,  a  petition  was  pre 
sented  to  the  king  for  the  sanction  of 
his  authority  to  its  being  carried  into 
effect. 

James  listened  with  a  favorable  ear 
to  the  application.  But  as  the  extent 
as  well  as  value  of  the  American  con 
tinent  began  now  to  be  better  knowrn, 
a  grant  of  the  whole  of  such  a  vast 
region  to  any  one  body  of  men,  how 
ever  reputable,  appeared  to  him  an 
act  of  impolitic  and  profuse  liberal 
ity.'  For  this  reason  he  divided 

-k-r          T        A  1606. 

that  portion  of  North  America, 
which  stretches  from  the  thirty-fourth 
to  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  latitude, 
into  two  districts  nearly  equal ;  the  one 
called  the  First  or  South  Colony  of  Vir 
ginia,  the  other,  the  Second  or  North 

<D  ' 

Colony.  He  authorized  Sir  Thomas 
Gates,  Sir  George  Somers,  Richard 
Hakluyt,  and  their  associates  in  the 
London  Company,  being  mostly  resi 
dent  in  London,  to  plant  anywhere  be 
tween  thirty-four  and  forty-one  degrees 
of  north  latitude,  or  between  Cape 
Fear  and  the  east  end  of  Long  Island. 
The  Plymouth  Company,  composed  of 
residents  in  the  west  of  England, 


CH.  III.] 


CHARTER    OF  THE   LONDON   COMPANY. 


31 


might  plant  anywhere  between  the 
thirty-eighth  and  forty-fifth  degrees  of 
north  latitude,  or  between  Delaware 
Bay  and  Halifax ;  but  neither  company 
were  to  begin  its  settlement  within  a 
hundred  miles  of  any  spot  previously 
occupied  by  the  other.  Each  colony 
was  to  extend  along  the  coast  fifty 
miles  either  way  from  the  point  first 
occupied,  and  from  the  same  point  in 
land  a  hundred  miles,  embracing  ten 
thousand  square  miles  of  continental 
territory.  The  supreme  government 
of  the  colonies  that  were  to  be  settled, 
was  vested  in  a  council,  resident  in 
England,  named  by  the  king,  with  laws 
and  ordinances  given  under  his  sign 
manual ;  and  the  subordinate  jurisdic 
tion  was  committed  to  a  council,  resi 
dent  in  America,  which  was  also  nomi 
nated  by  the  king,  and  to  act  conforma 
bly  to  his  instructions.  The  charter, 
while  it  thus  restricted  the  emigrants 
in  the  important  article  of  internal 
regulations,  secured  to  them  and  their 
descendants  all  the  rights  of  denizens, 
in  the  same  manner  as  if  they  had  re 
mained  or  had  been  born  in  England ; 
and  granted  them  the  privilege  of  hold 
ing  their  lands  in  America  by  the  freest 
and  least  burdensome  tenure.  The  kins: 

o 

permitted  whatever  was  necessary  for 
the  sustenance  or  commerce  of  the  new 
colonies  to  be  exported  from  England, 
during  the  space  of  seven  years,  with 
out  paying  any  duty ;  and,  as  a  farther 
incitement  to  industry,  he  granted  them 
liberty  of  trade  with  other  nations; 
and  appropriated  the  duty  to  be  levied 
on  foreign  commodities,  as  a  fund  for 
the  benefit  of  the  colonies,  for  the  pe 
riod  of  twenty-one  years.  He  also 


granted  them  liberty  of  coining  money, 
of  repelling  enemies,  and  of  detaining 
ships  trading  there  without  their  leave 
"  In  this  singular  charter,"  says  Dr.  Ro 
bertson,  "the  contents  of  which  have 
been  little  attended  to  by  the  historians 
of  America,  some  articles  are  as  unfa 
vorable  to  the  rights  of  the  colonists  as 
others  are  to  the  interest  of  the  parent 
state.  By  placing  the  legislative  and 
executive  powers  in  a  council  nomina 
ted  by  the  crown,  and  guided  by  its 
instructions,  every  person  settling  in 
America  seems  to  be  bereaved  of  the 
noblest  privilege  of  a  free  man ;  by  the 
unlimited  permission  of  trade  with  for 
eigners,  the  parent  state  is  deprived  of 
that  exclusive  commerce  which  has  been 
deemed  the  chief  advantage  resulting 
from  the  establishment  of  colonies. 
But  in  the  infancy  of  colonization,  and 
without  the  guidance  of  observation  or 
experience,  the  ideas  of  men,  with  re 
spect  to  the  mode  of  forming  new  set 
tlements,  were  not  fully  unfolded  or 
properly  arranged.  At  a  period  when 
they  could  not  foresee  the  future  gran 
deur  and  importance  of  the  communi 
ties  which  they  were  about  to  call  into 
existence,  they  were  ill  qualified  to 
concert  the  best  plan  for  governing 
them.  Besides,  the  English  of  that 
age,  accustomed  to  the  high  preroga 
tive  and  arbitrary  rule  of  their  mon- 
archs,  were*  not  animated  with  such 
liberal  sentiments,  either  concerning 
their  own  personal  or  political  rights, 
as  have  become  familiar  in  the  more 
mature  and  improved  state  of  their 
constitution."* 

*  Robertson's   "History  of  America"  book  ix 
p.  212. 


COLONIZATION   OF  VIRGINIA. 


[BK.  1. 


16O6. 


Not  long  after  the  grant  of  this 
charter,  James  issued  "  Instructions  for 
the  Government  of  Virginia,"  in  which 
he  appointed  a  council,  as  pro 
vided  for  in  the  charter,  to  be 
increased  or  altered  at  the  king's  plea 
sure,  and  authorized  to  nominate  and 
superintend  the  local  councils,  reduced 
by  these  instructions  to  seven  mem 
bers  each.  These  seven  were  to  choose 
a  president  from  their  own  number, 
with  power  to  suspend  him  or  any 
counsellor  for  good  cause,  and  to  fill 
vacancies  till  new  appointments  came 
from  England;  the  president  to  have 
a  double  vote.  It  was  made  the  espec 
ial  duty  of  these  councils  to  provide 
that  "the  true  Word  and  service  of 
God,  according  to  the  rites  and  service 
of  the  Church  of  England,  be  preached, 
planted,  and  used  in  the  colonies  and 
among  the  neighboring  savages."  Tu 
mults,  rebellion,  conspiracy,  mutiny  and 


sedition,  along  with  seven  other  of 
fences,  all  triable  by  jury,  were  de 
clared  capital ;  lesser  offences  were  to 
be  tried  summarily,  and  punished  by 
the  local  councils  at  their  discretion ; 
all  laws  enacted  by  these  councils  not 
touching  life  or  limb,  to  remain  in  force 
till  set  aside  by  the  king  or  the  council 
for  Virginia.  For  five  years  after  their 
first  plantation,  the  trade  and  industry 
of  the  colonists  were  to  remain  a  com 
mon  stock,  or  "  two  or  three  stocks  at 
the  most,"  to  be  managed,  in  each 
colony,  by  a  factor  selected  annually 
by  the  local  council,  and  in  England, 
by  committees  appointed  for  that  pur 
pose.  A  knowledge  of  these  provisions 
is  quite  necessary  to  make  the  early 
history  of  Virginia  intelligible. 

Under  such  a  state  of  things  as  this, 
and  under  auspices  of  this  nature,  was 
the  first  permanent  settlement  effected 
by  Englishmen  in  the  New  World. 


CH  APTEK     IV. 

1606—1625, 

COLONIZATION    OF    VIRGINIA. 

The  London  Company  —  Members  of  the  council  and  emigrants  —  Dissensions  —  Enter  Chesapeake  Bay  —  James 
town —  John  Smith  —  His  eminent  value  to  the  colony  —  Sickness  —  Smith  takes  the  lead  —  Explorations  — 
Taken  prisoner  —  Saved  by  Pocahontas  —  New  arrivals  —  Smith  explores  the  Chesapeake  —  Made  president  of 
the  council  —  New  charter  —  Lord  Delaware  captain-general  —  Character  of  emigrants  —  Smith  returns  to 
England  —  The  "starving-time" — Timely  arrival  of  Gates,  Somers,  and  Lord  Delaware  —  Return  of  better 
days  —  Dale  —  Enlargement  of  grant  —  Marriage  of  Pocahontas  —  Rights  of  private  property  —  Argall  — 
Yeardley  —  First  Colonial  Assembly  —  Introduction  of  Negro  slavery  —  Tobacco,  cotton,  etc.  —  Colony  not 
profitable  to  the  Company  —  Massacre  by  the  Indians  —  Retaliation  —  Dissolution  of  the  Company  —  Death  of 
King  James. 


THE  London  Company  consisted  of 
Sir  Thomas  Gates,  Sir  George  Somers, 
Richard  Hakluyt,  Edward  Maria  Wing- 


field,  and  others,  especially  Sir  Thomas 
Smith,  one  of  the  assignees  of  Raleigh's 
patent.  Every  contributor  of  about 


Cii.  IV.] 


SETTLEMENT  OF  JAMESTOWN. 


S3 


16OO. 


sixty  dollars  was  entitled  to  a  hundred 
acres  of  land,  and  every  person 
emigrating  to  the  colony,  or 
carrying  others  there  at  his  own  ex 
pense,  was  allowed  a  hundred  acres  for 
each  person.  On  all  grants  of  lands  a 
quit-rent  was  reserved.  Three  vessels 
were  fitted  out  by  the  Company,  un 
der  command  of  Christopher  Newport, 
and  together  with  Wingfield,  Gosnold, 
Hunt,  the  chaplain,  and  the  famous 
John  Smith,  a  hundred  and  five  men 
embarked — this  was  on  the  19th  of 
December,  1606.  Unfortunately,  less 
than  twenty  of  these  were  practical 
mechanics  and  workmen,  the  large  pro 
portion  being  in  no  sense  possessed  of 
the  qualifications  necessary  in  laying 
the  foundations  of  a  colony  in  a  new 
and  unknown  world. 

Dissensions  arose  on  the  voyage,  al 
most  of  necessity,  for  the  king,  by  a 
refinement  of  folly,  had  sealed  up  in  a 
tin  box,  the  names  and  instructions  of 
those  who  were  to  form  the  council. 
The  evident  superiority  of  Smith  for  the 
present  undertaking  excited  envy  and 
jealousy,  and  on  a  frivolous  charge  he 
was  put  in  confinement  on  the  voyage. 
The  prudent  and  judicious  conduct  and 
exhortations  of  the  excellent  chaplain 
served,  however,  greatly  tc  allay  the 
feelings  of  jealousy  and  animosity  which 
had  been  aroused.  Newport  took  the 
old  route  by  the  Canaries,  so  that  he 
did  not  reach  the  coast  of  Vir 
ginia  till  April,  1607.  By  what 
may  be  termed  a  fortunate  gale,  he 
was  driven  quite  past  the  site  of  the 
old  colony,  into  the  mouth  of  the  noble 
Chesapeake  Bay.  The  headlands  were 
called  Cape  Henry  and  Cape  Charles, 

VOL.  1.— 7 


1607 


and  the  deep  water  for  anchorage  led 
to  the  name  of  Point  Comfort.  De 
lighted  with  this  noble  inlet,  they 
sailed  up  and  explored  James  River  for 
fifty  miles,  and  there  fixed  upon  the 
site  for  the  colony.  The  name  JAMES 
TOWN  was  adopted,  and  it  is  the  old 
est  town  founded  by  the  English  in 
America. 

Smith  was  found  named  as  one  of 
the  council,  when  the  box  came  to  be 
opened,  yet  so  great  was  the  jealousy 
of  Wingfield  that  he  succeeded  in 
having  the  only  competent  man  among 
them  excluded  from  the  council,  and 
put  upon  his  trial  for  sedition.  He 
was  honorably  acquitted,  and  by  the 
good  offices  of  Hunt,  the  chaplain,  was 
restored  to  his  seat  in  the  council.  In 
deed,  had  it  not  been  for  this  coura 
geous,  energetic,  and  ever  ready  man, 
the  whole  colony  would  probably  soon 
have  shared  the  like  disastrous  fate 
with  that  at  Roanoke. 

In  company  with  Newport,  Smith 
ascended  James  River,  and  visited  Pow- 
hatan,  who  received  them  with  cere 
mony,  but  with  little  cordiality.  In 
June,  Newport  returned  to  England 
with  the  ships,  and  the  colonists  be 
came  speedily  sensible  of  their  true 
position.  Weak  in  numbers,  reduced 
by  sickness,  without  suitable  provisions, 
suffering  from  the  summer  heats,  ex 
posed  to  the  hostility  of  the  natives, 
their  condition  was  truly  deplorable ; 
half  of  the  whole  died  before  autumn, 
one  of  whom  was  Gosnold.  The  presi 
dent  of  the  council,  Wingfield,  was  de 
posed  for  avarice  and  endeavoring 
meanly  to  desert  the  colony  in  its 
trouble ;  Ratclilfe,  his  successor,  wa<j 


34 


COLONIZATION   OF  VIRGINIA. 


[BK. 


quite  incompetent ;  so  that,  in  fact,  the 
whole  care  and  management  of  aifairs 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Smith.  And 
we'll  was  it  for  the  colony  that  so  it 
was. 

The  fortifications  were  repaired ;  con 
spiracies  set  on  foot  by  Wingfield  and 
others  were  crushed ;  and  winter,  as  it 
approached,  furnished  plenty  of  game 
and  wild  fowl.  Smith  now  set  out  to 
explore  the  Chickahominy,  a  tributary 
which  entered  James  River  a  little 
above  Jamestown.  This  was  in  obe 
dience  to  a  command  which  required, 
with  singular  ignorance  as  to  the 
breadth  of  the  continent,  that  a  com 
munication  should  be  sought  with  the 
South  Sea,  by  ascending  some  stream 
that  flowed  from  the  north-west.  Sur 
prised  by  the  Indians  while  on  this  ex 
pedition,  Smith  was  made  prisoner : 
his  presence  of  mind  did  not  forsake 
him :  he  so  astonished  the  Indians  with 
a  pocket  compass,  and  with  accounts  of 
its  marvellous  powers,  that  he  was  con 
ducted  by  them  with  mingled  triumph 
and  fear  from  tribe  to  tribe,  as  a  re 
markable  being,  whose  character  and 
designs  they  were  unable  to  penetrate, 
in  spite  of  all  the  incantations  of  their 
seers.  At  length  he  was  brought  in 
to  the  presence  of  the  aged  Powhatan. 
The  politic  chief,  seated  in  the  midst 
of  his  women,  received  him  with  a  dis 
play  of  barbaric  ceremony ;  and  whilst 
he  was  feasted  they  proceeded  to  de 
liberate  upon  his  fate.  Their  fears  dic 
tated  the  policy  of  his  destruction  ;  he 
was  suddenly  dragged  forward,  his 
head  placed  upon  a  Iarg3  stone,  and 
the  club  already  uplifted  to  dash  out 
Lis  brains,  when  Pocahontas,  "  the  king's 


most  deare  and  well-beloved  daughter 
a  child  of  tenne  or  twelve  years  of 
age,"  after  unavailing  and  passionate 
entreaties  for  the  life  of  the  white  man, 
so  noble  a  being  to  her  youthful  imagi 
nation,  ran  forward  and  clung  to  him 
with  her  arms,  and  laying  her  head 
upon  his  own,  disarmed  the  savage 
fury  of  his  executioners.  The  life  of 
the  wondrous  stranger  was  preserved, 
and  his  open  and  generous  character 
won  the  heart  of  the  youthful  Poca 
hontas.  By  the  promise  of  "  life, 
liberty,  land,  and  women,"  they  now 
sought  to  engage  Smith  in  an  attack 
upon  the  colonists,  but  his  address  and 
influence  turned  them  from  the  project, 
and  he  was,  after  seven  weeks1  captiv 
ity,  dismissed  with  promises  of  support 
and  amity.  Like  a  tutelary  genius, 
the  loving  Indian  girl,  after  saving  the 
life  of  their  chief,  "revived  the  dead 
spirits"  of  the  colonists  by  her  atten 
tion  to  their  wants,  bringing  every  day 
with  her  attendants,  baskets  of  pro 
visions,  so  that,  the  enmity  of  the  sav 
ages  disarmed,  and  a  supply  of  food 
obtained,  "  all  men's  fear  was  now  aban 
doned." 

On  his  return  to  Jamestown,  Smith 
found  the  colony  on  the  brink  of  ruin 
and  only  at  the  risk  of  his  life  suc 
ceeded  in  preventing  the  cle- 
sertion  of  the  forty  persons  yet 
remaining.  Newport  soon  after  ar 
rived  with  supplies  and  a  hundred  and 
twenty  emigrants.  These,  howevei, 
proved  not  only  of  no  service  to  the 
colony,  but  positively  injurious,  foi, 
being  chiefly  vagabond  gentlemen  and 
goldsmiths,  they  stirred  up  the  old 
thirst  for  gold ;  and  Newport  was 


CH.  IV.J 


SMITH'S   LABORS  AND  SERVICES. 


35 


foolish  enough  to  carry  back  to  Eng 
land  a  cargo  of  worthless  earth  which 
covetous  and  greedy  eyes  had  magnified 
into  sands  full  of  gold.  Little  satis 
fied  with  such  egregious  folly,  Smith 
now  undertook,  in  an  open  barge  of 
three  tons'  burden,  the  exploration  of 
the  vast  Bay  of  the  Chesapeake.  The 
event  was  more  answerable  to  his  an 
ticipations,  than  to  the  very  limited 
means  at  his  command.  During  three 
months  he  visited  all  the  countries  on 
the  eastern  and  western  shores,  ex 
plored  the  Patapsco,  the  Potomac,  and 
others  of  the  great  tributaries  that 
swell  that  magnificent  basin,  trading 
with  friendly  tribes,  fighting  with  those 
hostile,  observing  the  nature  and  pro 
ductions  of  their  territories,  and  leav 
ing  behind  him,  by  the  exercise  of  ready 
tact  and  dauntless  intrepidity,  unstained 
by  a  single  act  of  cruelty,  a  high  im 
pression  of  the  valor  and  nobleness  of 
the  English  character.  After  sailing 
in  two  successive  cruises  above  three 
thousand  miles,  in  contending  with 
hardship  and  peril,  and  the  discourage 
ment  of  his  companions,  whose  com 
plaints  he  humorously  silenced  by  a 
reference  to  the  expedition  of  Lane, 
and  the  "  dogge's  porridge"  to  which 
he  had  been  reduced,  he  succeeded  in 
bringing  back  to  Jamestown  an  account 
of  the  regions  bordering  on  the  Chesa 
peake,  with  a  map  that  long  served  as 
the  basis  of.  subsequent  delineations. 

A  few  days  after  his  return,  Smith 
was  made  president  of  the  council,  and 
speedily  infused  vigor  and  activity  into 
the  whole  administration  of  the  colony. 
Seventy  new  emigrants,  two  of  them 
females,  arrived,  but  as  before,  they 


16O§. 


16O9. 


were  quite  unsuitable  in  character  for 
the  benefit  of  the  settlement : 
"  When  you  send  again,"  Smith 
wrote  home,  "I  entreat  you  rather 
send  but  thirty  carpenters,  husband 
men,  gardeners,  fishermen,  blacksmiths, 
masons,  and  diggers  up  of  trees'  roots, 
well  provided,  than  a  thousand  of  such 
as  we  have."  But  he  was  equal 
to  the  emergency,  and  his  firm 
ness  never  gave  way ;  despite  all  diffi 
culties,  he  enforced  order  and  industry 
among  the  colonists. 

The  London  Company,  chagrined  at 
its  failure  of  acquiring  sudden  wealth, 
readily  agreed  to  a  change  in  its  con 
stitution.  The  king  made  over  to  the 
Company  the  powers  which  he  had  re 
served  to  himself ;  the  supreme  council 
was  to  be  chosen  by  the  stockholders 
themselves,  and  in  the  exercise  of  the 
powers  of  legislation  and  government 
was  independent  of  the  king.  The  lim 
its  of  the  colony  were  extended,  and 
many  of  the  nobility  and  gentry,  as 
well  as  tradesmen  of  London,  became 
associates  in  the  Company.  The  Coun 
cil  thus  empowered  to  establish  what 
laws  they  deemed  best  for  the  colony, 
and  to  send  out  a  governor  to  execute 
them,  obtained  absolute  control  over 
the  lives,  liberty,  and  fortunes  of  the 
colonists.  There  seemed  now  reason 
able  hope  of  at  least  a  firm,  and  effect 
ive  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
colony.  The  first  act  of  the  new  coun 
cil-  was  to  appoint  Lord  Delaware, 
whose  virtues  adorned  his  rank,  as 
Governor  and  Captain-general  of  the 
colony.  Sir  Thomas  Gates  and  Sir 
George  Somers  were  authorized  to  ad 
minister  its  affairs  until  his  arrival 


36 


COLONIZATION   OF  VIRGINIA, 


[B*.  1. 


Under  such  auspices,  an  expedition  of 
unusual  magnitude  might  have  been 
expected ;  and  nine  vessels,  under  the 
command  of  Newport,  containing  more 
than  five  hundred  emigrants,  were  soon 
on  their  way  out.  The  prosperity  of 
Virginia  seemed  placed  at  length  be 
yond  the  reach  of  danger.  An  un 
foreseen  accident  interrupted  their  san 
guine  expectations;  a  violent  storm 
arose;  the  vessel  on  board  of  which 
were  Gates,  Sorners,  and  Newport,  was 
separated  from  the  rest,  and  after  a 
narrow  escape  from  foundering,  was 
stranded  on  the  coast  of  the  Bermudas, 
but  without  loss  of  life.  The  rest  of 
the  ships,  with  the  exception  of  one 
small  ketch,  succeeded  in  reaching 
Jamestown  in  safety. 

Smith  meanwhile  had  been  zealously 
occupied  in  maintaining  order  and  se 
curity  among  the  little  band  of  colo 
nists.  The  sudden  arrival  of  so  con 
siderable  a  reinforcement  disconcerted 
all  his  arrangements.  The  new  emi 
grants  were  "unruly  gallants,  packed 
off  to  escape  ill  destinies  at  home," 
men  of  broken  fortunes  and  unsteady 
habits ;  the  actual  government  was 
void,  the  fate  of  the  new  governor  un 
certain,  the  provisional  authority  of 
Smith  doubtful  and  contested,  and 
everything  tended  to  the  speedy  disso 
lution  of  their  little  society.  Union 
alone  could  insure  their  defence  against 
the  Indians,  whose  jealousy  of  their 
encroachments  was  steadily  gaining 
ground;  but  every  day  their  dissen 
sions  increased.  Powhatan,  checked  at 
times  by  the  ascendancy  of  Smith,  at 
others  formed  plans  for  cutting  them 
all  off.  In  these  distresses  and  perils 


Pocahontas  still  proved  herself  the 
guardian  angel  of  the  unruly  colonists ; 
and,  "  under  God,"  as  Smith  declared 
in  a  letter  to  the  queen  of  James  I., 
"the  instrument  for  preserving  them 
from  death,  famine,  and  utter  confusion. 
When  her  father,"  he  observes,  "  with 
policy  sought  to  surprise  me,  having 
but  eighteen  men  with  me,  the  dark 
night  could  not  affright  her  from  com 
ing  through  the  irksome  woods,  and 
with  watery  eyes  gave  me  intelligence, 
with  her  best  advice,  to  escape  his 
fury,  which,  had  he  known,  he  had 
surely  slain  her."  While  disunion  thus 
exposed  the  settlers  to  Indian  treach 
ery,  the  want  of  concerted  industry, 
and  the  rapid  consumption  of  their 
stores,  soon  threatened  them  with  all 
the  horrors  of  famine.  Although  his 
authority  had  been  superseded,  Smith 
still  continued,  from  a  feeling  of  pub 
lic  spirit,  to  wrestle  with  the  factious 
colonists,  and  to  hold  the  helm  until 
the  arrival  of  his  successor.  But  at 
this  critical  period,  when  every  thing 
seemed  to  be  rapidly  tending  to  an 
archy  and  ruin,  an  accidental  explosion 
of  gunpowder  inflicted  upon  him  a 
dangerous  wound  which  the  surgical 
skill  of  Virginia  could  not  relieve. 
"  Delegating  his  authority  to  Percy,  he 
embarked  for  England.  Extreme  suf 
fering  from  his  wounds,  and  the  ingrati 
tude  of  his  employers  were  the  fruits 
of  his  services.  He  received  for  his 
sacrifices  and  his  perilous  exertions,  not 
one  foot  of  land,  not  the  house  he  him 
self  had  built,  not  the  field  his  own 
hands  had  planted,  nor  any  reward  but 
the  applause  of  his  conscience  and  the 
world.  He  was  the  Father  of  Vir- 


Ca.  IV.] 


THE  "STARVING  TIME." 


37 


ginia,  the  true  leader  who  first  planted 
the  Saxon  race  within  the  borders  of 
the  United  States.  His  judgment  had 
been  ever  clear  in  the  midst  of  general 
despondency.  He  united  the  highest 
spirit  of  adventure  with  consummate 
powers  of  action.  His  courage  and 
self-possession  accomplished  what  others 
esteemed  desperate.  Fruitful  in  ex 
pedients,  he  was  prompt  in  execution. 
Though  he  had  been  harassed  by  the 
persecutions  of  malignant  envy,  he 
never  revived  the  memory  of  the  faults 
of  his  enemies.  He  was  accustomed  to 
lead,  not  to  send,  his  men  to  danger ; 
would  suffer  want  rather  than  borrow, 
and  starve  sooner  than  not  pay.  He 
had  nothing  counterfeit  in  his  nature  ; 
but  was  open,  honest,  and  sincere.  He 
clearly  discerned  that  it  was  the  true 
interest  of  England  not  to  seek  in  Vir 
ginia  for  gold  and  sudden  wealth,  but 
to  enforce  regular  industry.  '  Nothing,' 
said  he,  'is  to  be  expected  thence  but 
by  labor.'"* 

This  illustrious  man  never  revisited 
Virginia,  although  he  was  several  times 
in  New  England  in  the  service  of  the 
Plymouth  Company.  His  death  oc 
curred  in  1631,  at  London,  in  the  fifty- 
second  year  of  his  age.  Mr.  Hillard, 
in  his  well-written  biography  of  Cap 
tain  Smith,  thus  sums  up  the  obliga 
tions  which  America  owes  to  him: — 
"  The  debt  of  gratitude  due  to  him  is 
national  and  American,  and  so  should 
his  glory  be.  Wherever  upon  this  con 
tinent  the  English  language  is  spoken, 
his  deeds  should  be  recounted,  and  his 
memory  hallowed.  His  services  should 

*  Bancroft's  c History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i., 
p.  138. 


not  only  be  not  forgotten,  but  should 
be  freshly  remembered.  His  name 
should  not  only  be  honored  by  the 
silent  canvass,  and  the  cold  marble, 
but  his  praises  should  dwell  living 
upon  the  lips  of  men,  and  should  be 
handed  down  by  fathers  to  their  chil 
dren.  Poetry  has  imagined  nothing 
more  stirring  and  romantic  than  his 
life  and  adventures,  and  history,  upon 
her  ample  page,  has  recorded  few  more 
honorable  and  spotless  names."* 

On  the  departure  of  Smith  the  col 
ony  speedily  plunged  into  misery  and 
wretchedness.  Their  supply  of  pro 
visions  soon  failed ;  the  Indians  refused 
further  aid,  and  murdered  numbers ; 
in  less  than  six  months  a  horrible 
famine,  remembered  long  after  in  Vir 
ginia,  as  the  "starving  time"  brought 
the  colony  to  the  last  point ;  out  of  five 
hundred  persons  left  by  Smith  in  the 
colony,  only  sixty  remained ;  and  indo 
lence,  vice,  and  famine  had  st>  reduced 
these,  that  had  relief  been  delayed  ten 
days  longer  they  also  must  have  per 
ished. 

But  succor  arrived  in  season  to  pre 
vent  so  sad  a  catastrophe.  Gates  and 
Soniers,  who  had  been  shipwrecked  on 
the  Bermudas,  but  without  losing  a 
single  life,  had  fortunately  succeeded  in 
preserving  their  provisions  and 
stores ;  and  while  the  colonists 
of  Virginia  had  suffered  the  pinchings 
of  want,  the  spontaneous  bounties  of 
nature  had  richly  supported  them  for 
many  months.  Anxious  to  rejoin  their 
companions,  they  constructed  two  crazy 

*  "Life  of  Captain  John  Smith"  p.  143.  Soo 
also  Mr.  \V.  G.  Simms's  picturesque  and  pleasantly 
written  Life  of  the  same  brave  adventurer. 


1610. 


38 


COLONIZATION   OF  VIRGINIA. 


[BK. 


vessels,  and  were  fortunate  enough, 
May  24th,  to  reach  Virginia  in  safety. 
They  were  horror-struck  at  the  appear 
ance  of  the  few  surviving  colonists, 
and,  finding  that  their  stores  would 
last  but  for  sixteen  days  longer,  they 
resolved  to  abandon  Virginia,  the 
scene  of  so  many  and  prolonged  mis 
eries,  and  even  to  consume  the  town 
on  their  departure;  an  act  of  insane 
folly  which  was  happily  prevented  by 
Gates.  On  the  7th  of  June,  at  noon, 
they  embarked  in  four  pinnaces,  and 
fell  down  the  river  with  the  tide. 
Next  morning,  before  they  had  reached 
the  sea,  they  wer-i  startled  with  the 
sudden  appearance  of  the  long  boat  of 
Lord  Delaware,  who  had  just  arrived 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  with  ships 
and  reinforcements.  By  persuasion  and 
authority  he  prevailed  upon  the  melan 
choly  band  to  return.  The  first  act  of 
Lord  Delaware  was,  on  the  10th  of 
June,  to  publish  his  commission,  and  to 
consecrate  his  functions  by  the  solem 
nities  of  prayer  and  supplication  to 
God.  The  hearts  of  the  colonists  were 
full ;  the  arrival  of  the  governor  seemed 
to  them  like  a  special  deliverance  of 
Divine  Providence.  They  took  cour 
age  to  grapple  with  the  difficulties  of 
their  situation,  and  ere  long  found  them 
to  yield  to  determined  energy.  The 
mingled  firmness  and  gentleness  of  the 
new  governor  restrained  the  factious, 
and  won  over  the  dissolute  and  refrac 
tory.  A  regular  system  of  daily  labor 
was  established,  and  every  one  submit 
ted  to  his  appointed  work,  which  was 
regularly  preceded  by  public  worship. 
The  colony  now  began  to  put  forth 
some  promise  of  permanent  establish 


ment  ;  but  scarcely  had  Lord  Del  a  wart- 
brought  about  this  gratifying  result, 
when  his  health  failed,  and  he  was 
compelled  to  return  to  England,  leav 
ing  George  Percy  as  his  deputy.  Dui 
ing  his  short  stay,  he  had  not  only  re 
duced  the  colonists,  now  numbering 
about  two  hundred,  to  some  degree  of 
order,  but  had  repressed  the  encroach 
ments  of  the  Indians,  by  the  erection 
of  new  forts,  and  by  attacking  some  of 


their  villages. 


Sir  George  Somers  was 


dispatched  for  provisions  to  the  Ber 
mudas,  but  he  did  not  live  to  return. 
Captain  Samuel  Argall,  who  accompa 
nied  him  in  another  vessel,  succeeded 
at  last  in  obtaining  supplies  of  corn  on 
the  shores  of  the  Potomac. 

In  May,  soon  after  the  departure  of 
Lord  Delaware,  Sir  Thomas  Dale 
arrived  in  Virginia  with  three 
ships,  three  hundred  emigrants,  and  a 
supply  of  cattle,  provisions,  and  other 
articles  needful  for  the  colony.  He 
was  empowered  to  administer  summary 
justice  upon  any  and  all  classes  of  of 
fenders.  In  the  latter  part  of  August, 
Sir  Thomas  Gates  also  arrived  with  six 
ships,  two  hundred  and  eighty  men, 
and  twenty  women,  a  considerable 
quantity  of  cattle  and  hogs,  military 
stores,  and  other  necessaries ;  and  as 
sumed  the  government  amid  the  thanks 
givings  of  the  colony,  and  with  daily 
prayers  for  England,  their  much  loved 
native  land.  The  colony  now  began 
to  extend  itself  up  James  River,  where 
several  new  settlements  were  eifected, 
and  a  town  built,  enclosed  with  a  pali 
sade,  which,  in  honor  of  prince  Henry, 
was  called  Henrico.  Yet  the  rights  of 
the  Indians  were  not  sufficiently  re- 


OH.  IV. 


MARRIAGE   AND   DEATH   OF  POCAIIONTAS 


1612. 


garded,  and   in   general   scant  justice 
was  meted  out  to  them. 

In  the  following  year  the  Adven 
turers  in  England  obtained  from 
the  king  an  enlargement  of  their 
grants.  The  Bermudas  were  included 
within  the  limits  of  their  third  patent, 
but  were  soon  after  transferred  to  a 
separate  Company,  and  named,  in  hon 
or  of  Sir  George  Somers,  the  Somers 
Islands.  The  supreme  power  which 
heretofore  resided  in  the  Council  was 
now  transferred  to  the  Company,  and 
frequent  meetings  were  held  for  the 
transaction  of  business,  thus  giving  to 
the  corporation  something  of  a  demo 
cratic  form.  The  colony  continued 
steadily  to  •  increase  in  prosperity,  and 
<vas  especially  favored  at  this  period 
in  its  history  by  a  firm  alliance  being 
effected  between  the  English  and  Pow- 
hatan  and  the  Indians,  in  consequence 
of  the  marriage  of  the  gentle  and  af 
fectionate  Pocahontas. 

A  foraging  party,  headed  by  Argall, 
had  succeeded  in  carrying  off  this  no 
ble  maiden,  and  when  her  father  indig 
nantly  demanded  her  return  it  was  re 
fused.  Hostilities  were  about  to  break 
out,  when  a  worthy  young  Englishman, 
named  John  Rolfe,  winning  the 

'  O 

favor  of  Pocahontas,  asked  her 
in  marriage.  Powhatan  was  delighted; 
his  daughter,  docile  and  gentle,  was 
soon  instructed  in  the  Christian  faith, 
and  received  baptism  at  the  hands  of 
that  good  man  and  minister  of  Christ, 
the  Rev.  Alexander  Whitaker.  The 
marriage  was  solemnized  by  the  same 
clergyman,*  according  to  the  usages  of 

*  T>r.  Hawks's  "  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
Virginia"  p.  28. 


1613. 


the  Episcopal  Church.  The  powerful 
Chickahominies  sought  the  friendship 
of  the  English,  and  it  was  earnestly 
hoped  that  intermarriages  might  be 
come  frequent ;  but  no  such  result  fol 
lowed.  The  colonists  seemed  to  have 
eschewed  all  alliances  of  the  kind ;  and 
the  Indians  nursed  their  vexation  and 
wrath  for  a  fitting  revenge. 

A  few  words  seem  to  be  only  due 
to  the  fate  of  Pocahontas.  About 
three  years  after  her  marriage  she 
accompanied  her  husband  to  Eng 
land,  where  she  was  much  caressed 
for  her  gentle,  modest  behavior,  and 
her  great  sendees  to  the  colony. 
Here  she  fell  in  again  with  the  gal 
lant  Smith,  whom  from  report  she  sup 
posed  to  have  been  long  dead,  and 
who  has  left  us  an  interesting  account 
of  his  interview  with  her,  and  of  the 
circumstances  of  her  untimely  death: 
"Being  about  this  time  preparing  to 
set  sail  for  New  England,  I  could  not 
stay  to  do  her  that  service  I  desired 
and  she  well  deserved ;  but  hearing 
shee  was  at  Branford  with  divers  of 
my  friends,  I  went  to  see  her.  After 
a  modest  salutation,  without  any  word, 
she  turned  about,  obscured  her  face,  as 
not  seeming  well  contented;  and  in 
that  humour,  her  husband  with  divers 
others,  we  all  left  her  two  or  three 
houres,  repenting  niyselfe  to  have  writ 
she  could  speake  English ;  but  not  long 
after,  she  began  to  talke,  and  remem 
bered  mee  well  what  courtesies  she  had 
done,  saying,  'You  did  promise  Pow 
hatan  what  was  yours  should  bee  his. 
and  he  the  like  to  you ;  you  called  him 
father,  being  in  his  land  a  stranger,  and 
by  the  same  reason  so  must  I  doe  you ;' 


to 


COLONIZATION    OF  VIRGINIA. 


[BK.  I. 


which  though  I  would  have  excused,  I 
durst  not  allow  of  that  title,  because 
she  was  a  king's  daughter ;  with  a  well- 
set  countenance,  she  said,  'Were  you 
not  afraid  to  come  into  my  father's 
countrie,  and  caused  feare  in  him  and 
all  his  people  but  mee,  and  feare  you 
here  I  should  call  you  father  ?  I  tell 
you,  then,  I  will,  and  you  shall  call  mee 
child,  and  so  I  will  bee  for  ever  and 
ever  your  countrieman.  They  did  tell 
us  alwais  you  were  dead,  and  I  knew 
no  other  till  I  came  to  Plimoth;  yet 
Powhatan  did  command  Uttamatomak- 
kin  to  seeke  you  and  know  the  truth, 
because  your  countriemen  will  lie 
much.' 

"The  treasurer,  councell,  and  coni- 
panie  having  well  furnished  Captaine 
Samuel  Argall,  the  Lady  Pocahontas, 
alias  Rebecca,  with  her  husband  and 
others,  in  the  good  ship  called  the 
George,  it  pleased  God,  at  Gravesend, 
to  take  this  young  lady  to  his  mercie, 
where  shee  made  not  more  sorrow  for 
her  unexpected  death,  than  joy  to  the 
beholders  to  hear  and  see  her  make  so 
religious  and  godly  an  end."*  This  sad 
event  occurred  in  161*7,  when  Pocahon 
tas  was  about  twenty-two  years  of  age. 
She  left  an  infant  son,  who  was  educated 
in  England,  and  through  whom  several 
families  in  Virginia  claim  direct  de 
scent  from  the  daughter  of  Powhatan. 

The  stability  of  the  colony  was 
much  promoted  by  the  establishment 
of  a  right  of  private  property,  and  the 
addition  of  a  number  of  respectable 
young  women  from  England.  Sir 
Thomas  Dale,  though  empowered  to 

•  Smith'*  "  History  of  Virginia,"  p.  121. 


exercise  martial  law,  was  yet  so  dis 
creet  and  just  withal,  that  no  oppres 
sion  was  felt  during  the  five  years  that 
he  remained  in  the  colony — from  1611 
to  1616.  Argall,  in  1613,  fell  upon  a 
colony  which  the  French  were  just 
planting  on  the  Penobscot,  and  com 
pletely  destroyed  it :  subsequently  he 
sailed  north  again,  on  a  sort  of  pirati 
cal  expedition,  and  threw  down  the 
fortifications  of  De  Monts  on  the  isle 
of  St.  Croix,  and  set  fire  to  the  desert 
ed  settlement  of  Port  Royal.  On  his 
return,  in  November,  it  is  said  that  he 
entered  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  and 
compelled  the  Dutch  traders  on  the 
island  of  Manhattan  to  make  an  ac 
knowledgment  of  the  authority  and 
claims  of  England.  But  the  statement 
is  unsupported,  and  probably  fictitious.* 
Gates  returned  to  England  in  1614, 
and  Dale  two  years  later,  leav 
ing  George  Yeardley  as  deputy- 
governor.  Through  the  efforts  of  r. 
faction  he  was  displaced,  and 
Argall,  an  active,  but  coarse 
and  tyrannical  man,  was  appointed 
deputy-governor,  and  also  admi 
ral  of  the  country  and  the  neigh 
boring  seas.  His  rapacity  and  tyranny 
soon  occasioned  loud  complaints,  and 
the  Company  solicited  Lord  Delaware 
to  resume  his  former  office:  he  left 
England,  but  died  on  the  passage  off 
the  entrance  of  the  bay  which  bears 
his  name.  After  a  struggle,  Yeardley, 
the  former  deputy,  was  appoint 
ed  governor,  and  the  honor  of 
knighthood  was  conferred  upon  him. 


1614. 


1C16. 


1017 


1619. 


*  Mr.  Brodhead  positively  asserts  its  falsity.  See 
his  "  History  of  the  State  of  New  York,"  First  Po- 
riod,  p.  54. 


CH.  IV  . 


INTRODUCTION   OF   SLAVERY. 


41 


Argall  made  a  hasty  departure  to  the 
West  Indies.  Yeardley,  soon  after  his 
arrival,  called  together  the  first  Colo 
nial  Assembly  of  Virginia,  composed 
of  the  governor,  the  council,  and  depu 
ties  from  the  eleven  plantations.  These 
deputies  were  called  burgesses,  a  name 
of  note  in  the  history  of  Virginia. 
Two  years  later,  when  Sir  Francis 
Wyatt  succeeded  Yeardley,  the  Com 
pany  issued  a  Charter  or  Ordinance, 
which  gave  a  constitution  and  perma 
nent  government  to  the  colony.  At 
the  same  time  the  plantations  were  di 
vided  into  parishes,  a  glebe  of  a  hun 
dred  acres  was  allowed  to  each  clergy 
man,  and  public  worship  according  to 
the  usages  of  the  Church  of  England 
was  positively  enjoined. 

Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  whose  integrity 
and  energy  were  of  the  highest  value, 
had  succeeded  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  as 
tieasurer  During  the  year  that  he 
held  office  he  sent  out  to  Virginia 
twelve  hundred  emigrants,  among 
whom  were  ninety  young  women,  who 
became  wives  of  the  planters  on  the 
payment  to  the  Company  of  a  hundred 
pounds  of  tobacco,  equal  to  about  $75. 
The  introduction  of  these  into  the 
colony,  sanctioned  by  marriage  and 
domestic  ties,  was  in  every  point  of 
view  a  decided  advantage,  and  proved 
in  the  result  a  blessing.  The  king 
'also  did  the  colony  the  great  injustice 
to  send  out  a  hundred  dissolute  vaga 
bonds,  picked  out  of  the  jails  and  sold 
to  be  servants  for  a  term  of  years — a 
practice,  by  the  way,  which  was  long 
continued,  though  earnestly  protested 
against  by  the  colonists.  At  this  date, 
a  Dutch  trading  vessel  brought  into 

VOL.  I.— 8 


Jamestown  a  cargo  of  twenty  negroes, 
who  were  purchased  by  the 
planters  for  slaves :  at  intervals 
others  were  brought  and  purchased  in 
the  same  way,  and  for  the  same  pur 
pose.  Whatever  may  have  since  been 
thought  and  said  of  the  practice  of 
buying  and  selling  negroes,  it  is  but 
simple  justice  to  state,  that  neither  the 
Virginians  of  that  day,  nor  any  one 
else,  supposed  that  there  was  the  slight 
est  moral  wrong  in  condemning  to  per 
petual  slavery  that  part  of  the  human 
race  whose  skin  is  black. 

The  Earl  of  Southampton  succeeded 
Sandys  as  treasurer,  and,  during  the 
two  years  following,  twenty-three  hun 
dred  emigrants  were  sent  to  Virginia. 
New  plantations  were  established  on 
James  and  York  Rivers;  and  an  es 
tate  of  ten  thousand  acres  near  the 
falls  of  James  River  was  assigned  as 
an  endowment  for  a  College  in  which 
the  Indians,  as  well  as  colonists,  wero 
to  be  educated.  "The  cultivation  of 
tobacco  had  given  a  sudden  impulse  to 
Virginia;  but  the  use  of  it  was  still 
quite  limited,  and  the  English  market 
was  soon  overstocked.  The  price  be 
gan  to  fall,  and  great  anxiety  was 
evinced  by  the  enlightened  treasurer 
for  the  introduction  into  the  colony  of 
other  staples — flax,  silk,  wine,  and  the 
preparation  of  lumber.  New  attempts 
were  made  at  the  manufacture  of  glass, 
pitch,  tar,  and  potashes,  and  some 
Italians  and  Dutch  were  sent  out  to 
instruct  the  colonists  in  these  opera 
tions."* 

The  colony  thus  far,  on  the  whole, 

*  Hildreth's  "History  f  the  United  States,-  vol  i., 
p.  121 


COLONIZATION   OF  VIRGINIA. 


BK.  1. 


had  not  proved  profitable  to  the  Com 
pany  ;  although  it  had  taken  deep  root, 
and  promised  great  results  in  the  fu 
ture.*  Sir  Francis  Wyatt  superseded 
Yeardley  as  governor,  and  was 
instructed,  beside  restricting  the 
amount  of  tobacco  which  each  planter 
might  raise,  to  cultivate  the  good  will 
of  the  natives.  But  unhappily  it  was 
too  late,  and  a  fearful  visitation  fell 
upon  the  colony  in  consequence. 

The  aged  Powhatan  was  dead.  Ope- 
chancanough,  his  successor,  a  bold  and 
cunning  chief,  had  bided  his  time,  and 
in  profound  secrecy  he  arranged  and 
matured  a  scheme  for  an  universal 
massacre  of  the  whites.  The  Indians 
had  been  treated  with  contempt,  as 
enemies  of  no  moment ;  military  exer 
cises  had  gone  into  desuetude ;  and 
the  Indians  had  gradually  become  as 
dexterous  as  the  colonists  in  the  use  of 
fire-arms.  On  the  22d  of  March, 
at  a  given  signal,  in  the  midst 
of  apparent  security,  they  fell  upon 
every  settlement;  men,  women,  and 
children  were  slaughtered  without 
mercy ;  and  had  not  a  converted  In 
dian,  named  Clianco,  given  warning 
the  night  before,  the  extent  of  the 
massacre  must  have  been  nearly  uni 
versal.  As  it  was,  three  hundred  and 
fifty  persons  perished,  including  six  of 
the  Council.  "  And  thus,"  says  a  con 
temporary,  quoted  by  old  Purchas, 
"  the  rest  of  the  colony,  that  had  warn 
ing  given  them,  by  this  means  was 

*  "  The  first  culture  of  cotton  in  the  United  States 
deserves  commemoration.  This  year  (1621)  the 
seeds  were  planted  as  an  experiment ;  and  their 
plentiful  coming  up'  was,  at  that  early  day,  a  sub 
ject  of  interest  in  America  and  England." — Ban 
croft's  "History  of  the  United,  States"  vol.  i.,  p.  179. 


1622. 


saved.  Such  was — God  be  thanked 
for  it — the  good  fruit  of  an  infill  el 
converted  to  Christianity;  for  though 
three  hundred  and  more  of  ours  died 
by  many  of  these  pagan  infidels,  yet 
thousands  of  ours  were  saved  by  the 
means  of  one  of  them  alone,  which  was 
made  a  Christian." 

A  savage  war  of  retaliation  and  ex 
termination  ensued.  Sickness  and  fam 
ine,  too,  came  upon  them,  and  within  a 
brief  period  the  colonists  were  re 
duced  from  four  thousand  to  twenty- 
five  hundred.  But  the  white  men 
soon  regained  their  wonted  superiority 
over  the  red  race,  and  the  Indians,  en 
trapped  by  lying  promises  of  security 
and  immunity,  were  slain  without 
mercy :  this  state  of  warfare  continued 
for  about  fourteen  years. 

The  colonists,  by  the  terms  of  the 
charter,  were  not  much  better  than  in 
dented  servants  to  the  Company,  who, 
notwithstanding  the  privileges  they 
had  granted,  still  retained  the  supreme 
direction  of  affairs.  Their  policy  was 
narrow,  timid,  and  fluctuating ;  and  its 
unfortunate  result  led  to  dis 
sensions,  in  which  political,  even 
more  than  commercial,  questions,  soon 
became  the  subject  of  eager  dispute. 
In  England  the  ministerial  faction 
eagerly  endeavored  to  fortify  itself  by 
gaining  adherents  among  the  Virginia 
Company,  but  the  great  majority  were 
determined  to  assert  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  subject  at  home,  as  well 
as  of  the  colonists  abroad.  A  freedom 
of  discussion  on  political  matters  in 
general  was  thus  generated,  which  was 
regarded  by  the  asserters  of  royal  pre 
rogative,  as  being  of  highly  dangerous 


1623. 


Cu.  IV.] 


FALL   OF  THE  VIRGINIA  COMPANY. 


1624. 


tendency.  King  James,  who  had  taken 
the  alarm,  was  appealed  to  as  arbiter 
by  the  minority,  and,  furnished  with  a 
pretext  in  the  ill-success  and  presumed 
mismanagement  of  the  Company's  af 
fairs,  determined  upon  a  summary 
method  of  reforming  them  after  his 
own  standard.  Without  legal  right, 
by  the  exercise  of  his  prerogative  alone, 
he  ordered  the  records  of  the  Company 
in  London  to  be  taken  possession  of,' 
and  appointed  a  commission  to  sit  in 
judgment  upon  its  proceedings, 
while  another  body  was  sent  to 
Virginia  to  inquire  into  the  condition 
and  management  of  the  colony.  The 
first  inquiry  brought,  it  was  confessed, 
much  mismanagement  to  light,  upon 
which  the  king,  by  an  order  in  council, 
declared  his  own  intention  to  assume  in 
future  the  appointment  of  the  officers 
of  the  colony,  and  the  supreme  direc 
tion  of  its  affairs.  The  directors  were 
invited  to  accede  to  this  arrangement, 
on  pain  of  the  forfeiture  of  their  char 
ter.  Paralysed  by  the  suddenness  of 
this  attack  upon  their  privileges,  they 
begged  that  they  might  be  allowed 
time  for  consideration.  An  answer  in 
three  days'  time  was  peremptorily  in 
sisted  on.  Thus  merfaced,  they  deter 
mined  to  stand  upon  their  rights,  and 
to  surrender  them  only  to  force.  Upon 
their  decided  refusal,  a  writ  of  Qi^o 
Warranto  was  issued  by  the  king 
against  the  Company,  in  order  that  the 
validity  of  its  charter  might  be  tried  in 


the  court  of  King's  Bench.  Parliament 
having  assembled,  a  last  appeal  was 
made  ;  little  sympathy,  however,  had 
that  body  for  their  exclusive  privileges. 
At  length  the  commissioners  returned 
from  Virginia  with  accumulated  evi 
dences  of  misgovernment,  and  an 
earnest  recommendation  to  the  mon 
arch  to  recur  to  the  original  constitu 
tion  of  1606,  and  to  abrogate  the  demo 
cratic  element  which,  it  was  asserted, 
had  occasioned  so  much  dissension  and 
misrule.  This  afforded  additional 
ground  for  a  decision,  which,  as  usual 
in  that  age,  says  Robertson,  was  "  per 
fectly  consonant  to  the  wishes  of  the 
monarch.  The  charter  was  forfeited, 
the  Company  was  dissolved,  and  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  conferred  on  it  re 
turned  to  the  king,  from  whom  they 
flowed."  Thus  fell  the  Virginia 
Company,  in  1625,  after  spend 
ing  nearly  $700,000  in  their  efforts  to 
establish  the  colony. 

An  agent  was  sent  to  England  by  the 
colonists  praying  that  no  change  might 
take  place  in  their  acquired  franchises 
and  privileges;  he,  however,  died  on 
the  passage.  James  continued  AVyatt 
in  office  to  exercise  his  authority  on  the 
precedent  of  the  last  five  years,  i.  e., 
from  the  time  that  the  Company  estab 
lished  the  Colonial  Assembly.  The  king 
had  further  plans  in  view,  but  his  death 
on  the  27th  of  March,  1625,  finally 
closed  his  career  with  all  its  good  and 
all  its  evil.' 


1C25. 


44 


SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW    WETHERLAND. 


CHAPTER    Y. 

1609—1640, 

SETTLEMENT     OF     NEW     NETHEKL AND. 

Henry  Hudson  —  Enters  the  service  of  the  Dutch  —  Discovers  and  explores  the  River  now  called  by  hie 
name  —  His  conduct  to  the  natives  —  His  fate  —  Dutch  East  India  Company  —  Block's  explorations  —  New 
Netherland — The  Walloons  —  Purchase  of  Manhattan  Island — Trade  the  principal  object  —  Plan  of  Colo 
nization —  The  patroons  and  their  purchases  —  Swaanendael  —  Difficulties  of  this  plan  —  Minuit  recalled 
—  Van  Twiller  governor  —  Disputes  with  the  English  —  Attempts  of  the  Swedes  at  colonization  on  the 
Delaware  —  Their  success. 


1609. 


ABOUT  two  years  after  the  settlement 
of  Jamestown,  and  nearly  at  the  same 
point  of  time  that  Champlain  was  ma 
king  explorations  in  northern 
New  York,  a  famous  navigator, 
named  Henry  Hudson,  entered  the 
service  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Com 
pany.  He  was  by  birth  an  English 
man,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  the 
illustrious  Captain  John  Smith.  He 
had  already  made  two  voyages  in  the 
employ  of  London  merchants,  in  search 
of  a  north-west  passage  to  India,  but 
not  meeting  sufficient  encouragement 
at  home,  he  went  to  Holland,  and,  early 
in  April,  1609,  was  placed  in  command 
of  a  small  vessel  of  eighty  tons'  burden, 
called  the  Half-Moon,  for  a  third  voy 
age.  Impeded  by  the  ice  in  the  north 
ern  seas,  he  ran  along  the  coast  of 
Acadie,  entered  Penobscot  Bay,  made 
the  land  of  Cape  Cod,  entered  the 
Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Bays,  and 
on  the  2d  of  September  discovered  and 
entered  Sandy  Hook  Bay.  On  the 
llth,  he  passed  through  the  Narrows, 
and  on  the  12th  began  his  voyage  up 
that  noble  river  which  now  justly  per 
petuates  his  fame,  pronouncing  the 


country  along  the  river's  banks  "as 
beautiful  a  land  as  one  can  tread  upon." 
Hudson  ascended  the  river  with  his 
ship  as  far  as  where  the  present  city  of 
Albany  stands,  and  thence  sent  a  boat 
which  probably  explored  somewhat  be 
yond  Waterford.  Mr.  Hildreth  stig 
matizes  Hudson's  conduct  towards  the 
natives  on  several  occasions,  as  marked 
by  "  reckless  cruelty,"  which  is  hardly 
borne  out,  we-  think,  by  the  facts  on 
record.*  Descending  the  river,  Hud- 
sou,  on  the  4th  of  October,  set  sail  for 
home,f  and  in  little  more  than  a  month 

*  Sec  Cleveland's  "Life  of  Henry  Hudson,"  ch.  iv. 

f  Mr.  Bancroft's  language,  after  narrating  Hudson's 
departure  for  Europe,  will  interest  those  who  would 
like  to  know  something 'about  "  New  York  as  it  was  :" 
— "  Sombre  forests  shed  a  melancholy  grandeur  over 
the  useless  magnificence  of  nature,  and  hid  in  their 
deep  shades  the  rich  soil  which  the  sun  had  never 
warmed.  No  axe  had  levelled  the  giant  progeny  of 
the  crowded  groves,  in  which  the  fantastic  forms  of 
withered  limbs,  that  had  been  blasted  and  riven  by 
lightning,  contrasted  strangely  with  the  verdant  fresh 
ness  of  a  younger  growth  of -branches.  The  wanton 
grape  vine,  seeming  by  its  own  power  to  have  sprung 
from  the  earth  and  to  have  fastened  its  leafy  coils  on 
the  top  of  the  tallest  forest  tree,  swung  in  the  air  with 
every  breeze  like  the  loosened  shrouds  of  a  ship  .  .  . 
.  .  Reptiles  sported  in  stagnant  pools,  or  crawled  un 
harmed  over  piles  of  mouldering  trees.  The  spotted 
deer  crouched  among  the  thickets  ;  but  not  to  hide, 


CH    V.] 


MANHATTAN  ISLAND   FIRST  OCCUPIED. 


45 


1610. 


1613. 


arrived  safely  at  Dartmouth  in  England. 
The  ship,  after  some  eight  months'  de 
lay,  was  allowed  to  continue  its  voyage 
to  Holland,  but  Hudson  was  detained 
by  a  royal  order,  and  soon  after  fitted 
out  for  a  fourth  voyage.  From  that 
voyage  he  never  returned,  but,  set 
adrift  in  an  open  boat  with  his 
young  son  and  eight  others,  he 
perished  in  the  frozen  regions  of  that 
Bay  which  still  bears  his  name  and  re 
minds  us  of  his  fearful  fate. 

The  Dutch  East  India  Company 
claimed  a  right  to  the  new  lands  dis 
covered  by  their  agent;  and  vessels 
\vere  immediately  despatched  to  open 
a  trade  with  the  natives.  A 
few  fortified  trading  houses 
were  erected  for  this  purpose  on  the 
island  of  Manhattan,  the  nucleus  of  the 
future  city  of  New  York.  Argall,  it  is 
said,  returning  to  Virginia  from  his  at 
tack  on  the  French  settlements,  entered 
the  harbor,  and  claimed  the  right  of 
possession  for  England.  Too  weak  to 
dispute  his  claim,  the  Dutch  affected 
submission,  but  only  till  his  vessels 
were  out  of  sight.  But  this  statement 
lacks  confirmation,  and  is  positively  de 
nied  by  the  best  authorities.*  The 
States-general  had  meanwhile  granted 
a  four  years'  monopoly  to  any  enter 
prising  traders,  and  an  Amsterdam 
company  sent  out  five  ships.  One  of 
these  adventurers,  Adriaen  Block,  ex 
tended  the  sphere  of  discovery  by  way 

for  there  was  no  pursuer ;  and  there  were  none  but 
wild  animals  to  crop  the  uncut  herbage  of  the  pro 
ductive  prairies.  Silence  reigned,"  etc.,  etc. — Ban 
croft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii.,pp. 
266—8. 

*  See  Brodhead's  "History  of  the  State  of  New 
York,'1'1  First  Period,  p.  54. 


1615. 


of  the  East  River,  ran  through  the 
formidable  "Hellegat,"  or  Hell  Gate, 
and  traced  the  shores  of  Long  Island 
and  the  coasts  of  Connecticut  as  far  as 
Cape  Cod.  A  few  years  later,  Captain 
Thomas  Dermer  was  the  first  English 
man  who  visited  the  Dutch  at  Manhat 
tan  and  sailed  through  Long  Island 
Sound.  A  fort  was  erected  on  Manhat 
tan  Island,  and  another  a  few 
miles  below  Albany,  more,  how 
ever,  as  centres  of  traffic  with  the  In 
dians,  than  with  the  view  of  permanent 
colonization.  After  a  further  duration 
of  three  years,  during  which  they  were 
first  brought  into  contact  with  the  Mo 
hawks,  the  easternmost  of  the  Iroquois 
or  Five  Nations,  and  succeeded  in  open 
ing  friendly  relations  with  different 
tribes  of  Indians,  the  trading  monopoly 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the 
Dutch  West  India  Company, 
who  were  endowed  with  the  exclusive 
privilege  of  trafficking  and  colonizing 
on  the  coasts  of  Africa  and  America.* 
This  wealthy  and  important  corpora 
tion,  combining  military  with  commer 
cial  operations,  was  divided  into  five 
chambers,  established  in  five  of  the 
principal  Dutch  cities.  Its  affairs  were 
managed  by  a  Board  of  Directors 
called  the  Assembly  of  Nineteen;  and 
its  attention  was  devoted  more  espe 
cially  to  making  reprisals  on  Spanish 
commerce,  purchasing  slaves,  the  con 
quest  of  Brazil,  etc.  New  Netherland 
was  committed  to  the  charge  of  the 

*  It  deserves  to  be  put  on  record  here,  to  the  credit 
of  a  Dutch  navigator,  that,  in  the  year  1616,  William 
Cornells  S^houten,  a  merchant  of  Hoorn,  in  North 
Holland,  first  sailed  around  the  southernmost  point  of 
South  America  :  in  honor  of  his  native  city,  he  called 
it  "  Cape  Hoorn" 


1621. 


46 


SETTLEMENT  OF   NEW  NETHERLAND. 


1623. 


1621. 


Amsterdam  Chamber.  Two  vessels 
were  sent  out  under  command 
of  Cornells  Jacobsen  May,  the 
companion  of  Block,  who  became  the 
first  Director  of  New  Netherland.  Du 
ring  his  brief  administration  of  one 
year,  a  fort  was  built  on  the  Delaware 
called  Nassau:  there  was  also  built,  on 
the  Hudson,  where  Albany  now  stands, 
a  fort  named  Fort  Orange.  A 
number  of  Walloons,  who  had 
been  denied  the  privilege  of  settlement 
within  the  territory  of  the  Virginia 
Company,  came  out  in  the  vessel  under 
command  of  May:  these,  who  were, 
properly  so  called,  the  first  colonists, 
settled  on  the  north-west  corner  of 
Lone:  Island,  at  Waal-Bo^t  —  "  "Wai- 

O  '  O 

loon's  Bay" — now,  Wallabout. 

In  May,  1626,  Peter  Minuit  arrived 
at  Manhattan  as  Director-general  of 
New  Netherland,  and  entered  vigor 
ously  upon  the  duties  of  his  office. 
Manhattan  Island  was  'purchased  of 
the  Indians  for  sixty  gilders — 
about  $24 — and  a  block-house, 
surrounded  by  a  palisade,  was  built  at 
the  southernmost  point:  this  was  called 
J?urt  Amsterdam.  Staten  Island  was 
also  purchased  of  the  Indians,  and  the 
Dutch  sent  over  to  Holland  specimens 
of  wheat,  rye,  barley,  flax,  etc.,  as  evi 
dence  of  the  fertility  and  goodness  of 
the  soil.  Although  the  fur  trade  had 
already  reached,  in  the  value  of  the 
exports,  about  $20,000  per  annum,  the 
Dutch  had  not  as  yet  enter 
tained  seriously  the  project  of 
actual  colonization  and  settlement  on 
the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  They  were 
content  to  enjoy  the  profits  of  trade, 
and  to  have  friendly  intercourse  with 


1626. 


1627. 


1629. 


the  English  at  New  Plymouth,  who, 
however,  with  characteristic  feeling 
on  the  subject,  did  not  fail  to  remind 
them  that  England-  claimed  the  region 
of  country  they  were  occupying ;  and 
when  England  claimed  any  thing,  she 
was  not  likely  very  soon  or  easily  to 
give  it  up. 

The  States-general  were  induced, 
however,  the  next  year,  to  approve 
a  plan  for  colonization  which 
the  Assembly  of  Nineteen  had 
drawn  up.  "  Any  member  of  the  Com 
pany,  who  might  establish  in  any  part 
of  New  Netherland,  within  four  years 
after  the  notice  of  his  intention,  a 
colony  of  fifty  persons  upwards  of  fif 
teen  years  of  age,  was  to  be  entitled, 
by  the  name  of  Patroon,  to  a  grant  of 
territory  so  occupied,  sixteen  miles  in 
extent  alonsr  the  sea  shore,  or  the  bank 

O  ' 

of  some  navigable  river,  or  eight  miles 
where  both  banks  were  occupied,  with 
an  indefinite  extent  inland.  The  islaim 
of  Manhattan  and  the  fur  trade  with 
the  Indians  were -expressly  reserved  to 
the  Company ;  and  upon  all  trade 
carried  on  by  the  patroons,  an  ac 
knowledgment  of  five  per  cent,  was  to 
be  paid.  These  patroons  were  to  ex 
tinguish  the  Indian  title,  and  were  to 

<~> 

settle  their  lands  with  tenants,  farmers 
having  indented  servants  the  same  with 

O 

those  of  Virginia ;  but  the  feudal  privi 
leges  reserved  to  the  patroons,  some 
traces  of  which  still  exist,  present  a 
marked  difference  between  this  Dutch 
scheme  of  settlement,  and  the  free  ten 
ure  of  lands  adopted  in  Virginia.  Free 
settlers  who  emigrated  at  their  own  ex 
pense,  were  to  be  allowed  as  much  land 
as  they  could  cultivate,  and  settlers  of 


CH.  V.] 


THE  PATROONS'  PRIVILEGES. 


47 


every  description  were  to  be  free  of 
taxes  for  ten  years.  The  colonists  were 
forbidden  to  make  any  woolen,  linen  or 
cotton  cloth,  or  to  weave  any  other 
stuffs,  on  pain  of  being  banished,  and 
arbitrarily  punished  'as  perjurers,' — a 
regulation  in  the  spirit  of  that  colonial 
system  adopted  by  all  the  nations  of 
Europe,  who  sought  to  confine  the 
colonists  to  the  production  of  articles 
of  export,  and  to  keep  them  dependent 
on  the  mother  country  for  the  most 
necessary  manufactures.'7* 

The  scheme  met  with  favor :  several 
members  of  the  Company  selected  and 
purchased  the  most  desirable  locations 
on  the  Delaware  Bay,  and  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Hudson  opposite  Manhat 
tan  Island.  The  former  was  called 
Swaanendad,  or  Swansdale ;  and  the 
latter,  to  which  Staten  Island  and  other 
tracts  were  added,  was  entitled  Pavo- 
iiia.  The  agents  of  Van  Rensselaer 
purchased  the  lands  in  the  vicinity  of 
Fort  Orange :  the  name  Rensselaer wyck 
was  given  to  this  tract,  twenty-four 
miles  long  and  forty-eight  broad.  De 
Vries  went  to  Swansdale  and  settled 
there  with  a  small  colony,  where  the 
town  of  Lewiston  now  stands ; 

1G30.  i        •       •  i 

and  some  beginnings  were  made 
in  colonizing  Rensselaerwyck  and  Pavo- 
nia. 

Difficulties  soon  occurred  between 
the  patroons  and  the  Company  in  re 
spect  to  trading  privileges,  and  Minuit, 
who  was  accused  of  favoring  the  claims 

of  the  patroons,  was  recalled. 

1039 

On  his  return  to  Holland  with 
a  cargo  of  furs,  he  was  compelled  by 


*  Hildreth's  "History  of  the   United  States,"   vol. 
p.  142. 


1633. 


stress  of  weather,  to  put  into  Plymouth 
harbor,  where  he  was  detained  and 
threatened  with  being  treated  as  an 
interloper.  The  Dutch  title  to  New 
Netherland  was  discussed  between  the 
governments  of  England  and  Holland, 
the  former  insisting  upon  her  right  to 
the  territory.  De  Vries,  in  December 
of  this  year,  brought  supplies  to  the 
little  colony  at  Swansdale  ;  but  sad  to 
relate,  not  a  living  being  was  to  be 
found  there ;  the  Indians  had  com 
pletely  destroyed  every  thing.  De 
Vries  subsequently  settled  on  Staten 
Island. 

"Wouter  Van  Twiller,  who  succeeded 
Minuit,  appears  to  have  been 
appointed  through  family  in 
fluence,  and  had  few  or  no  qualifications 
for  the  post  of  Director-general.  He 
brought  out  with  him  over  a  hundred 

O 

soldiers,  a  school-master,  and  a  clergy 
man  named  Bogardus.  Trade,  however, 
was  still  the  prevailing  object  with  the 
Dutch.  Nearly  twenty  years  before, 
Block  had  ascended  the  Fresh  or  Con 
necticut  River,  where  a  profitable  trade 
had  commenced  with  the  Indians,  and 
continued  to  increase  in  importance. 
In  order  to  secure  this  valuable  traffic, 
the  Dutch  purchased  of  the  Pequods, 
a  tract  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Con 
necticut,  near  where  the  city  of  Hart 
ford  now  stands,  and  built  a  trading- 
house  which  was  fortified  with  two 
cannon,  and  named  the  House  of  Good 
Hope.  Soon  after,  a  small  vessel  came 
from  Boston  with  a  letter  to  Van  Twil 
ler,  from  Winthrop,  the  governor,  as 
serting  anew  the  claims  of  England, 
and  expressing  surprise  that  the  Dutch 
had  taken  possession  on  the  Connect!- 


48 


SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW   NETHERLAND. 


cut.  The  people  of  Plymouth,  mean 
while,  had  taken  steps  to  establish  a 
post  on  the  Connecticut,  which  they 
did.  and  when  Van  Twiller  sent  a  com 
pany  of  soldiers  to  drive  them  out, 
they  stood  on  their  defence,  and  the 
Dutch  withdrew  without  making  trial 
of  force. 

The  new  governor  was  zealous  in  his 
efforts  to  improve  New  Amsterdam : 
a  church  was  erected,  as  were 
barracks  foi  the  soldiers,  mills, 
etc.  But  the  disputes  with  the  pa- 
troons  proved  a  serious  hindrance  to 
the  progress  of  the  colony  ;  to  get  rid 
of  these  controversies,  it  was  proposed 
to  buy  up  the  patroonships,  and  Swans- 
dale  was  sold  back  to  the  Company  for 
about  $6,000.  On  the  Connecticut  the 
Massachusetts  people  were  gradually 
crowding  the  Dutch  out,  and 
Fort  Nassau,  on  the  Delaware, 
was  attempted  to  be  surprised  by  a 
party  from  Plymouth.  Van  Twiller, 
with  an  eye  to  his  own  interests,;  se 
cured  several  valuable  tracts  on  Long 
Island  and  other  smaller  islands  near 
by.  Complaints  having  been  made 
against  him  at  home  by  Van  Dinckla- 
gen,  late  Schout-fiscal  at  New  Amster 
dam  and  an  able  and  upright 
man,  he  was  soon  after  recalled, 
and  "William  Kieft  was  sent  out  as  his 
successor,  in  March  of  the  next  year. 

While  the  people  of  New  England 
were  steadily  advancing  towards  pos 
session  of  the  country  claimed  by  the 
Dutch  on  the  Connecticut,  new  com 
petitors  also  appeared  in  Delaware 
Bay,  in  the  persons  of  hardy  and  en 
ergetic  Swedes.  The  illustrious  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  had  early  perceived 


1635. 


1637. 


1633 


163S. 


the  advantages  which  would  ensue  from 
colonization  in  America,  and  uu- 

1627 

der  his  auspices  a  commercial 
company  was  formed  for  this  purpose. 
The  untimely  death  of  Gustavus,  at 
the  battle  of  Lutzen,  in  1632,  and 
the  breaking  out  of  the  German  war, 
prevented  any  decisive  action  for  some 
years.  The  chancellor  Oxenstiern  fa.- 
vored  the  plan  of  the  company, 
and  renewed  their  patent ;  but 
it  was  not  till  the  close  of  1637  that 
an  expedition  was  actually  fitted  out. 
Under  the  command  of  Minuit,  who 
had  been  previously  Director  of  NewT 
Netherland,  two  vessels  with  fifty  men 
entered  the  Delaware ;  lands 
were  purchased  of  the  natives 
near  the  head  of  the  Bay,  and  a  foil  was 
built,  called  Christina,  in  honor  of  the 
queen  of  Sweden.  The  Dutch  gov 
ernor,  Kieft,  protested  against  this  in 
trusion,  but  to  little  purpose:  it  was 
unwise  to  attempt  hostilities  against 
the  Swedes,  and  he  desisted.  Emigra 
tion  continued  to  increase  for  several 
years,  and  Printz,  the  governor,  estab 
lished  a  residence,  and  built  a  fort 
near  Philadelphia :  thus  Pennsylvania 
was  occupied  by  the  Swedes  long  be 
fore  Penn  became  proprietary,  and  the 
banks  of  the  Delaware,  from  the  ocean 
to  the  falls  near  Princeton,  were  known 
as  NEW  SWEDEN.  At  enmity  with  the 
Dutch  in  all  other  things,  the  Swedes, 
nevertheless,  joined  with  them 

i        -n        v    l  l  1040. 

in  keeping  out  the  English,  who 
occasionally  attempted  to  settle  within 
the  limits  which  they  claimed  as  their 
own:  all  who  came  were  either  driven 
out  by  force  or  rigidly  compelled  to 
submit  to  Swedish  authority. 


VI.] 


NEW   ENGLAND   FATHERS 


CHAPTER     VI. 

1620—1631. 

FOUNDATION  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Interest  and  importance  ol  New  England  History  —  The  Reformation — Its  effects  —  The  English  Reformation  — 
Progress  under  Henry  "V  III.,  Edward  VL,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth  —  James  I. — Ilia  education  and  conduct  —  Points 
of  variance  between  the  Puritans  and  the  Church  of  England  — The  king's  feelings  toward  the  Puritan  party  — 
Internal  dissensions  —  The  Brownists  or  Independents — Elders  Brewster  and  Robinson  —  Emigration  to  Hol 
land  —  Disputes  in  Amsterdam  —  Removal  to  Leyden  —  Reasons  for  desiring  to  leave  Holland  —  Determination  to 
colonize  in  America — Set  sail  —  Stormy  voyage  —  Reach  the  coast  near  Cape  Cod  —  Social  compact — Ply 
mouth  Rock —  Sufferings  during  the  winter  —  Intercourse  with  the  Indians  —  Apprehensions — Plantation  at 
Wissagusset  —  State  of  the  colony  in  1630  —  Massachusetts  Bay  colony  —  Question  of  Religion  —  Charter  and 
Company  transferred  to  New  England  —  Foundation  of  Boston  — Organization  of  churches  —  Severe  trials  — 
Theocratic  basis  of  the  Government —  Position  and  influence  of  the  ministers. 


PECULIAR  interest  and  importance 
belong  to  the  early  history  and  pro 
gress  of  New  England.  Its  position 
anicr^  the  English  colonies  in  America; 
the  influence  which  it  has  always  ex 
erted  in  American  affairs ;  the  persons 
by  whom  it  was  settled ;  the  specialities 
of  opinion  and  practice  among  the  Pu 
ritan  colonists ;  the  reasons  which  led 
to  their  adoption  of  views  in  regard  to 
religious  and  civil  duties  and  obliga 
tions  such  as  they  held,  maintained, 
and  earnestly  endeavored  to  carry  into 
full  effect, — these,  and  the  like  points, 
seem  to  render  it  necessary  to  inquire 
with  some  care  into  several  matters 
antecedent  to  the  landing  of  the  Pil 
grims  on  the  rock-bound  coast  of  New 
England.  It  will  be  our  effort  to  do 
this  as  briefly  and  impartially  as  pos 
sible. 

It  was  but  natural  that  the  great 
Reformation  in  the  16th  century  should 
have  given  rise  to  many  varieties  of 
opinions,  and  even  very  serious  differ 
ences  and  disputes  among  ^hose  who  re- 

VOL.  J.— 9 


nounced  the  corruptions  in  doctrine 
and  practice  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
When  one  considers  what  an  astonish 
ing  change  was  wrought  by  the  preach 
ing  and  labors  of  such  men  as  Luther, 
Zuingle,  Calvin,  and  other  eminent  Re 
formers,  among  a  people  who  had  for 
centuries  been  in  absolute  subjection, 
mentally  and  morally,  to  papal  domi 
nation  and  tyranny ;  when  one  calls  to 
mind  the  vast  and  incalculable  effect 
produced  throughout  the  civilized  world 
by  the  art  of  printing,  the  revival  of 
learning  in  Europe,  the  free  use  of  the 
Scriptures  in  the  vernacular  language 
of  the  people,  and  free  discussion  of  all 
religious  subjects;  and  further,  when 
one  remembers  that  there  is  always  a 
tendency  among  men  to  push  matters 
of  reform  to  an  extreme  ;  it  need  not 
surprise  us  that  good  men,  and  honest 
and  conscientious  men,  held  sentiments 
not  altogether  accordant  on  many  re 
ligious  topics,  even  topics  of  vital  im 
portance,  and  adopted  practices  and 
views  of  the  meaning  of  Holy  Scrip- 


50 


FOUNDATION  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


IB*.  V 


ture  which  produced  dissension  and  dif 
ficulty  in  the  very  earliest  days  of  Pro 
testantism. 

But  beside  considerations  of  this 
kind,  there  were  marked  peculiarities 
in  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  Re 
formation  in  England,  which  were  al 
most  certain  to  produce  strong  feeling 
on  both  sides,  and  lead  to  the  formation 
of  religious  parties  and  sects  within  the 
realm,  f  Henry  VIII.,  as  every  student 
of  history  knows,  was  not  much  in 
fluenced  by  love  for  truth  and  purity 
in  what  he  did  towards  setting  England 
free  from  papal  tyranny  and  supersti 
tion.  On  the  contrary,  he  had  his  own 
ends  to  serve,  and  he  looked  out  for 
that  in  all  the  steps  which  he  took. 
If  he  did  no  good  to  Protestantism,  if 
he  were  a  tyrant,  and  a  beastly  tyrant 
too,  he  certainly  crushed  under  his  heel 
the  insolent  pretensions  of  the  pope  to 
rule  over  and  draw  revenue  from  Eng 
land  ;  and  in  so  far,  at  least,  he  was  an 
instrument  in  God's  hand  for  beginning 

o  o 

the  good  work  in  England.  Edward 
VI.  died  young,  and  unhappily  before 
much  could  be  done  for  reformation. 
Mary  succeeded  him,  and  very  soon 
gave  the  English  people  a  bitter 
draught  of  that  chalice  which  Rome 
has  always  made  her  victims  quaff, 
when  she  has  had  them  quite  in  her 
power.  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne 
with  a  large  share  of  her  father's  im- 
periousness,  and  with  energy  and  ability 
probably  unsurpassed  by  any  monarch 
that  has  ever,  as  yet,  guided  the  desti 
nies  of  England.  Fond  of  show  and 
display  in  religious  things,  she  deter 
mined  that  the  Established  Church 
should  have  all  the  advantage  and  disr- 

O  O 


nity  which  these  could  afford.  Con 
scientiously  opposed  to  popery,  she  yet 
did  not  mean  to  alienate  her  Roman 
Catholic  subjects,  if  that  were  possible, 
by  any  undue  severity  against  the  re 
ligion  which  they  professed;  equally 
indisposed  to  the  bald,  stern  simplicity 
of  the  Puritanical  worship,  and  saga 
cious  enough  to  see  the  inevitable  ten 
dency  of  the  doctrines  which  the  Puri 
tans  set  forth  and  maintained,  she  held 
a  tiorht  hand,  all  through  her  rei^n, 

O  t  O  O       / 

over  the  heads  of  those  who  pleaded 
further  reformation  and  larger  liberty 
than  the  Church  of  England  has  ever, 
thus  far,  been  willing  to  allow.  She 
had  no  liking  for  those  who  opposed 
her  views,  and  she  was  not  at  all  dis 
posed  to  tolerate  non-conformity  to 
what  seemed  to  her  and  her  principal 
advisers,  good  and  proper  in  Church 
and  State.  Such  a  man  as  Whitjrift, 

O          7 

archbishop   of    Canterbury,  was  both 
able  and  willing  to  aid  the  queen  in 
her  efforts  to  enforce  conformity  under 
I  severe  penalties,  a  course  not   likely, 
jpcertamly,  to  produce  harmony  and  con 
cord   and   brotherly  love   among   the 
contending  parties. 

O 

James  I.  was  bred  up  in  early  life  in 
strict  Presbyterian  views ;  but  when, 
by  that  strange  turn  of  affairs  which 
brought  the  son  of  the  murdered  Mary 
to  the  throne  of  her  who  had  so  cruel 
ly  pursued  even  to  the  death  the  ill- 
fated  Queen  of  Scots,  James  was  in 
possession  of  the  crown,  he  adopted  at 
once  the  high  notions  of  prerogative 
which  characterized,  as  well  as  finally 
ruined,  the  Stuart  dynasty,  and  he  was 
disposed  to  go  to  any  length  against 
dissenters  from  his  wishes  and  opinions, 


THE   PURITANS   AND   THE  CHURCH. 


51 


whether  in  Church  or  State.  He  mis- 
liked  the  Puritans  especially,  because 
he  had  capacity  enough  to  understand, 
that  if  their  free  opinions  prevailed, 
they  would  interfere  most  materially 
with  those  prerogatives  of  absolute  ir 
responsible  exercise  of  power  in  Church 
and  State,  which  he  so  eagerly  coveted, 
and  which  he  claimed  as  his  by  what 
lie  termed  "divine  right."  At  all 
times,  too,  and  sincerely,  we  believe, 
both  James,  and  Charles,  his  immediate 
successor,  opposed  every  attempt  to 
make  the  English  Church  conform  to 

O 

the  pattern  of  that  which  Calvin  had 
established  in  Geneva. 

The  two  parties  were  at  variance 
in  several  particulars.  The  Puritans 
planted  themselves  upon  the  open, 
naked  Bible,  as  the  only  safe  chart 
and  guide  in  religious  and  civil  duties 
and  obligations.  The  defenders  of  the 
Church  of  England,  while  they  freely 
and  fully  declared  that  Holy  Scripture 
contains  all  things  necessary  to  salva 
tion,  and  that  nothing  was  to  be  held 

%      o 

a  matter  of  faith  but  what  is  contained 
in  or  proved  from  it,  claimed  that  def 
erence  was  due  to  tb^  testimony  and 
practice  of  the  primitive  Church,  and 
the  decisions  of  the  first  four  or  six 
General  Councils.  Th£  Puritans  scout 
ed  at  all  tradition  without  exception,  as 
certainly  the  remnants  of  popery  and 
superstition :  the  Church  of  England 
men  were  willing  to  yield  respect  to 
That  they  deemed  primitive  tradition 
and  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
fathers  and  doctors  of  the  first  ao;es. 

O 

The  Puritans  liked  well  the  extent  to 
which  reformation  liad  been  carried 
on  the  Continent;  and  many  of  the 


exiles  in  Queen  Mary's  reign  came 
back,  on  the  accession  of  Elizabeth, 
full  of  zeal  and  determination  to  try  to 
effect  in  the  English  Church  a  similar 
thoroughness  of  reform,  and  a  closer 

O 

and  more  perfect  union  and  concord  in 
doctrine  and  practice  with  the  Calvin- 
istic  Churches  abroad.  The  bishops 
and  clergy  of  the  Established  Church, 
steadily  opposed  all  this,  for  they  held 
Episcopacy  to  be  of  divine  origin  and 
perpetual  obligation  ;  and  they  counted 
ceremonies,  such  as  were  retained  in 
the  Church,  as  calculated  to  help  for 
ward  the  cause  of  truth  and  godliness. 
These  complained  of  all  ceremonies,  as 
marring  the  simplicity  and  purity  of  the 
Gospel ;  those  advocated  ceremonies  as 
useful  and  edifying.  These  denied  the 
need  of  ordination  by  a  bishop  in  order 
to  preach  the  Gospel  and  administer 
the  sacraments ;  those  refused  then,  and 
have  always  refused,  to  allow  any  one 
to  officiate  in  the  Church  of  England 
unless  he  first  receive  orders  by  the 
laying  on  of  a  bishop's  hands. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  sharp 
contentions  ensued,  and  the  breach  was 
widened.  King  James,  counting  the 
Establishment  to  be  his  special  ally, 
and  the  doctrines  set  forth  by  the 
clergy  peculiarly  adapted  to  further  his 
pretensions  to  kingly  prerogative,  it 
soon  came  to  be  understood  that  the 
Puritans  were  the  party  opposed  to  all 
his  extravagant  claims  to  irresponsible 
supremacy  in  civil  and  religious  mat 
ters.  The  Puritans  were  loyal  sub 
jects,  and  devoted  to  the  sustaining  the 
crown  and  royalty  in  the  regular  line 
of  succession.  Yet  they  could  not,  and 
did  not,  deny  the  tendency  of  *heir 


52 


FOUNDATION  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


.  I. 


opinions  to  larger  liberty,  and  more 
extended  toleration,  than  tlie  age  was 
prepared  for ;  and  as  time  passed  on 
and  the  way  was  gradually  opened, 
they  developped  their  views  more  and 
more,  particularly  as  the  government 
end  javored,  both  unwisely  and  unfair 
ly,  to  force  conformity  by  stringent 
arid  oppressive  legislation.* 

Notwithstanding  the  hardships  of 
their  position,  antagonistic  to  the  gov 
ernment  and  the  Established  Church, 
the  Puritans  were  divided  among  them 
selves.  Some  desired  to  remain  in  the 
Church  of  England,  and  endeavor  to 
effect  more  complete  reformation.  But 
there  were  many  who,  repudiating 
alike  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  gov 
ernment,  contended  for  the  absolute 
independence  of  every  separate  con 
gregation  of  believers,  and  their  right 
to  frame  for  themselves,  unrestricted 
by  human  authority,  such  a  form  of 
church  government  and  discipline  as 
they  could  derive  from  the  study  of 
Scripture.  This  section  of  the  Puritan 
party  who  called  themselves  Independ- 

*  To  use  the  language  of  one  of  the  New  Eng 
land  Society  orators  : — "  There  was  gradually  de 
velopped  among  the  Puritans  a  sect  or  division  which 
boldly  pushed  the  questions  at  issue  to  their  ultimate 
and  legitimate  solutions;  which  threw  off  all  con 
nection  with  the  Established  Church,  rejected  alike 
the  surplice  and  the  bishops,  the  Prayer-Book  and 
the  ceremonies,  and,  resting  upon  the  Bible,  sought 
no  less  than  to  restore  the  constitution  of  the  Chris 
tian  Church  to  the  primitive  simplicity  in  which  it 
was  first  instituted.  These  Separatists,  as  they  were 
called,  put  in.  practice  their  theoretical  opinions  by 
the  formation  of  churches  in  which  the  members 
were  the  source  of  all  power,  and  controlled  its  ad 
ministration,  and,  in  a  word,  applied  to  ecclesiasti 
cal  organizations  principles,  which,  if  introduced 
into  civil  governments,  would  produce  a  pure  de 
mocracy." — Mr.  W.  M.  Evart's  '•''Heritage  of  the 
Pilgrim*,  'p.  16  ;  the  Oretion  for  1854. 


ents,  but  had  obtained  the  appellation, 
at  once  distinctive  and  contemptuous, 
of  Brownists,  from  the  name  of  one  of 
their  leaders,  a  man  whose  intemperate 
zeal  was  speedily  succeeded  by  his  ig 
nominious  recantation,  still  continued 
to  exist,  in  the  north  of  England,  and 
was  subjected  to  the  severest  measures 
on  the  part  of  the  government.  Many 
of  them  had  fled  for  refuse  to  the 

O 

States  of  Holland,  and  established  a 
Congregational  church  in  the  city  of 
Amsterdam. 

Of  those  who  remained  in  England  a 
church  was  gradually  formed  through 
the  influence  of  "  Elder  Brewster,"  the 
occupant  of  a  large  mansion-house  at 
Scrooby,  in  Yorkshire,  belonging  to 
the  bishop  of  York.  Bradford,  after 
wards  governor  of  New  Plymouth,  was 
one  of  this  congregation ;  and  Robin 
son  was  invited  to  be  their  pastor. 
This  latter  was  a  man  of  high  charac 
ter,  and  universally  respected  and  be 
loved  by  his  congregation,  whose  in 
terests,  both  temporal  and  spiritual, 
were  ever  near  his  heart. 

Greatly  distressed  at  the  discomforts 
of  their  position,  the  congregation  over 
which  Robinson  presided,  earnestly 
meditated  upon  following  the 
example  of  the  other  refugees 
of  their  persuasion,  who  had  emigrated 
to  Holland.  It  was  in  the  autumn  or 
early  winter  of  1607,  that  the  church 
at  Scrooby  began  to  put  into  execution 
the  intention,  which  must  have  been 
forming  months  before,  of  leaving  their 

O  O 

native  country,  and  settling  in  a  land 
of  which  they  k:ie\v  little  more  than 
that  there  they  should  find  the  tolera 
tion  denied  them  at  home.  Bradford 


16OT. 


CH    VI.] 


THE   PURITANS  IN  HOLLAND. 


53 


says  much  in  his  general  way  of  writ 
ing,  of  the  oppression  to  which  they 
were  subjected,  both  ministers  and 
people;  and  there  cannot  be  a  doubt 
that  attempts  would  be  made  to  put 
down  the  church,  and  those  attempts, 
whatever  they  were,  would  be  construed 
into  acts  of  ecclesiastical  oppression  by 
those  who  deemed  the  maintenance  of 
such  a  church  an  act  of  religious  duty. 
And  controversy,  as  it  was  in  those 
days  conducted,  was  likely  to  set  neigh 
bor  against  neighbor,  and  to  roughen 
the  whole  surface  of  society.  Much 
that  Bradford  speaks  of,  was  probably 
this  kind  of  collision,  or  at  most  acts  of 
the  neighboring  justices  of  the  peace  in 
enforcing  what  was  then  the  law.  Brad 
ford  speaks  of  the  excitement  of  the 
neighborhood  wrhen  they  saw  so  many 
persons  of  all  ranks  and  conditions 
parting  with  their  possessions,  and  go 
ing  simultaneously  to  another  country, 
of  whose  very  language  they  were  ig 
norant.  Some  carried  with  them  por 
tions  of  their  household  goods ;  and  it 
is  mentioned  that  some  of  them  carried 
with  them  looms  which  they  had  used 
at  home.  They  were  not,  however, 
allowed  to  go  without  some  opposition. 
The  principal  party  of  them,  in  which 
wTere  Brewster  and  Bradford,  intended 
to  embark  at  Boston,  and  thev  made  a 

•/ 

secret  bargain  with  a  Dutch  captain  of 
a  vessel,  to  receive  them  on  board  in 
that  port  as  privately  as  might  be. 
The  captain  acted  perfidiously.  He 
gave  secret  information  to  the  magis 
trates  of  Boston,  and  when  they  were 
embarked,  and,  as  they  thought,  just 
upon  the  point  of  sailing,  they  were 
surprised  by  finding  officers  of  the  port 


come  on  board,  who  removed  them 
from  the  vessel  and  carried  them  to 
prison  in  the  town,  not  without  circum 
stances  of  contumely.  Some  were  sent 
back  to  their  homes  ;  others,  among 
whom  appears  to  have  been  Brewster, 
were  kept  for  many  months  in  confine 
ment  at  Boston.  Some  were  disheart 
ened  and  remained  in  England ;  but 
the  greater  part  persevered  and  met 
together  in  Amsterdam.  During  the 
twelve  years  of  their  stay  in  Holland, 
a  constant  stream  of  disaffected  persons 
from  England  set  towards  that  country 
where  all  were  permitted  to  worship 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their 
own  consciences.  Winslow  and  Captain 
Miles  Standish  were  amon^  those  who 

O 

joined  the  church  of  Eobinson  after  it 
had  left  England. 

It  was  not  long  before  disputes  and 
controversies  arose  among  the  non-con 
formists  in  Amsterdam.  This 
induced  Robinson,  a  lover  of 
peace,  to  remove  his  congregation  to 
Leyden,  where  they  lived  in  amity  and 
concord  for  a  number  of  years.  Still 
they  were  not  at  ease.  Exiles  for  con 
science'  sake,  they  still  felt  that  they 
were  Englishmen,  and  they  had  a 
natural  aversion  to  losing  their  birth 
right,  and  allowing  their  children  to 

O          '  O 

become  absorbed  among  the  friendly 
Dutch.  With  an  eye,  too,  to  the  tem 
poral  advantages  that  might  accrue, 
they  turned  their  thoughts  towards  the 
New  World,  and  its  promise  of  success 
to  enterprising  and  hardy  emigrants 
"  Well  weaned  from  the  delicate  milk 
of  our  mother  country,  and  inured  to 
the  difficulties  of  a  strange  land,"  as 
they  express  themselves  in  a  letter  to 


1G09. 


54 


FOUNDATION  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


[Bit.  I. 


Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  it  did  not  require 
Ions:  to  bring  them  to  the  fixed  deter- 

O  O 

ruination  to  embark  for  America. 

Having  failed  in  an  application  to  the 
Dutch  government  to  allow  them  to 
emigrate  to  New  Netherland,'*  the  Pu 
ritans  debated  for  some  time  between 
Guiana,  famed  for  its  wealth,  and  Vir 
ginia  ;  at  length  they  decided  on  the 
latter  colony.  As  it  had,  however, 
been  settled  by  Episcopalians,  and  the 
public  profession  of  adherence  to  the 
Church  of  England  was  required  and 
enforced  by  penalties,  they  sent  over 
agents  to  England,  to  endeavor  to  make 
terms  with  the  Virginia  Company,  and 
to  insure  for  themselves  liberty  of  con 
science  in  case  of  their  removal  to  their 
colony.  The  Company,  desirous  of  at 
taching  to  the  soil  so  valuable  a  body  of 
emigrants,  whose  steadiness  and  charac 
ter  they  appreciated,  endeavored  to  ob 
tain,  through  their  influence 
with  the  heads  of  Church  and 
Btate,  an  assurance  of  toleration;  but 
without  success.  Brewster  soon  after 
proceeded  to  England  to  obtain  as 
favorable  a  patent  as  possible.  This 
was  readily  granted  by  the  Virginia 
Company,  although  the  patent  taken 
out  was  never  of  any  practical  use. 
The  next  difficulty  was  to  procure 
means,  which  could  only  be  done  by 
entering  into  an  arrangement  with 
some  London  merchants,  whose  terms 
were  not  very  favorable  to  the  emi 
grants.  The  whole  property  acquired 
in  the  colony  was  to  belong  to  a  joint- 
stock  for  seven  years ;  and  the  services 


*  See  Brodhead's  '•''History  of  the  State  of  New 
Tori,"  First  Period,  pp.  124,  5. 


1619. 


of  each  emigrant  were  only  to  be  held 
equivalent  to  every  ten  pounds  fur 
nished  by  the  capitalists.  Upon  these 
rather  hard  terms  they  now  prepaied 
to  set  out  for  the  New  World. 

It  was  thought  best  that  Robinson 
should  remain  with  such  of  the  consrre- 

O 

gation  as  were  deemed  unfit  for  pioneers, 
or  were  unable  to  find  room  in  the 
vessels.  A  small  ship,  the  Speedwell 
had  been  purchased  in  Holland,  and 
was  now  ready  to  convey  the  emigrants 
to  Southampton.  Those  appointed  to 
go  accordingly  left  Leyden,  accom 
panied  by  their  brethren  to  Delft 
Haven,  where  they  were  joined  by 
members  of  the  church  at  Amsterdam. 
The  night  was  spent  in  mutual  en 
couragement  and  Christian  converse 
and  next  day,  July  22d,  the  wind  being 
fair,  they  got  ready  to  go  on  board. 
The  parting  with  Robinson  and  their 
brethren  was  very  affecting.  A  fair 
breeze  soon  carried  them  to  Southamp 
ton,  where  they  remained  a  few  days, 
and  were  joined  by  the  larger  vessel, 
the  Mayflower.  They  here  received  a 
touching  letter  from  Robinson,  which 
was  read  to  the  assembled  company. 

The  passengers  were  distributed  be. 
tween  the  two  vessels,  which  soon  got 
under  way ;  but  the  Speedwell,  prov 
ing  to  be  unseaworthy  in  every  respect, 
they  were  obliged  to  put  into  Dart 
mouth,  and  then  into  Plymouth.  Leav 
ing  there  a  portion  of  their  company, 
and  crowding  as  many  into  the  May 
flower  as  could  be  accommodated,  they 
again,  early  in  September,  launched 
forth  upon  the  trackless  ocean.  The 
voyage  was  tedious  and  full  of  danger, 
owing  to  the  equinoctial  gales, 


CH.  VI.] 


LANDING  OF  THE  PILGRIMS. 


65 


fury  the  Mayflower  encountered;  and 
it  was  not  till  the  9th  of  November 
that  they  came  in  sight  of  the  coast  of 
Now  England,  at  no  great  distance 
from  Cape  Cod.  As  their  object  had 
been  to  settle  near  the  Hudson  River, 
the  course  of  the  ship  was  turned  to 
the  south ;  getting  entangled,  however, 
among  the  shoals,  they  bore  up  again, 
and  came  to  anchor  in  Cape  Cod 
harbor.* 

Weary  of  the  discomforts  of  the 
crowded  Mayflower,  they  were  all 
eager  to  land ;  but  as  they  were  out 
of  the  limits  of  the  Virginia  Company, 
and  as  there  were  some  signs  of  insub 
ordination  among  a  portion  of  the  emi 
grants,  it  was  judged  best  to  enter  into 
a  voluntary  compact  as  a  basis  of  social 
polity,  and  to  appoint  a  governor. 
John  Carver  was  chosen  to  act  as  gov 
ernor  for  the  term  of  one  year,  and  the 
whole  company  of  the  men — who,  with 
their  wives  and  children,  amounted  to 
one  hundred  and  one  souls  —  affixed 
their  signatures  to  the  following  docu 
ment  : — 

"  In  the  name  of  God.  Amen.  We, 
whose  names  are  underwritten,  the 
loyal  subjects  of  our  dread  sovereign 
lord,  King  James,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland, 
King,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  etc., 


*  The  story  which  has  often  been  told,  to  the  in 
jury  of  the  Dutch,  that  they  bribed  the  master  of  the 
Mayflower  not  to  land  the  company  on  the  Hudson, 
is  without  solid  foundation.  It  seems  to  have  origi 
nated  in  the  ill  feeling  which  sprung  up  at  a  subse 
quent  date  between  the  New  England  colonists  and 
the  Dutch.  Grahame  (History,  vol.  i.,  p.  144,)  re 
peats  the  story  as  if  it  were  undoubtedly  true.  Ban 
croft  (History,  &c.,  vol.  i.,  p.  309,)  loaves  the  matter 
somewhat  in  doubt 


"  Having  undertaken,  for  the  glory  of 
God,  and  the  advancement  of  the  Chris 
tian  faith,  and  the  honour  ol  our  king 
and  country,  a  voyage  to  plant  the  fh'st 
colony  in  the  northern  parts  of  Vir 
ginia,  do,  by  these  presents,  solemnly 
and  mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God 
and  one  of  another,  covenant  and  com 
bine  ourselves  together  into  a  civil 
body-politic,  for  our  better  order  and 
preservation,  and  furtherance  of  the 
ends  aforesaid ;  and  by  virtue  hereof 
to  enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such 
just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts, 
constitutions,  offices,  from  time  to  time, 
as  shall  be  thought  most  meet  and  con 
venient  for  the  general  good  of  the 
colony ;  unto  which  we  promise  all  due 
submission  and  obedience.  In  witness 
whereof  we  have  hereunder  subscribed 
our  names.  Cape  Cod,  llth  Novem 
ber,  in  the  reign  of  our  sovereign  lord, 
King  James,  of  England,  France,  and 
Ireland,  18,  and  of  Scotland,  54.  Anno 
Domini  1620." 

An  exploring  party  was  sent  out  di 
rectly.  The  country  was  covered  with 
pine  forests,  and  here  and  there  a  de 
serted  wigwam  was  found,  but  rarely 
did  they  get  sight  of  any  of  the  na 
tives.  A  quantity  of  Indian  corn  was 
discovered  buried  in  the  sand  in  bas 
kets,  which  proved  a  very  timely  sup 
ply  of  seed  for  the  following  spring. 
Winter  came  upon  them  in  all  its  se 
verity  ;  and  as  it  was  absolutely  neces 
sary  to  fix  upon  some  spot  for  a  settle 
ment,  the  hardiest  of  the  company, 
despite  the  cold  and  the  fatal  exposure, 
undertook  the  labor  of  searching  out 
a  good  harbor  and  convenient  place 
where  they  might  begin  to  lay  the 


56 


FOUNDATION   OF  NEW   ENGLAND. 


[Be.  I. 


162O. 


foundations  of  the  colony.  Five  weeks 
were  thus  spent,  and  it  was  not  till 
Monday,  December  llth,  O.  S.,  or  more 
correctly,  the  21st  of  December, 
that  this  band  of  pioneers  set 
foot  on  the  far-famed  Plymouth  Rock. 
Remembering  the  kindness  which  they 
had  received  at  Plymouth,  in  England, 
the  name  NEW  PLYMOUTH  was  bestowed 
upon  the  infant  settlement. 

The  whole  company  were  landed  at 
this  point,  on  the  report  of  the  explor 
ing  party,  and  they  immediately  set 
about  erecting  habitations  to  shelter 
them  from  the  weather.  A  bold  hill, 
commanding  a  look-out  over  the  bay, 
offered  a  vantage  ground  for  their  fort, 
which  was  garnished  with  a  few  small 
pieces  of  ordnance ;  at  its  foot  two 
rows  of  huts  were  laid  out  and  staked 
— the  habitations  of  nineteen  families. 
The  winter  had  now  set  in,  with  se 
verity  and  sternness,  and  their  labors 
at  felling  trees  and  constructing  their 
rude  habitations  were  carried  on  in  the 
midst  of  constant  storms  of  rain  and 
sleet ;  already  had  the  seeds  of  mortal 
disease  been  implanted ;  by  privations 
and  exposure  to  the  rigor  of  the  season, 
by  wading  through  the  icy  water  from 
the  ship  to  the  land,  the  strong  man 
became  weak  as  a  child,  and  the  deli 
cate  frame  of  woman  sunk  under  the 
double  pressure  of  mental  anxiety  and 
physical  exhaustion.  During  this  first 
winter  they  faded  gradually  away ;  and 
one  of  the  first  entries  was  the 
following  : — "  January  29,  dies 
Hose,  the  wife  of  Captain  Standish." 
Bradford's  wife  had  perished  by  drown 
ing.  But  not  to  follow  the  melancholy 
chronicle  of  bereavements,  suffice  it  to 


1621. 


say,  that  during  these  three  dreary 
months  one  half  their  number  were  cut 
off.  That  winter  they  had  to  form 
seven  times  more  graves  for  the  dead 
than  habitations  for  the  living.  They 
were  buried  on  the  bank  not  far  from 
the  landing — a  spot  still  to  be  venera 
ted — and,  lest  the  Indians  should  take 
courage  to  attack  the  survivors  from 
their  weakened  state,  the  soil  which 
covered  the  graves  of  their  beloved 
relatives  was  carefully  beaten  down 
and  planted  with  a  crop  of  corn. 

During  the  winter  the  colonists  saw 

O 

but  little  of  the  Indians,  although  they 
were  not  without  occasional  alarm. 
Early  in  the  spring,  when  they  were 
beginning  again  to  have  hope  of  suc 
cess,  an  Indian  one  morning  walked 
boldly  into  the  village,  and  saluted 
them  in  tolerable  English,  ""Welcome, 
Englishmen !"  He  was  a  sagamore  or 

O  O 

petty  chief,  named  Samoset,  and  in 
formed  them  that  a  great  plague  had 
recently  raged  among  the  Indians  on 
these  shores;  this  circumstance,  leav 
ing  the  country  entirely  open  to  settle 
ment,  is  noted  by  the  early  New  Eng 
land  historians,  as  a  special  providence 
in  behalf  of  the  infant  colonjr.  By 
means  of  Samoset  and  other  friendly 
Indians,  intercourse  was  opened,  and 
finally  a  treaty  of  amity  agreed  upon 
with  Massasoit,  head  chief  of  the  Po- 
kanokets  or  Wampanoags,  who  were 
immediate  neighbors  of  the  colonists. 

Carver  was  reflected  governor,  but 
died  a  few  weeks  after.     Bradford  was 
chosen  his  successor.    The  May 
flower  set  sail  for  England  in 
April  of  this  year ;  and  the  colonists, 
taking  heart  as  the  mild  weather  ap 


CH.  VI.J 


MASSACHUSETTS   BAY  COMPANY. 


59 


1627. 


considerable  addition  to  its  numbers."* 
In  1627,  at  which  date  the  agree 
ment  between  the  Plymouth  colonists 
and  the  London  merchants 
came  to  an  end,  the  latter  agreed 
to  sell  out  their  interest  for  $9,000. 
The  joint-stock  principle  was  aban 
doned,  and  some  twenty  acres  of  land 
nearest  the  town,  were  donated  to  each 
colonist. 

Although  the  number  of  the  colonists 
at  New  Plymouth  in  1630,  did  not 
amount  to  three  hundred,  yet 
they  considered -themselves  per 
manently  established.  "It  was  , not 
with  them  as  with  other  men,"  was 
their  language,  "  whom  small  things 
could  discourage,  or  small  discontents 
cause  to  wish  themselves  at  home 
again.7'  By  degrees,  too,  as  distance 
from  the  mother  country  favored  the 
assumption  of  responsibility,  they  ex 
ercised  all  the  prerogatives  of  govern 
ment,  even  to  capital  punishment.  All 
laws  were  enacted  in  a  general  assem 
bly  of  the  colonists;  and  in  religious 
matters  the  same  freedom  of  speech 
prevailed.  Every  one  who  chose,  ad 
dressed  the  congregation  on  Sundays, 
and  for  many  years  they  had  no  settled 
pastor  or  minister  among  them. 

The  settlement  at  New  Plymouth 
was  soon  after  followed  by  another 
and  more  extensive  one  of  the  Puri 
tans  on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts 
Bay.  Their  position  at  home  was  be 
coming  less  and  less  satisfactory,  and 
it  was  but  natural  that  their  minds 
should  turn  to  America  as  a  place  of 


*  Hildreth's    "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol. 
u  p.  171. 


refuge  from  trial  and  persecution.  A 
grant  was  obtained  from  the  New 
England  Company  of  Plymouth,  em 
bracing  Massachusetts  Bay  and  the 
country  to  the  westward.  John  En- 
dicott,  a  Puritan  of  the  sttrnest  and 
severest  sort,  first  established  himself 
at  Naumkeag,  and  soon  after,  a 
strong  body,  chiefly  from  Bos 
ton,  in  Lincolnshire,  followed.  A  pa 
tent  was  obtained,  but  not  without 
considerable  difficulty,  from  Charles  I., 
incorporating  the  adventurers  as  the 
"  Governor  and  Company  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay  in  New  England,"  the 
stockholders  to  elect  annually  a  gov 
ernor,  deputy -governor,  and  eighteen 
assistants,  who  were  to  administer  the 
affairs  of  the  colony  in  monthly  court 
meetings.  Four  great  and  general 
courts  of  the  whole  body  of  freemen 
were  to  be  held  for  the  transaction  of 
public  affairs.  Nothing  was  to  be  en 
acted  contrary  to  the  rights  of  English 
men,  but  the  supreme  power  resided 
with  the  Company  in  England.  It  was 
regarded  as  a  patent  for  a  trading  cor 
poration,  and  no  specific  provision  was 
made  on  the  subject  of  religion.  A 
large  number  of  the  proprietors  were 
attached  to  the  Church  of  England  ; 
Endicott,  however,  having  visited  Ply 
mouth,  desired  to  establish  an  Inde 
pendent  church,  and  to  renounce  the 
use  of  the  Liturgy;  hence  he  became 
involved  in  a  dispute  with  two  brothers 
of  the  name  of  Browne — who  were 
among  the  original  patentees,  and  who 
desired  to  have  the  services  of  the 
Church  of  England  fully  car 
ried  out  in  the  colony — and  he 
shipped  them  off  to  England  as  "fac- 


1629. 


(50 


FOUNDATION  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


[Bx.  I. 


tious  and  evil  conditioned."  Endicoft 
was  reprimanded  by  the  Company  for 
this  stretch  of  authority,  but  the  com 
plaints  of  the  Brownes  were  unheeded. 
"This  transaction,"  as  Mr.  Bartlett  re 
marks,  in  his  " Pilgrim  Fathers"  " not 
merely  illustrates  the  character  of  En- 
dicott,  but  exposes  the  secret  principle 
upon  which  the  new  commonwealth  was 
founded,  the  open  avowal  of  which  would 
have  certainly  prevented  the  concession 
of  a  royal  charter.  It  was,  while  nomi 
nally  subject  to  the  authority  of  the 
Church  of  England,  to  establish  a  totally 
different  system,  in  which  all  that  was 
really  vital  to  that  system,,  such  as  its 
Episcopal  government  and  appointed 
formularies,  should  be  entirely  set  aside 
and  no  toleration  granted  to  any  other 
form  of  worship  but  that  agreed  upon 
by  themselves.  The  expulsion  of  the 
Brownes  was  only  the  first  of  that 
series  of  oppressive  actions  which 
ended  in  the  judicial  murder  of  the 
quakers." 

A  plan  to  transfer  the  charter  and 
the  Company  from  England  to  the 
colony  itself  was  next  formed,  which 
led  to  a  very  important  increase  in  the 
number  and  distinction  of  the  emi 
grants.  The  principal  of  these  were, 
Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  Isaac  Johnson, 
(brother-in-law  of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,) 
Thomas  Dudley,  and  John  Winthrop. 
Winthrop  was  chosen  governor,  and, 
by  his  admirable  conduct,  fully  justi 
fied  the  general  confidence.  He  was 
indeed  a  noble  specimen  of  the  Eng 
lish  gentleman — loyal,  yet  no  less  firm 
ly  bent  upon  the  assertion  of  public 
liberty,  and,  by  old  association,  attached 
to  the  Church,  which  he  nevertheless 


1630. 


desired  to  see  reformed  upon  what  the 
Puritans  deemed  the  pure  basis  of 
Scripture.  The  emigrants  included 
many  persons  of  high  character,  wealth, 
and  learning.  Their  attachment  to  the 
mother  country  was  manifested  in  a 
protestation  against  certain  calumnious 
reports  which  had  gone  forth  against 
them,  wherein  they  declare  their  un 
dying  attachment,  both  to  the  Church 
that  had  nursed  them  in  her  bosom, 
and  to  the  land,  from  which  they  were 
now  voluntarily  expatriating  them 
selves.*  The  expedition  was 
by  far  the  most  important  that 
had  ever  left  the  shores  of  England  for 
the  wilds  of  America,  consisting  of  fif 
teen  ships  conveying  about  a  thousand 
emigrants,  amonsr  whom  were  four 

o  /  o 


*  We  quote  a  striking  paragraph  from  the  letter  ad 
dressed  by  them  to  "  the  rest  of  their  brethren  in  and 
of  the  Church  of  England."  It  was  dated  from  Yar 
mouth,  aboard  the  Arbella,  April  7th,  1630.  "  We 
desire  you  would  be  pleased  to  take  notice  of  the  prin 
cipals  and  body  of  our  company,  as  those  who  esteem 
it  our  honor  to  call  the  Church  of  England,  from 
whence  we  rise,  our  dear  mother  ;  and  cannot  part 
from  our  native  country,  where  she  specially  resideth, 
without  much  sadness  of  heart,  and  many  tears  in 
our  eyes;  ever  acknowledging  that  such  hope  and 
part  as  we  have  obtained  in  the  common  salvation, 
we  have  received  in  her  bosom,  and  sucked  it  from 
her  breasts.  We  leave  it  not,  therefore,  as  loathing 
that  milk  wherewith  we  were  nourished  there,  but, 
blessing  God  for  the  parentage  and  education,  as 
members  of  the  same  body,  shall  always  rejoice  in 
her  good,  and  unfeignedly  grieve  for  any  sorrow  that 
shall  ever  betide  her ;  and  while  we  have  breath, 
sincerely  desire  and  endeavor  the  continuance  and 
abundance  of  her  welfare,  with  the  enlargement  of 
her  bounds  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  Jesus."  They 
also  ask,  further  on  in  the  letter,  of  their  brethren  ir 
England,  that  they  may  not  be  despised  nor  deserted 
"  in  their  prayers  and  affections." — See  Hubbard's 
New  England,  pp.  126,  7.  Consult,  also,  the  famous 
Dr.  Cotton  Mather's  " Magnolia,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  74,  5, 
for  some  curious  and  edifying  remarks  on  this  letter 
and  its  purport. 


CH.  VI.] 


COMl-ANTt    TRANSFERRED  TO  NEW  ENGLAND. 


01 


non-conformist  ministers.  Every  neces 
sary  for  the  foundation  of  a  permanent 
colony  was  carried  out  by  the  settlers. 
In  regard  to  this  important  move 
ment  of  transferring  the  government 
of  the  colony  from  England  to  Amer 
ica,  the  observations  of  Dr.  Robert 
son  are  worthy  attention :  "  In  this 
singular  transaction,"  he  says,  "to 
which  there  is  nothing  similar  in  the 
history  of  English  colonization,  two 
circumstances  merit  particular  atten 
tion:  one  is  the  power  of  the  Com 
pany  to  make  this  transference  ;  the 
other  is  the  silent  acquiescence  with 
which  the  king  permitted  it  to  take 
place.  If  the  validity  of  this  deter 
mination  of  the  Company  be  tried  by 
the  charter  which  constituted  it  a  body 
politic,  and  conveyed  to  it  all  the  cor 
porate  powers  with  which  it  was  in 
vested,  it  is  evident  that  it  could  neither 
exercise  those  powers  in  any  mode  differ 
ent  from  what  the  charter  prescribed, 
nor  alienate  fhem  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  convert  the  jurisdiction  of  a  trad 
ing  corporation  in  England  into  a  pro 
vincial  government  in  America.  But 
from  the  first  institution  of  the  Com 
pany  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  its  mem 
bers  seem  to  have  been  animated  with 
a  spirit  of  innovation  in  civil  policy,  as 
well  as  in  religion ;  and  by  the  habit 
of  rejecting  established  usages  in  the 
one,  they  were  prepared  for  deviating 
from  them  in  the  other.  They  had  ap 
plied  for  a  royal  charter  in  order  to 
give  legal  effect  to  their  operations  in 
England  as  acts  of  a  body  politic  ;  but 
the  persons  whom  they  sent  out  to 
America,  as  soon  as  they  landed  there, 
considered  themselves  as  individuals 


united  together  by  voluntary  associa 
tion,  possessing  the  natural  right  of 
men  who  form  a  society,  to  adopt  what 
mode  of  government,  and  to  enact  what 
laws,  they  deemed  most  conducive  to 
the  general  felicity.  Upon  this  prin 
ciple  of  being  entitled  to  judge  and 
decide  for  themselves,  they  established 
their  church  in  Salem,  without  regard 
to  the  institutions  of  the  Church  of 
England,  of  which  the  charter  sup 
posed  them  to  be  members,  and  bound, 
of  consequence,  to  conformity  with  its 
ritual.  Suitably  to  the  same  ideas,  we 
shall  observe  them  framing  all  their  fu- 

O 

ture  plans  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
policy.  The  king,  though  abundantly 
vigilant  in  observing  and  checking 
slighter  encroachments  on  his  prero 
gative,  was  either  so  much  occupied 
with  other  cares,  occasioned  by  his 
fatal  breach  with  his  parliament,  that 
he  could  not  attend  to  the  proceedings 
of  the  Company,  or  he  was  so  much 
pleased  with  the  proposal  of  removing 
a  body  of  turbulent  subjects  to  a  dis 
tant  country,  where  they  might  be  use 
ful,  and  could  not  prove  dangerous,  that 
he  was  disposed  to  connive  at  the  irre 
gularity  of  a  measure  which  facilitated 
their  departure."* 

Winthrop,  Dudley,  and  others  had 
embarked  on  board  the  Arbella,  so 
named  after  the  Lady  Arbella  Johnson, 
who,  with  her  husband,  was  also  a  pas 
senger.  They  arrived  in  the  Bay  in 
June,  and  found  Endicott  at  Charles- 
town,  where,  at  first,  they  contemplated 
forming  a  settlement.  The  opposite 

*  Robertson's  "History  of  America,"  book  x.,  p. 
230. — See  also,  Chalmers's  "  Introduction  to  History 
of  Revolt  of  American  Colonies"  vol.  i.,  pp.  42,  3. 


62 


FOUNDATION  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


.  4 


peninsula,  however,  as  was  natural, 
speedily  attracted  their  attention:  it 
was  then  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  in 
the  undisturbed  possession  of  the  soli 
tary  occupant,  by  name  Blackstone. 
Here  Winthrop  and  his  people  deter 
mined  to  fix  themselves,  and  begin  a 
settlement,  which,  after  the  English 
town  in  Lincolnshire,  they  called  BOS 
TON.  Other  parties  of  emigrants,  as 
they  arrived,  settled  at  various  points 
in  the  vicinity  of  Boston,  and  gave 
names  to  the  various  towns  and  villages 
which  they  then  and  there  founded. 

"  Each  settlement,"  says  Mr.  Hil- 
dreth,  "  at  once  assumed  that  township 
authority  which  has  ever  formed  so 
marked  a  feature  in  the  political  or 
ganization  of  New  England.  The  peo 
ple  assembled  in  town  meeting,  voted 
taxes  for  local  purposes,  and  chose 
three,  five,  or  seven  of  the  principal 
inhabitants,  at  first  under  other  names, 
but  early  known  as  'selectmen,'  who 
had  the  expenditure  of  this  money,  and 
the  executive  management  of  town  af 
fairs.  A  treasurer  and  a  town  clerk 
were  also  chosen,  and  a  constable  was 
soon  added  for  the  service  of  civil  and 
criminal  processes.  Each  town  consti 
tuted,  in  fact,  a  little  republic,  almost 
complete  in  itself."* 

The  warmth  of  their  attachment  to 
home  had  led  to  the  expression  of 
strong  feeling  of  affection  for  their 
"dear  mother,"  the  Church  of  Eng 
land;  but  when  they  set  foot  on  the 
soil  of  the  New  World,  they  did  not  hesi 
tate  to  arrange  and  organize  churches 


*  Hildreth's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i., 
p.  180. 


163O. 


according  to  their  own  views  of  right 
and  propriety ;  but,  as  they  were  in 
clined  to  a  temporizing  policy,  at  least 
for  the  present,  they  acted  prudently, 
so  as  not  needlessly  to  provoke  collision 
on  such  nice  points  as  the  value  and  ne 
cessity  of  Episcopal  ordination,  the  ob 
ligation  of  ceremonies,  and  the  like. 

Although  the  new  settlers  were  not 
subjected  to  hardships  so  severe  as 
those  which  had  fallen  upon  the  New 
Plymouth  colony,  yet  owing  to  various 
circumstances  of  an  unfavorable  cha 
racter,  shortness  of  provision,  debility, 
severity  of  the  winter,  etc.,  more  than 
two  hundred  died  before  De 
cember,  among  them  the  Lady 
Arbella  Johnson  and  her  husband.* 

*  Cotton  Mather  bestows  this  somewhat  quaint 
tribute  to  their  character.  "  Of  those  who  soon  dyed 
after  their  first  arrival,  not  the  least  considerable  was 
the  Lady  Arbella,  who  left  an  earthly  paradise  in  the 
family  of  an  Earldom,  to  encounter  the  sorrows  of  a 
wilderness,  for  the  entertainments  of  a  pure  worship 
in  the  house  of  God  ;  and  then  immediately  left  that 
wilderness  for  the  Heavenly  partulise,  whereto  tho 
compassionate  Jesus,  of  whom  she  was  a  follower, 
called  her.  We  have  read  concerning  a  noble  wo 
man  of  Bohemia,  who  forsook  her  friends,  her  plate, 
her  house,  and  all  ;  and  because  the  gates  of  the 
city  were  guarded,  crept  through  the  common  sewer, 
that  she  might  enjoy  the  institutions  of  our  Lord  at 
another  place  where  they  might  be  had.  The  spirit 
which  acted  that  noble  woman,  \ve  may  suppose, 
carried  this  blessed  lady  thus  to  and  through  the 
hardships  of  an  American  desert.  But  as  for  her 
virtuous  husband,  Isaac  Johnson,  Esq., 

He  try'd 

To  live  without  her,  lik'd  it  not,  and  dy'd. 

His  mourning  for  the  death  of  his  honorable  consort 
was  too  bitter  to  be  extended  a  year  ;  about  a  month 
after  her  death,  his  ensued,  unto  the  extream  loss  of 
the  whole  plantation.  But  at  the  end  of  this  perfect 
and  upright  man,  there  was  not  only  peace,  but  joy  ; 
and  his  joy  particularly  expressed  itself,  that  God  had 
kept  his  eyes  open  so  long  as  to  see  one  church  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  gathered  in  these  ends  of  the 
earth,  before  his  own  going  away  to  Heaven." — Ma 
ther's  "  Magnalia,"  vol.  i.,  p.  77. 


CH.  VI.] 


BASIS  OF  GOVERNMENT. 


1631. 


Before  winter  was  over,  the  infant 
colony  was  threatened  with  famine ; 
but  the  seasonable  return  of  a  vessel 
from  England  with  provisions  revived 
their  drooping  spirits,  and  instead  of 
the  fast,  they  observed  a  day  of  thanks 
giving.  Many  of  the  emigrants,  dis 
couraged,  and  in  some  degree  terrified, 
returned  home  and  spread  various  re 
ports  injurious  to  the  colony. 

The  second  General  Court,  held  in 
May,  1631,  enacted  a  remarkable  law, 
which  clearly  points  out  the 
basis  on  which,  for  the  next 
half  century,  the  government  of  Mas 
sachusetts  continued  to  rest.  "  To  the 
cud  that  the  body  of  commons  may  be 
preserved  of  good  and  honest  men,  it 
is  ordered  and  agreed,  that,  for  the 
time  to  come,  no  man  shall  be  admitted 
io  the  freedom  of  the  body  politic,  but 
such  as  are  members  of  some  of  the 
churches  within  the  limits  of  the  same." 
This  enactment  narrowed  down  the 
number  of  citizens  and  voters  very 
materially,  since,  in  consequence  of  the 
difficulties  attendant  on  becoming  a 
member  of  one  of  the  churches,  not 
one  fourth  of  the  adult  population 
were  ever  church-members.  It  was 
an  attempt  to  establish  a  theocracy,  a 
reign  of  the  saints  on  the  earth,  and  as 
every  religious  party  in  power  thought 
it  light  to  require  conformity  to  the 


established  order,  so  the  Puritan  set 
tlers  were  persuaded  that  it  was  a  duty 
to  enforce  their  regulations  by  aid  of 
the  civil  magistrate.  "The  same  experi 
ment  of  a  theocratic  form  of  govern 
ment  was  tried  at  a  later  date  in  Eng 
land,  with  what  result  every  reader  of 
history  knows. 

Not  only  were  a  larger  proportion 
of  the  people  deprived  of  political 
rights,  under  this  arbitrary  system,  but 
the  legislation  of  this  self-constituted 
body  was  characterized  by  a  spirit  of 
puritanical  severity  within  themselves, 
and  a  harsh  and  rigid  exclusiveness 
towards  those  without,  which  were  not 
long  in  producing  the  same  bitter  fruits 
of  persecution  by  which  they  had  them 
selves  suffered.  The  ministers  acquired 
an  undue  degree  of  influence;  minute 
enactments  interfered  with  individual 
freedom  of  action ;  amusements,  which, 
though  innocent  in  themselves,  were 
supposed  to  be  inconsistent  with  the 
gravity  of  professing  Christians,  were 
studiously  discouraged,  and  devotional 
exercises  substituted  in  their  room.  "  It 
was  attempted,  in  fact,"  to  use  Mr.  Hil- 
dreth's  words,  "  to  make  the  colony,  as 
it  were,  a  convent  of  Puritan  devotees 
— except  in  the  allowance  of  marriage 
and  money-making — subjected  to  all 
the  rules  of  the  stricter  monastic  or 
ders." 


<J4 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND   COLONIES. 


CHAPTEE    VII. 

1631  —  1640, 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND  COLONIES. 

Vkaigration  in  1632  —  Question  of  levying  taxes  —  Arrivals  in  1633  —  Rights  of  the  freemen  under  the  charter  — 
Dudliy  governor  —  Progress  of  the  colony  under  "Winthrop's  four  years'  administration  —  Royal  colonial  com 
mission  —  Alarm  in  Massachusetts  —  Measures  taken  —  Case  of  Roger  "Williams  —  His  sentiments  and  charac 
ter —  Flight  to  Providence  —  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  heresies  —  Vane's  course  —  Sad  fate  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  — 
Settlements  in  Connecticut  —  Pequod  war  —  Origin  and  result  —  Extermination  of  the  Pequod  tribe  —  Emigra 
tion  in  consequence  of  religious  dissensions  —  Coast  of  Maine  —  Nova  Scotia  and  Canada — Progress  of  the 
colony  in  strength  and  extent  —  Estimated  cost  of  colonization  up  to  1640. 


THE  unfavorable  report  carried  back 
by  those  who  returned  from  the  first 
emigration,  operated  for  a  while 
greatly    to    discourage    others. 
The  number  of  new-corners  consequent 
ly,  in  1632,  was  comparatively  small. 
Among  them,  however,  was   the   son 
of  Winthrop  the  governor,  and  John 
Eliot,  afterwards   the   celebrated  mis 
sionary  to  the  Indians. 

In  virtue  of  the  authoiity  which  they 
supposed  was  vested  in  them,  the  magis 
trates  had,  on  several  occasions. 

1632.     -,.-,,  r™  .  .,     -,' 

levied  taxes.  Ihis  soon  excited 
attention  and  complaint,  and  the  next 
General  Court,  in  May,  1632,  took  the 
matter  in  hand.  Two  deputies  were 
chosen  from  each  plantation  to  agree 
upon  "  raising  a  common  stock."  The 
tenure  of  office  of  the  assistants  was 
expressly  limited  to  one  year,  and  the 
choice  of  governor  and  deputy-gov 
ernor  was  reassumed  by  the  freemen. 
Boston  was  determined  to  be  the  best 
place  for  public  meetings  of  the  colo 
nists,  and  a  fort  and  house  of  correc 
tion  were  ordered  to  be  built  there. 
In  1633,  several  hundred  settlers  ar- 


1631. 


rived ;  among  them  were  John  Haynes, 
and  those  ministers  so  distinguished  in 
New  England  history,  Cotton, 

1633. 

Hooker,    and    Stone.      Cotton 
settled   in   Boston,    as   colleague   with 
Wilson,  and  Hooker  and  Stone  settled 
at  Newtown. 

Difficulties  having  occurred  in  con 
sequence  of  some  stringent  acts  of  the 
magistrates,  two  delegates  from 
each  town  met  and  requested 
a  sight  of  the  charter,  on  examining 
which  they  concluded,  that  the  legisla 
tive  authority  rested  with  the  freemen, 
and  not  with  the  magistrates.  When 
the  General  Court  met,  in  May,  1634, 
that  body  claimed  for  itself,  under 
the  charter,  the  admission  of  freemen, 
choosing  officers,  raising  money,  etc. 
Notwithstanding  a  pulpit  appeal  from 
Cotton  against  the  rash  changing  of 
those-  in  office,  Dudley  was  chosen  gov 
ernor,  in  place  of  Winthrop,  though 
this  latter  was  retained  as  an  assistant. 
During  Winthrop's  four  years'  admin 
istration,  the  infant  colony  had  taken 
firm  root.  Theie  were  already  seven 
churches,  eight  principal  plantations, 


CH.  VII.] 


WILLIAMS'S  VIEWS. 


65 


and  some  smaller  ones.  Ferries  had 
been  established  between  Boston  and 
Charlestown  ;  .a  fort  had  been  built ; 
water  and  wind-mills  had  been  brought 
into  use ;  a  flourishing  trade  with  the 
\~irginians,  and  the  Dutch  had  gradu 
ally  grown  up,  etc. 

While  the  Court  was  in  session,  six 
large  vessels  arrived  with  a  large  num 
ber  of  passengers  and  a  goodly  supply 
of  cattle ;  and  about  a  month  later, 
fifteen  more  vessels  entered  the  harbor. 
John  Humphrey  came  out  in  one  of 
these  ships,  and  brought  with  him  a 
supply  of  ordnance,  muskets,  powder, 
and  other  things  of  value  to  the  col 
ony.  He  brought,  also,  propositions 
from  some  "persons  of  great  quality 
and  estate,"  to  join  the  Massachusetts 
colonists  if  certain  points  could  be  con 
ceded  to  them. 

In  consequence  of  complaints  made 
in  England  against  Massachusetts,  a 

O  O 

Royal  Colonial  Commission  was  ap 
pointed  with  full  power  over  the  Amer 
ican  plantations  to  revise  the  laws,  regu 
late  the  Church,  and  revoke  charters. 
The  news  of  this  measure  produced 
great  alarm  in  Massachusetts,  and  steps 
were  directly  taken  to  provide  for  the 
defence  of  Boston  harbor.  Dudley, 
Winthrop,  Haynes,  Humphrey,  and 
Endicott  were  appointed  commission 
ers  "to  consult,  direct,  and  give  com 
mand  for  the  managing  and  ordering 
of  any  war  that  might  befall  for  the 
space  of  a  year  next  ensuing." 

In  the  midst  of  these  difficulties,  the 
coarse  pursued  by  the  celebrated  Roger 
Williams  was  not  calculated  to  render 
matters  more  easy  of  adjustment.  This 
active  and  energetic  young  Puritan 

VOL.  I.— 11 


minister  very  early  gave  trouble  to  the 
Massachusetts  brethren,  by  setting  forth 
novelties  and  heresies,  as  they  esteemed 
them,  which  led  to  his  removal  to  Ply 
mouth,  where  he  remained  two  years. 
On  returning  to  Massachusetts,  he  soon 
became  involved  in  trouble,  not  only 
by  denying  the  validity  of  royal  pa 
tents  to  give  title  to  land  in  America, 

but  also  by  a  fantastical  scruple 

,,     J    -,  -     ,,     T-/         1634. 

as  to  the  red  cross  in  the  Eng 
lish  colors,  which  cross,  being  a  relic 
of  popery  and  abomination,  he  got 
Endicott,  the  commander  at  Salein,  to 
cut  out  from  the  national  flag.  Beside 
this,  denying  the  lawfulness  of  an  oath 
imposed  on  the  non-freemen,  and  the 
enactment  compelling  attendance  on 
public  worship,  he  gave  great  offence 
to  the  magistrates  and  ministers.  Amid 
all  his  vagaries,  and  what  we  can  not  but 
deem  puerile  seizing  upon  trifles, 
he  appears  to  have  grasped  firm 
ly  one  grand  idea,  and  to  have  held 
and  acted  upon  it  at  all  times  with  en 
tire  sincerity:  this  was  what  he  called 
"soul-liberty,"  meaning  by  the  expres 
sion,  the  most  perfect  and  complete 
right  of  every  man  to  enjoy  freedom 
of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  religion. 
The  idea,  however  familiar  to  us  at  the 
present  day,  was  then  wholly  new,  and 
startling  indeed  in  a  colony  like  Massa 
chusetts,  and  no  wonder  that  it  seemed 
to  those  in  authority  as  a  most  alarm 
ing  heresy.  For,  in  truth,  these  princi 
ples  struck  at  the  very  root  of  the 
theocracy  which  had  become  estab 
lished  in  the  colony.  Alarmed  by 
their  dangerous  tendency,  the  Court  at 
Boston  was  led  earnestly  to  desire  the 
removal  of  one  whom  they  regarded  as 


1635. 


66 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  NEW   ENGLAND   COLONIES. 


[BK.  L 


unsettled  in  judgment,  and  a  trembler 
of  the  public  peace.  It  was  certainly 
unfortunate  that  the  scruples  of  Wil 
liams  were  such  as  tended  to  divide 
and  weaken  the  colony,  struggling  as 
it  was  for  independent  existence,  amid 
all  the  difficulties  by  which  it  was  en 
compassed.  His  agitations  even  served 
to  paralyse  resistance  against  aggres 
sions  which  they  were  calculated  to 
brine:  about :  and  it  must  be  confessed 

o 

that,  however  excellent  the  principles 
he  had  espoused,  his  conduct  bears 
some  tinge  of  factious  opposition,  or, 
to  say  the  least,  of  an  ill-timed  and 
narrow-minded  scrupulosity.  But  his 
piety  was  so  genuine,  and  his  character 
so  noble  and  disinterested,  that  the 
people  of  Salem,  who  knew  and  loved 
him,  reflected  him  for  their  pastor,  in 
spite  of  the  censure  of  his  doctrines  by 
the  Court  at  Boston,  an  act  of  contu 
macy  for  which  they  were  reprimanded 
and  punished  by  the  withholding  a 
certain  portion  of  lands.  Such  harsh 
ness  aroused  Williams  to  retort  by  a 
spirited  protest,  and  he  engaged  the 
Salem  church  to  join  with  him  in  a 
general  appeal  to  the  other  churches 
against  the  injustice  of  which  the  ma 
gistrates  had  been  guilty — a  daring 
proceeding,  for  which  the  council  sus 
pended  their  franchise,  and  they  shrunk 
from  their  leader,  who  Avas  thus  left 
absolutely  alone.  Upon  this  he  openly 
renounced  allegiance  to  what  he  deemed 
a  persecuting  church.  His  opinions 
and  conduct  were  condemned  by  the 
council,  who  pronounced  against  him  a 
sentence  of  banishment,  but  on  account 
of  the  dangerous  feeling  of  sympa 
thy  it  awakened,  decided  shortly  af- 


ter  on  sending  him  back  to  England. 

In  the  depth  of  a  New  England 
winter,  Williams  fled  into  the  wilder 
ness,  and  took  refuge  among  the  Nar« 
ragansett  Indians,  with  whom  he  had 
become  acquainted  at  Plymouth.  He 
wandered  for  fourteen  weeks  through 
the  snow-buried  forests,  before  he 
reached  their  wigwams,  where  he  was 
received  and  sheltered  with  the  utmost 
kindness.  In  the  spring  he  departed 
in  quest  of  some  spot  where  he  could 
found  an  asylum  for  those  who,  like 
himself,  were  persecuted  for  conscience' 
sake.  He  first  attempted  a  settlement 
at  Seekonk,  but  afterwards,  at  the 
friendly  suggestion  of  Winslow, 
the  governor  of  Plymouth,  re 
moved  to  Narragansett  Bay,  where  he 
received  from  the  Indians  a  free  grant 
of  a  considerable  tract  of  country,  and 
in  June,  1636,  fixed  upon  the  site  of  a 
town,  which  he  named  "PROVIDENCE," 
as  being  a  refuge  from  persecution  and 
wanderings.  Many  of  his  friends  from 
Salem  joined  him  here,  and  he  freely 
distributed  his  lands  among  them. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island,  one  of  the  most  free  and 
liberal  in  its  institutions  of  any  ever 
founded  in  America. 

It  was  not  lon<?  before  fresh  troubles 

O 

sprang  up,  in  great  measure  having 
their  origin  in  the  same  claim  to  the 
right  of  private  judgment  in  all  mat 
ters  of  religious  truth  and  obligation. 
Hugh  Peters,  chaplain  to  Oliver  Crom 
well,  and  Henry  Vane,  a  young  man 
of  superior  ability  and  acquirements, 
came  over  to  join  the  Massachusetts 
colony.  The  emigration  of  a  man  of 
Vane's  distinction  and  family  created 


68 


PROGRESS    OF  THE  NEW   ENGLAND   COLONIES. 


[BK.  1. 


settlement,  she  continued  to  promul 
gate  her  doctrines  with  the  utmost 
ardor.  Her  sons,  openly  arraigning 
the  justice  of  her  banishment,  were 
seized  and  thrown  into  prison.  To  fly 
beyond  the  reach  of  persecution,  the 
whole  family  passed  over  into  the  ter 
ritory  of  the  Dutch,  at  the  time  when 
I£ieft,  the  governor,  had  aroused  by 
his  rashness  and  cruelty  vindictive 
reprisals  on  the  part  of  the  Indians. 
The  dwelling  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was 
set  on  fire,  and  she  either  perished  with 
her  children — except  a  little  grand 
daughter — amidst  the  flames,  or  was 
murdered  by  the  infuriated  savages. 
This  sad  event  occurred  in  October, 
1643. 

A  permanent  settlement  had  been 
formed  in  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut 
some  years  before.*  A  large 
body  now  prepared  to  push 
through  the  forest  to  the  desired  spot 
where  the  towns  of  Hartford,  Windsor, 
and  Wethersfield  were  founded.  The 
expedition  was  attended  with  many 
hardships,  being  undertaken  too  late 
in  the  year.  The  cattle  perished,  pro 
visions  failed,  and  many  returned 
through  the  snows  to  the  place  whence 
they  had  set  out.  Next  year  a 
larger  body,  consisting  of  the 
members  of  the  two  churches,  with 
their  ministers,  one  of  whom  was 
Hooker,  made  their  way  through  the 
wilderness,  by  aid  of  the  compass,  driv 
ing  their  cattle  before  them  through 
the  tangled  thickets.f  The  Commis- 

*  The  Indian  name  Connecticoota,  signifies  "  Lon<* 
River." 

t  Mr.  Hollister  thus  pleasantly  enlarges  upon  this 
•ventful  journey:— "About  the  beginning  of  June, 


1635. 


1630. 


sioners  also  sent  a  party  by  water  to 
found  a  port  at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
which,  since  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  and 
Lord  Brooke,  were  proprietaries,  was 
called  Saybrook.  Exposed  to  trouble 
in  consequence  of  the  jealousy  mani 
fested  by  the  Dutch  towards  the  col 
ony,  it  was  besides  placed  in  great 

the  first  soft,  warm  month  of  the  Ne\v  England  year, 
Mr.  Hooker,  with  his   assistant,  Mr.  Stone,  and  fol 
lowed  by  about  one  hundred  men,  women,  and  chil 
dren,  set  out  upon  the  long  contemplated  journey, 
Over  mountains,  through  swamps,  across  rivers,  ford 
ing,  or  upon  rafts,  with  the  compass  to  point  out  their 
irregular  way,  slowly  they  moved  westward  ;  now  in 
the  open  spaces   of  the  forest,  where  the  sun  looked 
in  ;    now   under  the  shade   of  the   old   trees ;    now 
struggling  through  the  entanglement  of  bushes  and 
vines — driving  their  flocks  and  herds  before  them — 
the  strong  supporting  the  weak,  the  old  caring  for  the 
young,  with  hearts  cheerful  as  the  month,  slowly  they 
moved    on.     Mrs.   Hooker  was  ill,   p.nd   wns   borne 
gently  upon  a  litter.     A  stately,  well-ordered  journey 
it  was,  for  gentlemen  of  fortune  and  rank  were   ?f 
the  company,  and   ladies  who  had  been  delicately 
bred,  and  who   had  known  little  of  toil  or  hardship 
until  now.     But  they  endured  it  with   the  sweet  ala 
crity  that  belongs   alone  to  woman,  high-toned  and 
gentle,  when  summoned  by  a  voice  whose  call  can 
not  be  resisted,  to  lay  aside  the  trappings  of  ease,  antf 
to  step  from  a  fortune  that  she  once  adorned,  to  a 
level  that  her  presence  ennobles.     The  howl  of  the 
wolf,  his  stealthy  step  among  the  rustling  leaves,  the 
sighing  of  the  pines,  the  roar  of  the  mountain  tor 
rent,  losing  itself  in  echoes  sent  back  from  rock  and 
hill,  the  smoking  ruins  of  the  Indian  council-fire — all 
forcing  upon  the  mind  the  oppressive  sense  of  solita 
riness  and  danger,  the  more  dreaded  because  unseen 
— all  these  the  wife,  the  mother,  the  daughter,  en 
countered,  with  a  calm  trust  that  they  should  one 
day  see  the  wilderness  blossom  as  the  rose.     At  the 
end  of  about  two  weeks,  they  reached  the  land  al 
most  fabulous  to  them — so  long  had  hope  and  fancy 
been  shaping  to  their  minds  pictures  of  an  ideal  love 
liness — the   valley   of    the   Connecticut.      It   lay    at 
their  feet,  beneath  the  shadow   of  the  low-browed 
hills,  that  tossed  the  foliage  of  their  trees  in  billows, 
heaving  for  miles  away  to  the  east  and  west,  as  the 
breath  of  June  touched  them  with  life.     It  lay,  hold 
ing  its  silvery  river  in  its  embrace,  like  a  strong  bow 
half  bent  in  the  hands  of  the  swarthy  hunter,  who 
still  called  himself  lord  of  its  rich  acres." — Hols 
ter's  "  History  of  Connecticut  "  vol.  i.,  p.  29 


Ca.  VII.] 


ORIGIN   OF  THE  PEQUOD   WAR. 


peril  from  the  hostility  of  the  neigh 
boring  Indians. 

The  Pequod  war  was,  perhaps,  the 
inevitable  result  of  the  suspicions  and 
fears  of  the  Indians,  and  the  apprehen 
sions  of  the  colonists  of  sudden  attack 
and  massacre  similar  to  that  to  which 
the  settlers  in  Virginia  had  been  sub 
jected.  It  was  but  natural  that  the  na- 
ti  v  es  should  dislike  the  progress  of  the 
white  men's  settlements,  and  meditate, 
at  least,  upon  measures  for  arresting 
their  advance  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
colonists  were  constantly  on  their  guard, 
and  determined  to  punish  relentlessly 
the  first  symptoms  of  aggression.  The 
Pequods  were,  at  this  date,  the  most 
powerful  confederacy  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  Narragansett  Bay,  and  held 
authority  over  twenty-six  petty  tribes. 
A  band  of  them  had  murdered 
one  Stone,  a  drunken  and  dis 
solute  master  of  a  Virginia  trading 
vessel,  which,  exciting  some  alarm  in 
Massachusetts,  the  Pequods  sent  to  Bos 
ton  and  stated  that  the  deed  had  been 
hastily  committed,  in  revenge  for  some 
provocation  on  the  part  of  Stone  and 
his  crew.  Beside  offering  to  give  up 
the  murderers,  they  begged  the  inter 
vention  of  the  magistrates  to  effect  a 
reconciliation  with  their  enemies  the 
Narragansetts,  and  desired  to  open  a 
traffic.  The  apology  was  accepted,  and 
the  mediation  asked  for  accomplished  ; 
but  the  murderers,  from  inability  or 
some  other  cause,  were  not  delivered 
up.  Not  long  after,  an  old  settler  on 

Block  Island,  named  Oldham,  was  mur- 

f  ' 

dered  by  a  party  of  Indians,  probably 
in  revenge  for  his  opening  a  trade  with 
the  Pequods.  Canonic  us,  the  sachem 


1636. 


1636. 


of  the  Narragansetts,  offered  ample 
apology  for  a  crime  committed  with 
out  his  knowledge ;  but  the  magistrates 
and  ministers  thought  something  fur- 

O  O 

ther  was  required  at  their  hands.  Ac 
cordingly,  an  expedition,  under  com 
mand  of  Endicott,  consisting  of  ninety 
men,  was  sent  to  punish  the  Block 
Islanders,  and  thence  to  go  to  the  Pe 
quods  to  demand  the  delivery  of  the 
murderers  of  Stone,  and  a  thousand 
fathoms  of  wampum  for  damages — 
equivalent  to  from  three  to  five  thou 
sand  dollars.  After  burning  the  WIG;- 

o  o 

warns,  and  destroying  the  standing 
corn  of  the  Indians  on  Block 
Island,  Endicott  sailed  to  Fort 
Saybrook,  and  marched  thence  to  the 
Pequod  River.  The  Indians  refusing 
his  demands,  he  burned  their  villages, 
both  there  and  on  the  Connecticut,  and 
returned  to  Boston  without  the  loss  of 
a  single  man. 

The  Pequods,  enraged  at  what  they 
deemed  an  unprovoked  attack,  retal 
iated  in  every  way  in  their  power,  kill 
ing,  during  the  winter,  about  thirty 
in  all,  and  endeavored  to  engage  the 
Narragansetts  in  an  alliance  to  cut  off 
every  white  man  from  the  soil.  Hap 
pily,  through  the  intervention  of  Roger 
Williams,  who  had  sent  timely  infor 
mation  to  the  Massachusetts  magis 
trates,  this  dreaded  coalition  was  pre 
vented,  and  the  good  will,  or  at  least, 
the  neutrality,  of  the  Narragansetts 
was  secured. 

At  a  special  session  of  the  General 
Court,  held  early  in  December,  1636, 
the  militia  were  organized  into  three 
regiments,  and  officers  were  appointed 
in  the  respective  grades.  Watches 


70 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND   COLONIES. 


[Bn.  l 


were  ordered  to  be  kept,  and  travel 
lers   were   to  go   armed.     No   active 
measures  were  taken  until  the  spring 
of  1637,  in  consequence  main 
ly  of  the  ferment  and  trouble 
arisinf  out  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  case, 

O  ' 

of  which  we  have  spoken  on  a  previous 
page.  Orthodoxy  having  triumphed, 
vigorous  attention  was  directed  to  the 

O 

Pequod  war,  and  a  considerable  force 
was  raised  to  send  into  the  field.  But 
the  decisive  battle  had  been  fought  be 
fore  the  arrival  of  the  Massachusetts 
troops.  The  Connecticut  towns,  early 
in  May,  having  obtained  the  alliance  of 
Uncas,  sachem  of  the  Mohegans,  the 
greater  part  of  the  able-bodied  men, 
—ninety  in  number — under  the  com 
mand  of  John  Mason,  who  had  been  a 
soldier  in  Flanders,  prepared  for  their 
departure.  It  was  a  perilous  crisis; 
should  they  fail  in  the  enterprise,  the 
infant  settlement,  left  without  defend 
ers,  would  fall  into  the  power  of  their 
vindictive  enemies — their  wives  and 
children  would  be  ruthlessly  scalped. 
The  night  of  May  10th  was  spent  in  sol 
emn  prayer.  On  the  morrow  the  mi 
litia  embarked  at  Hartford,  and  be 
ing  joined  by  twenty  men,  sent  some 
time  before  from  Boston,  under  the 
command  of  Underbill,  sailed  past  the 
Thames,  and  entered,  unobserved,  a 
harbor  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Pequod 
fort.  They  rested  on  the  following 
Lord's  Day,  and  early  in  the  week  en 
deavored  to  engage  the  assistance  of 
the  Narragansetts,  whose  sachem,  Mian- 
tonimoh,  at  first  joined  them  with  two 
hundred  warriors,  who,  on  learning  that 
the  intention  of  the  English  was  to  at 
tack  the  Pequod  forts  with  so  small  a 


body,  were  panic-struck,  and  most  of 
them  retreated.  The  catastrophe  can 
not  be  better  described  than  in  the 
words  of  an  early  historian  of  Con 
necticut: 

"  After  marching  under  the  guidance 
of  a  revolted  Pequod  to  the  vicinity  of 
the  principal  fort,  they  pitched  their 
little  camp  between,  or  near,  two  large 
rocks,  in  Groton,  since  called  Porter's 
rocks.  The  men  were  faint  and  weary, 
and  though  the  rocks  were  their  pil 
lows,  their  rest  was  sweet.  The  guards 
and  sentinels  were  considerably  ad 
vanced  in  front  of  the  army,  and  heard 
the  enemy  singing  at  the  fort,  wrho  con 
tinued  their  rejoicings  even  until  mid 
night.  They  had  seen  the  vessels  pass 
the  harbor  some  days  before,  and  had' 
concluded  that  the  English  were  afraid, 
and  had  no  courage  to  attack  them. 
The  night  was  serene,  and  towards 
morning  the  moon  shone  clear.  The 
important  crisis  was  now  come,  when 
the  very  existence  of  Connecticut,  un 
der  Providence,  was  to  be  determined 
by  the  sword  in  a  single  action,  and  to 
be  decided  by  the  good  conduct  of  less 
than  eighty  brave  men.  The  Indiana 
who  remained  were  now  sorely  dis 
mayed,  and  though  at  first  they  had 
led  the  van,  and  boasted  of  great  feats, 
yet  were  now  fallen  back  in  the  rear. 
About  two  hours  before  day.  the  men 
were  roused  with  all  expedition,  and, 
briefly  commending  themselves  and 
their  cause  to  God,  advanced  imme 
diately  to  the  fort,  and  sent  for  the  In 
dians  in  the  rear  to  come  up.  Uncas 
and  Obequash  at  length  appeared. 
The  captain  demanded  of  them  where 
the  fort  was.  They  answered,  on  the 


CH.  Vlf.] 


DESTRUCTION   OF  THE  PEQUODS. 


71 


top  of  the  hill.  He  demanded  of 
them  where  were  the  other  Indians. 
They  answered  that  they  were  much 
afraid.  The  captain  sent  to  them  not 
to  fly,  but  to  surround  the  fort  at  any 
distance  they  pleased,  and  see  whether 
Englishmen  would  fight.  The  day  was 
nearly  dawning,  and  no  time  was  now 
to  be  lost.  The  men  pressed  on  in  two 
divisions,  Captain  Mason  to  the  north 
eastern,  and  Underhill  to  the  western 
entrance.  As  the  object  which  they 
had  been  so  long  seeking  came  into 
view,  and  while  they  reflected  that 
they  were  to  fight  not  only  for  them 
selves,  but  their  parents,  wives,  chil 
dren,  and  the  whole  colony,  the  martial 
spirit  kindled  in  their  bosoms,  and  they 
were  wonderfully  animated  and  assisted. 
As  Captain  Mason  advanced  within  a 
rod  or  two  of  the  fort,  a  dog  barked, 
and  an  Indian  roared  out, — '  Owanux ! 
Owanux !'  that  is,  Englishmen!  English- 

/  O  O 

men !  The  troops  pressed  on,  and  as  the 
Indians  were  rallying,  poured  in  upon 
them  through  the  palisadoes,  a  general 
discharge  of  their  muskets,  and  then 
wheeling  off  to  the  principal  entrance, 
entered  the  fort  sword  in  hand.  Not 
withstanding  the  suddenness  of  the  at 
tack,  and  the  blaze  and  thunder  of  the 
arms,  the  enemy  made  a  manly  and  des 
perate  resistance.  Captain  Mason  and 
his  party  drove  the  Indians  in  the  main 
street  towards  the  west  part  of  the  fort, 
where  some  bold  men,  who  had  forced 
their  way,  met  them,  and  made  such 
slaughter  among  them,  that  the  street 
was  soon  clear  of  the  enemy.  They 
secreted  themselves  in  and  behind  their 
wigwams,  and,  taking  advantage  of 
every  covert,  maintained  an  obstinate 


defence.  The  captain  and  his  men 
entered  the  wigwams,  where  they  were 
beset  with  many  Indians,  who  took 
every  advantage  to  shoot  them,  and 
lay  hands  upon  them,  so  that  it  was 
with  great  difficulty  that  they  could 
defend  themselves  with  their  swords. 
After  a  severe  conflict,  in  which  many 
of  the  Indians  were  slain,  some  of  the 
English  killed,  and  others  sorely  wound 
ed,  the  victory  still  hung  in  suspense. 
The  captain,  finding  himself  much  ex 
hausted,  and  out  of  breath,  as  well  as 
his  men,  by  the  extraordinary  exertions 
which  they  had  made  in  this  critical 
state  of  action,  had  recourse  to  a  suc 
cessful  expedient.  He  cries  out  to  his 
men,  '  We  must  burn  them  !'  He  im 
mediately,  entering  a  wigwam,  took  fire 
and  put  it  into  the  mats  with  which 
the  wigwams  were  covered.  The  fire 
instantly  kindling,  spread  with  such 
violence,  that  all  the  Indian  houses 
were  soon  wrapped  in  one  general 
flame.  As  the  fire  increased,  the  Eng 
lish  retired  without  the  fort,  and  com 
passed  it  on  every  side.  Uncas  and  his 
Indians,  with  such  of  the  Narragansetts 
as  yet  remained,  took  courage  from  the 
example  of  the  English,  and  formed 
another  circle  in  the  rear  of  them. 
The  enemy  were  now  seized  with  as 
tonishment  ;  and,  forced  by  the  flames 
from  their  lurking-places  into  open 
light,  became  a  fair  mark  for  the  Eng 
lish  soldiers.  Some  climbed  the  pali 
sadoes,  and  were  instantly  brought 
down  by  the  fire  of  English  muskets. 
Others,  desperately  sallying  forth  from 
their  burning  cells,  were  shot,  or  cut  to 
pieces  with  the  sword.  Such  terror 
fell  upon  them,  that  they  would  run 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  NEW  ENGLAND   COLONIES. 


[Ex. 


back  from  the  English  into  the  very 
flames.  Great  numbers  perished  in  the 
conflagration.  The  greatness  and  vio- 

o  o 

lence  of  the  fire,  the  reflection  of  the 
light,  the  flashing  and  the  roar  of  the 
arms,  the  shrieks  and  veilings  of  the 
men,  women,  and  children,  in  the  fort, 
and  the  shouting  of  the  Indians  with 
out,  just  at  the  dawning  of  the  morn 
ing,  exhibited  a  grand  and  awful  scene. 
In  little  more  than  an  hour,  this  whole 
work  of  destruction  was  finished.  Se 
venty  wigwams  were  burnt,  and  five  or 
six  hundred  Indians  perished,  either  by 
the  sword,  or  in  the  flames.  A  hun 
dred  and  fifty  warriors  had  been  sent 
on  the  evening  before,  who,  that  very 
morning,  were  to  have  gone  forth 
against  the  English.  Of  these  and  all 
who  belonged  to  the  fort,  seven  only 
escaped,  and  seven  were  made  prison 
ers.  It  had  been  previously  concluded 
not  to  burn  the  fort,  but  to  destroy  the 
enemy,  and  take  the  plunder ;  but  the 
captain  afterwards  found  it  the  only 
expedient,  to  obtain  the  victory  and 
save  his  men.  Thus  parents  and  chil 
dren,  the  sannap  and  squaw,  the  old 
man  and  the  babe,  perished  in  promis 
cuous  ruin."'35 

At  the  close  of  this  unrelenting  mas 
sacre,  a  new  body  of  the  Pequods  from 
the  other  villages,  were  found  to  be  fast 
approaching.  Filled  with  rage  at  the 
sight  of  their  ruined  habitations  and 
slaughtered  companions,  they  rushed 
furiously  upon  the  white  men ;  but  it 
was  in  vain ;  the  destructive  fire  arms 
soon  checked  them,  and  Mason  and  his 


84. 


*  Trumbull  s  "  History  of  Connecticut,"  vol.  i.,  p. 


1C37. 


party  easily  made  good  their  retreat  to 
Pequod  harbor,  now  New  London.  The 
wounded  were  sent  by  water,  and  Ma 
son  marched  his  troops  to  Saybrook, 
where  he  was  received  with  a  discharge 
of  artillery. 

The  work  of  extermination  thus  be^ 
gun  by  the  Connecticut  soldiers  was,  in 
conjunction  with  the  Massachu 
setts  forces,  carried  forward  to 
its  completion  during  the  summer.  The 
Pequods  were  hunted  from  their  hiding 
places  in  the  swamps ;  their  forts  were 
destroyed ;  the  warriors  were  killed ; 
the  women  and  children  were  distri 
buted  as  slaves  among  the  colonists ; 
Sassacus,  their  head  sachem,  having  fled 
to  the  Mohawks,  was  murdered  by 
them,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Narra- 
gansetts ;  and  the  adult  male  prisoners 
were  sold  into  slavery  in  the  West  In 
dies.  It  was  reckoned  that  about  nine 
hundred  of  the  Pequods  had  been 
killed  or  taken ;  and  the  few  that  had 
escaped  and  were  scattered  among  the 
Narragansetts  and  Mohegans,  were  for 
ever  forbidden  to  call  themselves  Pe 
quods.  The  colonists  regarded  their 
successes  in  this  war  of  destruction  of 
the  "  bloody  heathen"  as  ample  proof 
of  Divine  approbation ;  and  with  charac 
teristic  self-complacency,  they  furnished 
numerous  quotations  out  of  the  Old 
Testament  to  justify  every  thing  which 
they  had  done.  Truly,  one  might  well 
here  repeat  the  wish  of  pious  Robin 
son,  "  Would  that  you  had  converted 
some  to  the  truth  before  you  had  killed 
any  !" 

The  Pequods  having  been  exter 
minated,  the  attention  of  the  ministers 
and  magistrates  was  next  turned  to  the 


CH.  VII.] 


VARIOUS  SETTLEMENTS  EFFECTED. 


1038. 


rooting  out  of  heretical  pravity,  a  spe 
cies  of  work  which  they  were  con 
stantly  called  upon  to  undertake,  but 
which,  however  well  done,  seemed  very 
frequently  to  require  to  be  done  over 
again.  One  beneficial  effect  resulted 
certainly  from  the  stringent  regulations 
in  Massachusetts,  and  that  was  the 
causing  emigrations  in  different  direc 
tions.  Koger  Williams,  as  before  re 
lated,  had  laid  the  foundation  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  Davenport,  in  1638,  desi 
rous  of  enjoying  a  separate  com 
munity,  which  should  be  for 
ever  free  from  the  innovations  of  error 
and  licentiousness,  established  the  col 
ony  of  New  Haven.  Wheelwright, 
banished  for  his  participation  in  the 
heresies  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  went  forth 
and  planted  Exeter.  Captain  Under- 
hill,  involved  in  the  same  quarrel,  and 
charged  moreover  with  a  license  in  re 
gard  to  creature  comforts  quite  unbe 
coming  in  austere  Massachusetts,  was 
expelled,,  notwithstanding  his  services 
in  the  field ;  upon  which  he  retired  to 
Dover.  Others  also  departed  as  occa 
sion  demanded,  and  thus  separate  con 
gregations  and  settlements  were  sprin 
kled  over  the  face  of  the  country. 
Among  these,  was  that  of  Rowley,  in 
Massachusetts,  formed  by  a  company 
of  Yorkshire  clothiers,  under  the  pas 
toral  care  of  Ezekiel  Rogers. 

In  the  spring  of  1637,  a  proclama 
tion  was  issued  in  England  to  put  a 
stop  to  the  emigration  of  Puritans ;  and 
a  year  afterwards,  when  a  squadron  of 
eight  ships,  which  were  in  the  Thames, 
was  preparing  to  embark  for  New 
England,  the  privy  council  interfered 
to  prevent  its  sailing.  It  has  been 

VOL.  1—12 


asserted  that  Hampden  and  Cromwell 
were  on  board  this  fleet ;  but  there 
seems  no  good  ground  for  the  assertion, 
neither  of  them  being  likely  to  take 
such  a  step  in  the  then  position  of  af 
fairs  at  home.  The  ships  were  delayed 
only  a  few  days,  when  the  king  removed 
the  restraint,  and  the  vessels  arrived  in 
safety  in  Massachusetts  Bay. 

The  coast  of  Maine  had  also,  here 
and  there,  a  few  settlements,  but  their 
progress  was  for  some  time  extremely 
slow.  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  who, 
during  thirty  years  had  persevered  in 
his  efforts  at  colonization,  and  had  sunk 
in  these  efforts  nearly  $100,000,  ob 
tained  a  royal  charter  for  his  American 
provinces,  in  1639.  On  the  receipt  of 
this  charter,  Gorges  drew  up  an  elabo 
rate  scheme  for  the  government  of 
Maine,  and  sent  out  Thomas 
Gorges,  as  deputy,  with  subordi 
nates,  to  administer  it.  A  Scotchman, 
Sir  William  Alexander,  had  obtained 
from  James  I.  the  territory  of  Acadie? 
in  1627,  and  given  to  it  the  name  of 
Nova  Scotia.  During  the  war  between 
France  and  England  he  had  taken 
forcible  possession  of  the  province  j 
under  the  treaty  of  peace,  however, 
Canada,  Cape  Breton,  and  Acadie  were 
restored  again,  in  1632,  to  the  French. 
These  were  rivals  to  the  English  colo 
nists  in  trade,  and  worse  than  all,  were ' 
papists,  a  fact  which  led  the  Massachu 
setts  people  to  apprehend  that  they 
might  prove  "  ill  neighbors." 

The  progress  of  the  colony,  in  spite 
of  internal  dissensions  and  troubles, 
was,  on  the  whole,  steady  and  rapid. 
Trade  continued  to  increase,  vessels 
were  built,  mills  were  erected,  and 


1610. 


74 


PROGRESS   OF   VIRGINIA. 


[Bit.  i. 


towns  and  villages  gradually  began  to 
assume  a  settled  appearance.  Inter 
course,  however,  between  the  settle 
ments,  was  mostly  carried  on  by  coast 
ing,  in  consequence  of  the  forests  and 
uninhabited  regions  intervening.  Pro 
bably  no  plantation  in  America  had 
made  as  safe  and  substantial  progress 
as  this,  during  the  time  that  the  ener 
getic  sons  of  England  had  been  on  the 
soil  of  the  New  World. 


1610, 


The  cost  of  New  England  coloniza 
tion  thus  far,  according  to  Mr.  Hil- 
dreth,  has  been  estimated  at  a 
million  of  dollars,  which,  al 
though  a  great  sum,  is  probably  short 
of  the  truth.  There  were  now  east  of 
the  Hudson  twelve  independent  com 
munities,  comprising  some  fifty  towns 
or  settlements ;  soon  after,  however, 
the  separate  jurisdictions  were  reduced 
to  six. 


CH  APTEE     VIII. 

1625—1660 

PROGRESS     OF    VIRGINIA. 

Wyatt  governor  of  Virginia  —  Yeardley  —  West  —  Letter  to  the  king  —  Harvey  governor  —  Kevisal  of  the  laws 

—  Various  regulations  —  Division  into  counties  —  Jealousy  of  Maryland  —  Complaints  against  Harvey  —  Goec 
to  England  —  Returns  to  Virginia  —  Harvey's  administration  —  Wyatt's  administration  —  Sir  William  Berkeley 

—  His  character  —  Second  revisal  of  laws — Parliamentary  commissioners'  efforts  —  Colony  firm  in  loyalty  — 
War  with  the   Indians  —  Independence    of  Virginia  —  Authority  of  Parliament  enforced  —  Bennet,   Diggs, 
Matthews,  governors  —  Sir  William  Berkeley  reflected  —  Desire  for  restoration  of  monarchy  —  Principles  of 
popular  liberty. 


1C25. 


ON  the  accession  of  Charles  I.,  in 
1625,  although  Sir  Francis  Wyatt's 
commission  as  governor  of  Vir 
ginia,  was  renewed  in  the  same 
terms  as  under  James,  he  soon  after 
returned  to  England,  and  Yeardley 
was  appointed  his  successor.  Yeardley 
died  the  next  year,  much  lamented  by 
the  colonists,  and  the  Council  elected 
Francis  West  governor  pro  tern- 

IG'47. 

pore.  From  a  letter  addressed 
to  the  king  by  West  and  the  Council, 
we  learn  that  the  industry  and  energy 
of  the  colony  were  hardly  equal  to 
what  might  have  been  expected.  War 
against  the  Indians  was  still  existing ; 


there  was  but  little  enterprise  and  cap 
ital  ;  and,  in  fact,  the  staple  product 
was  that  "  nauseous,  unpalatable  weed, 
tobacco,  neither  of  necessity  nor  orna 
ment  to  human  life."  Notwithstand 
ing,  however,  these  and  similar  disad 
vantages  to  which  Virginia  was  sub- 

o  o 

jected,  the  population  continued  to 
increase  with  rapidity,  and  in  1628, 
more  than  a  thousand  emigrants  ar 
rived  from  Europe. 

Dr.  John  Potts  was  elected  by  the 
Council,  in  1629,  in  place  of  West, 
which  office  he  held  for  a  short  time, 
until  the  arrival  of  John  Harvey,  who 
had  recently  been  appointed  to  the 


CH.  VIII.] 


REVISAL  OF  THE  VIRGINIA  CODE. 


75 


1629. 


1632. 


government  of  the  colony.  Potts  fell 
into  trouble  under  charge  of  no 
very  creditable  character,  viz., 
that  of  cattle-stealing ;  but  nothing  of 
moment  grew  out  of  it.  Harvey  built 
a  new  fort  at  Point  Comfort,  at  the 
entrance  of  James  River,  and  a  fee,  in 
powder  and  ball,  was  demanded  of 
every  ship  that  passed.  Salt-works 
were  also  established  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  Chesapeake  Bay. 

In  1632,  a  revisal  of  the  laws  took 
place,  by  which  they  were  consolidated 
into  a  single  statute,  a  process 
which  it  was  found  expedient 
to  repeat  on  several  subsequent  occa 
sions.  The  regulations  in  regard  to 
religion  and  morals  were  numerous, 
and  evince  the  care  and  concern  of  the 
authorities  to  promote  godliness  among 
the  people.  These  regulations  covered 
such  points  as  the  publishing  bans  of 
marriage,  catechizing  children,  the  num 
ber  of  times  the  ministers  should  preach, 
during  the  year,  and  administer  the 
communion,  the  tithes  for  the  support 
of  religion,  punishments  for  drunken 
ness,  profane  swearing,  adultery,  slan 
der,  etc.  Attempts  were  made  to  limit 
the  amount  of  tobacco  produced,  and 
thus  increase  its  price  in  the  English 
market.  The  price  had  fallen  to  six 
pence  per  pound,  and  very  serious  com 
petition  had  arisen  from  the  English 
planters  in  the  Island  of  Barbadoes, 
and  other  settlers  in  the  Leeward 
Isles.  The  colonists  were  required  to 
cultivate  a  certain  portion  of  the  soil 
in  corn,  and  to  plant  and  rear  vines. 
Military  exercises  were  to  be  kept  up ; 
no  parley  was  to  be  held  with  Indians ; 
no  emigratiop  to  New  England  was  to 


1631. 


take  place  without  lea/e  of  the  gov 
ernor.  This  revised  code  was  read  at 
the  beginning  of  every  monthly  court, 
and  a  manuscript  copy  was  furnished, 
open  to  public  inspection. 

Two  years  subsequently,  in  1684,  the 
colony  was  divided  into  eight  counties, 
the  governor  appointing  the 
lieutenants  for  each  county,  and 
the  people  choosing  the  sheriff; — so 
that  after  many  trials,  and  many  ob 
stacles  in  the  way  of  its  growth,  Vir 
ginia  at  that  date  may  be  regarded  as 
having  taken  deep  and  abiding  root  in 
the  soil  of  the  new  empire  fast  rising 
into  importance  in  the  western  hemi 
sphere. 

The  new  colony  of  Maryland  was 
not  looked  on  with  much  favor  by  the 
Virginians,  and  they  generally  felt  that 
it  was  an  encroachment  on  their  just 
rights.  Harvey  had  rendered  himself 
very  unpopular  by  the  adoption  of 
measures  obnoxious  to  the  feelings  of  a 
large  party  in  Virginia ;  the  conse 
quence  of  which  was,  that  he  was  sus 
pended  by  the  Council.  An  assembly 
was  called  to  receive  complaints  against 
Harvey,  and  he  took  his  departure  for 
England,  to  answer  there  any  charges 
which  might  be  preferred  against  him. 
The  charges  were  not  even  heard,  and 
the  deposed  Harvey  returned, 
in  1636,  with  a  new  commis 
sion,  and  with  a  spirit  not  improved  in 
kindliness  towards  the  colonists.  He 
remained  several  years  in  office,  and, 
according  to  some  writers,  exercised  his 
powers  with  much  severity,  and  even 
tyranny,  until  at  length  he  was  super 
seded  by  Sir  Francis  Wyatt,  in  1639. 
It  is  but  justice,  however,  to  state  that 


1636. 


PROGRESS   OF   VIRGINIA. 


.  t. 


1611. 


1613. 


great  allowance  is  to  be  made  in  Har 
vey's  c»oe  for  tlie  violence  of  political 
excitement,  since  it  does  not  appear 
that  he  attempted  any  unlawful  inter 
ference  with  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  the  colonists. 

The  administration  of  "Wyatt  was 
peaceful,  and  quite  acceptable  to  the 
people.  In  1641,  however,  Sir 
William  Berkeley  was  appointed 
governor,  and  the  year  following  ar 
rived  in  Virginia.  He  was  a  man  of 
high  and  honorable  character  and  prin 
ciples,  and  proved  himself  well  adapted 
to  the  station  to  which  he  had  been 
elevated.  Shortly  after  the  commence 
ment  of  the  civil  war  in  En^- 

O 

land,  the  laws  of  Virginia  un 
derwent  a  second  revision.  Most  of 
the  former  laws  were  continued,  but 
with  some  modifications  and  additions, 
among  which  were  the  requiring  all  in 
the  colony  to  use  the  liturgy  of  ^ffe 
Church  of  England,  non-conformists  to 
depart  out  of  Virginia,  the  monthly 
courts  to  be  changed  into  county  courts, 
and  held  six  times  a  year,  certain  taxes 
necessary  to  public  advantage,  to  tye 
levied,  etc.,  etc. 

The  Parliamentary  Commissioners 
for  Plantations  endeavored  to  obtain 
from  the  Virginians  an  acknowledg 
ment  of  their  authority,  offering  them 
the  choice  of  their  own  governor ;  but 
Governor  Berkeley,  who  was  a  firm 
royalist,  persuaded  the  majority  of 
the  Council  to  adhere  to  the  king ;  so 
that  Virginia,  retaining  its  attachment 
to  loyalty,  and  in  a  measure  left  to  it 
self,  had  an  opportunity  of  legislating 
for  the  general  good,  independent  of 
European  control. 


1611. 


The  hostility  of  the  Indians,  which 
had  been  only  partially  suppressed, 
was  ready  to  break  out  on  any  favor 
able  occasion.  Opechancanough,  the 
ancient  enemy  of  the  colonists,  wag 
now  advanced  in  years,  and  still 
meditating  upon  revenge.  A 
favorable  opportunity  having  presented 
itself,  arising  out  of  the  dissensions  oc 
casioned  by  the  civil  war  in  England, 
and  its  general  effect  upon  the  col 
ony,  a  sudden  and  furious  assault  was 
made  under  Opechancanough's  direction, 
which  resulted  in  the  slaughter  of  some 
five  hundred  of  the  colonists.  A  gene 
ral  war  against  the  Indians  ensued,  and 
the  aged  chief  was  taken  prisoner,  and 
died  soon  after  of  wounds  inflicted  by 
a  brutal  soldier,  His  successor 
was  willing  to  make  peace,  and 
all  the  lands  between  James  and  York 
Rivers  were  ceded  to  the  Virginians. 

Thus  did  it  happen,  to  use  the  words 
of  Mr.  Bancroft,  that  "  the  colony  of 
Virginia  acquired  the  management  of 
all  its  concerns ;  war  was  levied  and 
peace  concluded,  and  territory  acquired, 
in  conformity  to  the  acts  of  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  people.  Possessed  of 
security  and  quiet,  abundance  of  land, 
a  free  market  for  their  staple,  and 
practically  all  the  rights  of  an  inde 
pendent  State,  having  England  for  its 
guardian  against  foreign  oppression, 
rather  than  its  ruler,  the  colonists  en 
joyed  all  the  prosperity  which  a  virgin 
soil,  equal  laws,  and  general  uniformity 
of  condition  and  industry  could  be 
stow.  Their  numbers  increased;  the 
cottages  were  filled  with  children,  as 
the  ports  were  with  ships  and  emi 
grants.  At  Christmas,  1648,  there 


CH.  VIII. J 


LOYALTY  OF  VIRGINIA. 


77 


1619. 


were  trading  in  Virginia  ten  ships  from 
London,  two  from  Bristol,  twelve  Hol 
landers,  and  seven  from  New  England. 
The  number  of  the  colonists  was  al 
ready  twenty  thousand  ;  and  they  who 
had  sustained  no  griefs,  were  not  tempt 
ed  to  engage  in  the  feuds  by  which  the 
mother  country  was  divided.  They 
were  attached  to  the  cause  of  Charles, 
not  because  they  loved  monarchy,  but 
because  they  cherished  the  liberties  of 
which  he  had  left  them  in  the  undis 
turbed  possession ;  and  after  his 
execution,  though  there  were 

/  o 

not  wanting  some  who,  from  ignorance, 
as  the  royalists  affirmed,  favored  re 
publicanism,  the  government  recognized 

his  son  without  dispute 

The  faithfulness  of  the  Virginians  did 
aot  escape  the  attention  of  the  royal 
exile ;  from  his  retreat  in  Breda, 
he  transmitted  to  Berkeley  a 
new  commission ;  he  still  con 
trolled  the  distribution  of  affairs,  and 
amidst  his  defeats  in  Scotland,  still  re 
membered  with  favor  the  faithful  cava 
liers  in  the  western  world.  Charles 
the  Second,  a  fugitive  from  England, 
was  still  the  sovereign  of  England. 
1  Virginia  was  whole  for  monarchy,  and 
the  last  country  belonging  to  England, 
that  submitted  to  obedience  of  the 
Commonwealth.'  "* 

The  Parliament,  however,  determined 
to  enforce  its  claims  to  authority  over 
the  colonies.  Sir  George  Ayscue  was 
sent  with  a  fleet  to  compel  the 
obedience  of  Barbadoes.  A 
separate  expedition,  to  reduce  Virginia, 

*  BaLcroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  i., 
p.  209 


1650. 


1652. 


1655. 


165§. 


joined  Ayscue,  and  together,  in  1652, 
they  reached  the  Chesapeake.  The 
colony  yielded  without  resistance,  their 
rights  and  privileges  being  secured  to 
them.  Berkeley's  commission  was  de 
clared  /oid,  and  Richard  Bennet,  one 
of  the  Parliamentary  Commissioners, 
was  elected  governor.  Cromwell  did 
not  interfere  with  the  appointments  of 
governors  in  Virginia,  so  that  on  the 
retirement  of  Bennet,  Edward 
Diggs,  in  1655,  and  Samuel 
Matthews,  in  1658,  were  successively 
chosen  to  fill  the  office  of  chief  magis 
trate.  Matthews  having  fallen 
into  a  dispute  with  the  House 
of  Burgesses,  claiming  powers  which 
were  denied,  endeavored  to  have  the 
question  submitted  to  the  Protector ; 
but  the  Virginians,  jealous  of  their 
liberties,  determined  not  to  permit  this, 
and  to  assert  their  independent  powers. 
A  declaration  of  popular  sovereignty 
was  made,  the  former  election  declared 
void,  and  then,  to  show  their  regard 
for  Matthews,  he  himself  was  reflected 
to  the  very  office  from  which  he  had 
just  been  removed.  The  governor  sub 
mitted,  and  thus  the  spirit  of  popular 
liberty  established  its  claims. 

Matthews  died  in  1660,  just  at  the 
time  when  Richard  Cromwell's  resig 
nation  had  left  England  free  to 
desire  the  return  of  the  Stuart 
dynasty.  The  burgesses  convened,  de 
clared  afresh  their  inherent  powers  of 
sovereignty,  and  elected  Sir  William 
Berkeley  governor,  while  waiting  the 
settlement  of  affairs  in  England.  Thus 
steadily  intent  upon  securing  the  liberty 
which  they  enjoyed,  the  Virginians  es- 
|  tablished  the  supremacy  of  the  popu- 


78 


ORIGIN  AND   PROGRESS  OF  MARYLAND. 


lar  branch,  the  freedom  of  trade,  re- 
ligious  toleration,  exemption  from  for- 
taxation,  and  the  universal  elective 


franchise.      Whenever,   at   any   subse 


quent  time,  there  was  deviatioi  from 
these  principles,  it  was  the  result  of 
foreign  authority  and  compulsion,  not 
of  the  people's  free  will  and  consent. 


CHAPTER     IX. 

1632—1660, 

ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF  MARYLAND. 

Peculiarity  in  the  origin  of  Maryland — George  Calvert,  Lord  Baltimore  —  His  character  —  The  charter  —  Ita 
ndvantages  —  Boundary  of  the  colony  —  Opposition  of  Clayborne  —  Leonard  Calvert  in  command  of  the  expe 
dition  —  First  settlers  —  St.  Mary's  —  Suspiciousness  of  Massachusetts  —  Clayborne's  further  efforts  to  do  injury 
—  Lord  Baltimore's  expenditure  on  the  colony  —  First  colonial  assembly  —  Its  acts  —  Dispute  about  initiative 
in  legislation  —  Second  and  third  assemblies  —  The  first  statutes  enacted  —  Lord  Baltimore's  policy  —  Act  of 
toleration  —  Its  limits —  Insurrection  of  Ingle  and  Clayborne  — Temporizing  policy  of  the  proprietary  — Mary 
land  claimed  by  different  parties  —  Contest  ensuing  —  Stone  and  his  lot  —  Fendal's  troubles  and  the  result  — 
Fhilip  Calvert  governor  —  Population  and  growth  of  Maryland  in  1660. 


THE  settlement  of  Maryland  was  in 
several  respects  different  from  that  of 
Virginia  or  Massachusetts.  The  former 
had  many  perilous  struggles  before  its 
existence  and  liberties  were  secured. 
The  latter  put  forth  many  sincere  but 
fruitless  efforts,  to  establish  itself  on  a 
foundation  of  theocracy,  where  private 
judgment  and  religious  toleration  should 
obtain  no  resting-place.  In  the  case  of 
Maryland,  however,  the  advantages  of 
a  government  in  which  the  freemen  of 
the  colony  were  to  bear  a  part,  and 
where  toleration  in  matters  of  con 
science  was  to  be  allowed,  were  wisely 
provided  for  by  its  founder;  so  that 
its  origin  was  peaceful,  and  its  course 
.prosperous  from  the  beginning.  And 
this  deserves  to  be  noted  the  rather, 
because  the  founder  of  Maryland  was  a 
sincere  and  liberal-spirited  member  of 


the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  a  church 
whose  principles,  as  is  well  known,  are 
totally  opposed  to  all  toleration  in  re 
ligion,  and  when  opportunity  serves  to 
carry  them  out,  lead  necessarily  to  per 
secution.  The  Romanists,  at  this  pe 
riod,  from  a  variety  of  causes,  found 
their  position  uncomfortable  in  Eng 
land,  for  the  Puritans,  equally  with 
others,  were  bent  upon  the  full  execu 
tion  of  the  penal  statutes  against  them  ; 
consequently  they  had  even  greater 
reason  than  the  Puritans  to  desire  to 
escape  from  their  trials  at  home,  by 
emigrating  to  the  New  World. 

About  the  be<nnnin^  of  James  First's 

O  o 

reign,  George  Calvert,  a  native  of  York 
shire,   and   a   graduate   of  Ox- 

f    -.  '  i      •    i  • 

lord,  was  so  popular  in  his  own 

county,  by  far  the  largest  in  England, 
as  to  be  chosen  its  representative  in 


CH.  IX.] 


;HARTER  AND  BOUNDARY  OF  THE  COLONY. 


79 


1619. 


1622. 


Parliament,  and  was  so  great  a  favorite 
at  Court  as  to  have  become  one  of  the 
Secretaries  of  State.  Calvert, 
however,  had,  some  time  pre 
viously,  become  a  convert  to  the  Rom 
ish  Church.  With  honorable  candor 
he  avowed  his  opinions,  and  tendered 
the  resignation  of  his  office.  Far,  how 
ever,  from  losing  the  influence  he  had 
obtained,  he  was  loaded  with  fresh 
favors,  and  soon  after  created  an  Irish 
peer,  by  the  title  of  Lord  Baltimore. 
He  had  been  one  of  the  original  asso 
ciates  of  the  Virginia  Company,  and 
had  tried  an  experimental  colony  of  his 
own  at  Avalon,  on  the  island  of 
Newfoundland  ;  after  having 
twice  visited  it,  and  expended  in  the 
attempt  at  colonization  more  than 
$100,000,  he  at  length  resolved  to 
abandon  it.  He  then  turned  his  at 
tention  to  Virginia,  where  he  met  with 
little  encouragement  to  engage  in  a  set 
tlement,  the  oath  of  allegiance,  framed 
so  as  that  no  Roman  Catholic  could 
conscientiously  subscribe  it,  being  ex 
pressly  tendered  for  his  adoption.  He 
thus  became  desirous  of  obtaining  a 

O 

settlement  to  which  these  of  like  faith 
with  himself  might  repair  unmolested  ; 
and  on  his  return  to  England  he  had 
little  difficulty  in  obtaining  from  Charles 
I.  a  grant  of  a  considerable  tract  on 
the  river  Potomac,  which,  in  compli 
ment  to  the  queen,  Henrietta  Maria,  he 
denominated  MARYLAND. 

Lord  Baltimore  was  a  man  of  clear 
and  comprehensive  mind,  and  of  high 
and  generous  character ;  he  ap 
preciated  the  necessity  of  a 
popular  government,  as  well  as  of  its 
independence  of  the  despotism  of  the 


1632. 


crown ;  and  thus  the  charter  which, 
gave  to  him,  and  to  his  heirs,  the  ab 
solute  proprietorship  in  the  soil,  to 
gether  with  the  power  of  making  neces 
sary  laws,  was  coupled  with  the  condi 
tion  that  nothing  should  be  enacted 
without  the  advice,  consent,  and  appro 
bation  of  the  freemen  of  the  province, 
or  their  representatives  convoked  in 
general  assembly,  and  nothing  enacted 
but  what  was  in  spirit,  if  not  in  letter, 
consonant  with  the  laws  of  England. 
Maryland,  too,  furnishes  the  first  in 
stance  in  which  the  local  proprietary 
was  exempted  from  the  control  of  the 
crown,  and  from  the  power  of  parlia 
mentary  taxation.  The  Potomac,  with 
a  line  due  east  from  its  mouth,  across 
the  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  the  peninsula 
called  the  eastern  shore,  formed  the 
southern  boundary  of  the  new  prov 
ince  ;  on  the  east  it  had  the  ocean  and 
Delaware  Bay ;  on  the  north  the  for 
tieth  degree  of  latitude,  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  great  New  England 
patent;  and  on  the  west,  a  line  due 
north  from  the  westernmost  head  of 
the  Potomac. 

Before  the  patent  had  passed  through 
all  the  necessary  formalities,  Lord  Bal 
timore  died ;  but  the  charter  was  issued 
and  confirmed  to  his  son,  Cecilius  Cal 
vert,  whose  zealous  energies  were  de 
voted  to  the  carrying  out  his  father's 
purposes.  Considerable  opposition  was 
excited  against  the  charter  and  its 
privileges,  by  William  Clay- 
borne,  secretary,  and  one  of  the 
Council  of  Virginia.  An  acute  and 
enterprising  man,  he  had  entered  intrf 
speculations  and  trade  with  the  Indiana 
under  a  royal  license.  Consequently, 


60 


UKIGIN   AND   PROGRESS   OF   MARYLAND. 


J634. 


having  established  a  post  on  the  Isle 
of  Kent,  and  another  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Susquehanna,  he  and  his  associates 
were  little  disposed  to  look  with  favor 
upon  any  grant  or  charter  likely  to  in 
terfere  with  their  license.  Clayborne's 
appeal  to  the  Privy  Council  was  set 
aside,  and  orders  were  sent  to  Virginia, 
insisting  upon  a  good  understanding 
being  maintained,  and  forbidding  that 
either  should  entertain  fugitives  from 
the  other. 

Leonard  Calvert,  a  natural  son  of  the 
first  Lord  Baltimore,  was  appointed  by 
his  brother  Cecil,  to  the  command  of 
the  company  destined  to  found  the 
colony  of  Maryland.  They  embarked 
in  the  Ark  and  Dove,  in  November, 
1633,  proceeded  by  way  of  the  West 
Indies,  and  early  the  next  year 
arrived  in  the  Chesapeake.  The 
number  of  the  new  settlers  was  about 
two  hundred,  mostly  of  the  Roman  Cath 
olic  persuasion,  and  many  of  them  rank 
ing  amongst  gentry.  They  were  cour 
teously  received  by  Governor  Harvey, 
and  had  no  difficulty  in  fixing  upon  a 
site  for  a  settlement.  Calvert  entered 
the  Potomac,  and  upon  a  spot  partly 
occupied,  which  was  about  to  be  aban 
doned  by  the  Indians,  and  was  ceded 
by  them  the  next  year  in  full  to  the 
emigrants,  he  built  the  little  village  of 

'  o 

St.  Mary's.  The  liberal  provisions  of 
the  charter,  and  the  unusual  readiness 
with  which  the  Indians  were  willing  to 
give  them  a  peaceful  footing  upon  the 
soil,  were  all  in  favor  of  the  establish 
ment  and  rapid  progress  of  the  colony ; 
and  had  it  not  been  for  the  unfriendly 
acts  and  vindictive  spirit  of  Clayborne, 
hardly  a  difficulty  or  trial  worth  men 


tion  would  have  disturbed  the  steady 
growth  and   prosperity  of  Maryland. 

In  August  of  the  present  year  (1634) 
Calvert  sent  the  Dove  to  Massachusetts 
with  a  cargo  of  corn,  to  exchange  for 
fish.  But  notwithstanding  the  friendly 
advances  of  Calvert,  backed  by  Har 
vey  of  Virginia,  the  suspiciousness  of 
the  Puritans  was  too  strong  to  admit 
of  any  thing  like  cordiality ;  some  sharp 
words  passed  between  the  ship's  people 
and  the  inhabitants ;  and  when  the 
Dove  was  allowed  to  depart,  the  mas 
ter  was  charged  "to  bring  no  more 
such  disordered  persons." 

Clayborne's  hostility  did  not  sleep. 
Beside  endeavoring  to  injure  the  colo 
nists  with  the  Indians,  he  even  ven 
tured  to  fit  out  a  small  vessel,  under 
color  of  his  exclusive  right  to  trade, 
and  gave  orders  to  capture  all  the 
water  craft  of  the  colonists.  Two 
armed  boats  from  St.  Mary's  pursued 
the  vessel ;  an  engagement  took  place ; 
several  lives  were  lost,  and  the  officers 
made  prisoners.  Clayborue  escaped  to 
Virginia,  and  was  demanded  by  Cal 
vert  as  a  fugitive  from  justice ; 
but  Harvey  declined  giving 
him  up,  and  he  was  sent  to  Eng 
land. 

Colonization  proceeded  steadily, 
though  not  rapidly.  The  proprietary 
offered  very  liberal  terms  to  settlers. 
in  the  expectation  that  his  own  heavy 
outlays  might  to  some  extent  at  least, 
be  reimbursed :  during  the  first 
two  years  he  expended  nearly 
$200,000  on  the  colony.  But  in  no 
respect,  probably,  was  the  wisdom  of 
Lord  Baltimore  more  evident  than  in 
his  yielding  to  the  wishes  of  the  colo- 


1635. 


1636 


CH.  IX.] 


FIRST  STATUTES  OF  MARYLAND. 


81 


1639. 


nists  on  a  point  where  tliey  were  very 
sensitive.  The  first  colonial  Assembly, 
in  1635,  had  passed  a  body  of  laws, 
which  the  proprietary  rejected  on  the 
ground,  that  the  initiative  of  legisla 
tion  belonged  to  him.  Soon  after,  he 
sent  over  a  collection  of  statutes  which 
he  had  drawn  up,  to  be  laid  be 
fore  a  second  Assembly;  that 
body,  however,  refused  to  admit  the 
proprietary's  claim  to  the  initiative,  or 
to  adopt  the  laws  proposed  by  "him. 
Lord  Baltimore,  with  great  good  sense, 
yielded  the  point,  and  a  third 
Assembly  was  held,  at  which 
the  first  statutes  of  Maryland  were  en 
acted. 

This  Assembly  was  composed  of  depu 
ties  from  the  several  hundreds  into 
vvhich  the  colony  had  been  divided; 
AM  act  was  passed,  "establishing  the 
House  of  Assembly;"  and  a  number 
of  bills  on  the  subject  of  municipal 
law  were  proposed  for  the  approval  of 
the  House,  but  for  some  unexplained 
cause  were  not  finally  adopted.  Trial 
by  jury,  conformity  to  the  laws  of  Eng 
land,  provisions  for  the  probate  of  wills, 
obligation  not  to  neglect  the  cultiva 
tion  of  corn,  and  the  like,  were  estab 
lished  ;  and  it  was  declared,  in  the 
words  of  Magna  Charta,  that  "Holy 
Church  within  this  province  shall  have 
all  her  rights  and  liberties."  Though 

o  o 

it  is  tolerably  certain,  that  by  this 
term  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  was 
meant,  yet  the  proprietary  does  not 
seem  ever  to  have  contemplated  the 
establishment  of  a  colony  solely  for 
those  of  like  faith  writh  himself;  on  the 
contrary,  he  endeavored  by  proclama 
tion,  to  repress  disputations  on  the  sub- 

VOL.   I.— 13 


ject  of  religion,  because  thereby  the 
public  peace  and  quiet  were  likely  to 
be  disturbed ;  and  practically,  whether 
necessity  or  policy,  or  more  honorable 
reasons,  led  to  this  result,  toleration 
was  established  in  Maryland.  The  As 
semblies  of  the  three  following  years 

O      «/ 

maintained  this  principle  of  toleration 
firmly  and  steadily,  and  in  1649,  "an 
act  of  toleration"  was  enacted  by  both 
the  upper  and  lower  House.  Liberty 
of  opinion  was  not  indeed,  nor  could  it 
well  have  been,  as  absolute  as  in  our 
own  times.  A  profession  of  belief  in 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  re 
quired,  and  blasphemy  was  severely 
punished ;  but  with  this  limitation  the 
terms  of  the  statute  forbade  any  inter 
ference  in,  or  even  reproachful  censure 
of,  the  private  opinions  or  modes  of 
worship,  already  sufficiently  numerous 
and  eccentric,  established  among  the 
citizens.  "  Whereas,"  it  states,  "  the  en 
forcing  of  the  conscience  in  matters  of 
religion  hath  frequently  fallen  out  to 
be  of  dangerous  consequence  in  those 
commonwealths  where  it  hath  been 
practised,  and  for  the  more  quiet  and 
peaceable  government  of  this  province, 
and  the  better  to  preserve  mutual  love 
and  amity  among  the  inhabitants,  no 
person  within  this  province  professing 
to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  shall  be  any 
ways  troubled,  molested,  or  discounte 
nanced,  for  his  or  her  religion,  nor  in 
the  free  exercise  thereof;  nor  any  way 
compelled  to  the  belief  or  exercise  of 
any  religion  against  his  or  her  consent, 
so  that  they  be  not  unfaithful  to  the 
lord  proprietary,  or  molest  or  conspire 
against  the  civil  government  estab 
lished" 


82 


ORIGIN   AND   PROGRESS  OF  MARYLAND. 


.  I. 


1013. 


1616. 


During  the  civil  war  in  England 
Clayborne,  urged  by  a  desire  for  re 
venge,  stirred  up  rebellion  in 
the  province.  Repossessing  him 
self  of  the  Isle  of  Kent,  while  Calvert 
was  in  England,  and  Giles  Bent  in 
charge  of  the  administration,  Clay- 
borne,  in  conjunction  with  one  Ingle, 
endeavored  to  profit  by  their  present 
success.  Early  in  1645  the  rebels  were 
triumphant ;  but  Calver.t  obtaining 
assistance  from  Virginia,  suppressed 
the  rebellion,  though  not  with 
out  bloodshed.  Clayborne  and 
Ingle  managed  to  destroy  or  carry  off 
a  large  part  of  the  records,  and  were 
guilty  of  other  acts  of  disorder  and 
misrule ;  yet  it  was  judged  wise  to  pass 
a  general  amnesty  for  all  offences,  and 
rightful  authority  resumed  its  sway. 
Calvert  died  in  1647,  and  Thomas 
Greene  succeeded  him.  But  the  pro 
prietary  deemed  it  expedient  to  dis 
place  him,  in  1648,  and  appoint 
William  Stone,  a  zealous  Pro 
testant  and  parliamentarian,  as  gover 
nor  of  Maryland. 

On  receipt  of  the  news  of  Charles 
First's  execution,  quite  a  burst  of  loy 
alty  was  stirred  up  by  Greene,  at  the 
time  temporarily  in  charge  of  the  gov 
ernment,  Stone  being  absent  in  Virginia : 

^  o 

Lord  Baltimore,  who  wished  to  avoid 
collision  with  the  dominant  party,  does 
not  seem  to  have  approved  this  step, 
by  which  he  gave  offence  to  Charles 
II.,  who  appointed  Sir  William  Da- 
1650  venant  governor,  without  re 
gard  to  the  chartered  rights  of 
the  proprietary.  Maryland  was  now 
claimed  by  four  separate  aspirants; 
Virginia,  who  had  never  looked  upon 


1618. 


1652. 


1655. 


the  colony  with  favor,  Charles  II.,  be 
cause  of  his  displeasure  against  the 
time-serving  policy  of  Lord  Baltimore, 
Stone,  who  was  the  active  deputy  of 
the  proprietary,  and  the  victorious  Par 
liament,  who,  as  before  related,  were 
not  disposed  to  allow  disaffection  or  re 
bellion  in  the  colonies. 

A  noisy  and  vexatious  contest  en 
sued,  into  the  details  of  which  we  need 
not  enter.  Stone  was  deposed 
by  the  Commissioners,  but  rein 
stated  on  submission.  On  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Long  Parliament,  Stone  re 
established  Lord  Baltimore's  authority 
in  full,  which  brought  Clayborne  again 
into  the  field :  the  government  was 
taken  away  from  Stone,  and  retaliat 
ory  ordinances  passed  against  the  "  pa 
pists  ;"  Stone,  next  year,  finding 
himself  blamed  by  Lord  Balti 
more,  engaged  in  an  attempt  to  put 
down  his  opponents,  but  without  any 
success,  himself  being  taken  prisoner, 
and  narrowly  escaping  the  death  to 
which  his  principal  adherents  were 
condemned.  Cromwell  was  appealed 
to,  but  he  was  too  busy  with  other  and 
weightier  things,  to  give  much  heed  to 
this  matter.  In  1656,  Josias  Feudal 
was  appointed  by  Lord  Baltimore  as 
governor,  and  for  a  time  the  colony 
was  divided  between  two  ruling;  au- 

o 

thorities.  the  Romanist  at  St.  Mary's, 
and  the  Puritan  at  St.  Leonard's.  In 
March,  1658,  a  compromise  was 
effected,  and  Fendal  acknowl 
edged.  Just  before  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II.,  the  Assembly  of  Maryland, 
as  in  the  case  of  Virginia,  took 

,     .,     %       ...  160O. 

occasion  to  assert  its  legitimate 

and  paramount  authority;  and  Philip 


165§. 


Cn.  X.] 


KIEFT  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW   NETHERLAND. 


83 


Calvert  was  established  firmly  in  the 
position,  of  governor. 

The  population  of  Maryland  at  this 
date,  is  estimated  at  about  ten  thou 


sand;  and  despite  the  various  trials 
and  troubles  which  marked  its  earlier 
history,  the  colony  gradually  increased 
in  wealth  and  strength. 


CHAPTER    X. 

1638  —  1685, 

NEW  NETHERLAND  I   NEW  YOKE  AND  NEW  JERSEY. 

Kieft,  governor  of  New  Nethei'land —  His  administration  —  Encroachments  of  Connecticut  people  —  Attempts  on 
the  Delaware  —  Indian  war  —  Bitter  fruits — Reduced  state  of  the  colony  —  Petrus  Stuyvesant  governor  — 
Kieft's  death  by  shipwreck  —  Stuyvesant's  efforts  to  settle  difficulties  —  Convention  of  delegates  —  Dissolved 
by  the  governor  —  Reduction  of  the  Swedes  —  Dispute  with  Maryland  —  New  England  restiveness  —  Expedi 
tion  against  New  Amsterdam  —  Its  surrender  to  the  English  —  NEW  YORK  —  Albany  —  Banks  of  the  Delaware 

—  NEW  JERSEY  —  Its  origin  —  Carteret  governor  —  Disputes  —  Measures  adopted  in  New  York  —  Dutch  attack 

—  Andros  governor  —  Attempt  on  Connecticut  —  East   and  West  Jersey  —  The  Quakers  —  The  Presbyterians 
from  Scotland  —  Arbitrary  measures  —  Chartere/1  liberties  granted  to  New  York  —  Accession  of  James  II. 


WILLIAM  KIEFT,  who  is  described 
by  Winthrop  as  "  a  sober  and  discreet 
man,"  wgs  the  very  opposite  of  Van 
Twiller  in  most  respects;  yet  his  ap 
pointment  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
a  judicious  step.  Active,  zealous,  ra 
pacious,  quick-tempered,  he  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  his  post  with  en 
ergy  and  spirit,  and  endeavored  in 
many  ways  to  remedy  the  difficulties 
into  which  New  Netherland  had 
fallen  under  the  administration 
of  Van  Twiller.  His  protest  against 
Swedish  colonization  on  the  Delaware 
was  unsuccessful ;  nor  was  he  able  bet 
ter  to  make  headway  in  opposition  to 
the  encroachments  of  the  New  Eng 
land  people  on  the  Connecticut.  Valu 
able  privileges  were  offered  to  settlers, 
the  patroonships  were  limited,  the  mo 
nopoly  of  the  Indian  trade  was  relin 
quished,  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church 


was  declared  to  be  the  established  re 
ligion,  which  was  publicly  to  be  taught, 
etc.  By  these  and  similar  efforts,  the 
Director  hoped  to  promote  the  pros 
perity  of  the  colony.  In  addition  to 
the  settlements  at  Wallabout  and  Flat- 
lands  on  Long  Island,  another 
at  Breukelen  was  commenced. 
New  boweries  were  established  in  every 
direction,  annual  fairs  were  set  up  at 
New  Amsterdam,  a  new  stone  church 
was  erected,  and  various  like  measures 
adopted  to  advance  the  welfare  of  the 
community. 

The  English  settlement  at  Red  Hill, 
or  New  Haven,  was  considered  by  the 
Dutch  an  alarming  encroachment  on 
their  territorial  rights.  The  traders  at 
the  House  of  Good  Hope  on  the  Con 
necticut  were  subjected  to  various  an 
noyances,  and  it  seemed  evident  that 
there  was  a  settled  purpose  to  drive 


NEW   NETHERLAND:     NEW  YORK   AND  NEW  JERSEY. 


[BK.  I- 


1610. 


1611. 


the  Dutch  away  altogether.  Long 
Island  was  claimed  by  Lord  Sterling's 
a.f  cut,  and  under  that  claim  insult  was 

O 

offered  by  a  party  from  Lynn, 
Massachusetts,  who  attempted 
to  settle  on  the  western  end  of  the 
island.  They  pulled  down  the  Dutch 
arms,  and  put  up  in  its  place  an  in 
decent  caricature.  The  Dutch  made 
prisoners  of  them,  and  on  their  apolo 
gizing  allowed  them  to  retire  to  the 
eastern  barren  end  of  the  island, 
where  they  founded  Southamp 
ton,  and  put  themselves  under  the  juris 
diction  of  Connecticut.  Various  other 
active  efforts  were  made  by  the  New 
England  colonists,  which  resulted  in 
the  founding  of  Stratford,  Stamford, 
and  Greenwich.  Indeed  the  English 
inhabitants  had  increased  so  rapidly, 
even  in  the  territory  acknowledging 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Dutch,  that  an 
English  Secretary  was  found  necessary, 
and  George  Baxter  was  appointed  to 
that  office. 

The  people  of  New  Haven  were  de 
sirous  of  founding  a  settlement  on 
Delaware  Bay,  and  some  fifty  families 
set  out  for  this  purpose.  On  touching 
at  New  Amsterdam,  Kieft  protested 
warmly  against  these  encroachments ; 
but  they  did  not  heed  his  words.  Ac 
cordingly,  in  May,  1641,  Kieft  sent  two 
sloops  to  break  up  the  settlement,  an 
enterprise  into  which  the  commander 
of  the  Swedish  fort  heartily  entered ; 
Lamberton,  the  leader  of  the  party, 
was  obliged  to  pay  a  ransom ;  the  rest 
were  compelled  to  swear  allegiance  to 
Sweden;  and  the  Director  insisted  upon 
duties  being  paid  at  New  Amsterdam, 
on  the  fur-trade  in  the  Delaware.  Natu- 


1612. 


rally  enough,  the  New  Haven  people 
took  offence  at  all  this,  and  the  quarrel 
proceeded  to  that  length,  that  Kieft 
proclaimed  a  non-intercourse  with  the 
colony  on  the  Connecticut. 

About  the  same  date,  serious  difficul 
ties  be^an  to  arise  with  the  Indians. 

o 

Several  murders  had  been  committed, 
and  it  was  judged  necessary  to  take 
steps  to  meet  the  emergency.  A  board 
of  "T\velve  Men"  was  appoint 
ed  ;  and  eighty  men  were  .sent 
against  the  hostile  Indians;  but  with 

O  ' 

out  result,  the  guide  having  missed  the 
way.  Soon  after,  a  Dutchman  was 
murdered  out  of  revenge,  by  a  Hack- 
ensack  Indian,  who  had  been  made 
drunk  and  robbed.  Kieft  would  have 
no  redress  but  that  of  blood,  although 
full  reparation  was  offered,  according 
to  the  Indian  idea  of  justice  in  such 
cases.  While  this  dispute  was  yet  un 
settled,  the  Tappan  Indians  fled 

1643. 

to  the  Dutch  on  being  attacked 
by  the  Mohawks;  and  it  was  while 
they  were  thus  trusting  to  the  hospi 
tality  of  white  men  that  the  detestable 
plan  wras  hastily  and  wickedly  formed 
to  cut  them  off.  In  spite  of  the  re 
monstrances  of  the  best  men  in  the 
colony,  the  cry  for  blood  prevailed ; 
and  in  February,  1643,  the  shrieks  of 
the  victims  were  heard  even  across  the 
icy  river.  Warriors,  old  men,  women, 
and  children  were  slain  without  mercy, 
to  the  number  of  eighty  or  more.  In 
fants  with  their  mothers  perished  in 
the  river,  the  wounded  were  killed  the 
next  morning:  in  cold  blood,  and  about 

o  ' 

thirty  prisoners  were  taken  to  New 
Amsterdam. 

Retaliation  followed  as  a  matter  of 


CH.  X.] 


WAR  WITH  THE   INDIANS. 


course.  Eleven  of  the  smaller  tribes 
in  the  vicinity  joined  together  to  make 
war  on  the  Dutch.  The  scattered 
boweries,  extending  twenty  and  thirty 
miles  to  the  north  and  east,  were  fu 
riously  attacked ;  houses  were  burned  ; 
men,  women,  and  children  killed  and 
carried  into  captivity.  The  colonists 
fled  in  terror  to  New  Amsterdam ; 
Kieft  was  bitterly  reproached  and  as 
sailed  for  what  had  happened ;  and  a 
fast  was  proclaimed.  The  Indians, 
their  revenge  satiated  for  the  time, 
soon  after  made  advances  for  peace, 
and  a  treaty  was  arranged  early  in  the 
spring  of  the  same  year  (1643) ;  but 
war  broke  out  again  in  the  autumn. 
Great  distress  was  the  result ;  and  in 
an  appeal  from  the  board  of  "Eight 
Men,"  sent  to  Holland  in  October, 
there  is  an  aifecting  account  of  the 
wretched  condition  of  the  colony.  It 
was  at  this  date  that  "a  good  solid 
fence,"  or  palisade,  was  erected  as  a 
protection  to  New  Amsterdam,  where 
the  far-famed  Wall  Street  now  stands. 

In  July  of  this  year,  Kieft  wrote  a 
letter  of  congratulation  to  the  Com 
missioners  for  the  United  Colonies  of 
New  England.  At  the  same  time,  he 
took  occasion  to  complain  of  the  "in 
sufferable  wrongs"  which  the  people  of 
Connecticut  had  been  guilty  of  towards 
the  Dutch  residents  at  the  fort  of  Good 
Hope.  The  Commissioners,  at  their 
meeting  in  September,  were  not  a  whit 
behind  the  Director  in  making  com 
plaints,  which  led,  as  was  natural,  to 
a  rejoinder  on  the  part  of  Kieft. 

Various  expeditions  against  the  In 
dians  were  undertaken  during  1643, 
and  1644;  and  with  ultimate  success. 


The  horrors  of  the  Pequod  massacre 
were  to  some  extent  acted  over 

.      T..   A,  ,  1644. 

again.  Kieft  8  conduct  was  warm 
ly  complained  of  by  the  "  Eight  Men," 
in  an  appeal  to  Holland  respecting  the 
war;  and  it  was  not  till  August,  1645, 
that  a  treaty  of  peace  was  agreed  upon, 
and  a  day  of  thanksgiving  appointed. 

The  settlements  about  New  Amster 
dam  were  almost  ruined  by  the  late 
war,  and  hardly  a  hundred  men  could 
be  mustered.  Only  five  or  six  re 
mained  out  of  some  thirty  nourishing 
boweries ;  and  it  appeared,  on  exami 
nation,  that  New  Netherland,  up  to 
this  time  (1638),  had  cost  the  West 
India  Company  more  than  $200,000 
over  and  above  all  receipts. 

Kieft  became  more  and  more  un 
popular,  and  the  people  complained 
of  his  tyranny,  exaction,  and  arbitrary 
exercise  of  lawful  authority.  He  fell 
into  several  violent  disputes  with  min 
isters  of  churches,  as  well  as  individu 
als  in  the  community  ;  and  altogether, 
matters  came  to  such  a  pass,  that  it 
was  evidently  high  time  to  supersede 
him  and  appoint  a  new  Director.  Ac 
cordingly,  Petrus  Stuyvesant, 

f  n  ,         i 

governor  of  Curacoa,  a  staunch. 

old  soldier,  but  very  haughty  and  im 
perious  in  his  bearing,  was  appointed 
Director  General  of  New  Netherland, 
with  a  nominal  jurisdiction  over  his 
former  field  of  service.  Some  remain 
ing  restrictions  on  imports  and  exports 
were  removed ;  but  New  Amsterdam 
still  continued  the  sole  port  of  entry. 

Poor  Kieft,  having  freighted  a  vessel 
with  a  valuable  cargo  of  furs,  worth, 
it  was  said,  $100,000,  and  set  sail  for 
home,  was  wrecked  on  the  coast  of 


86 


NEW  NETHERLAND:  NEW  YORK  AND  NEW  JERSEY. 


c.  I. 


Wales,  and  himself,  with  some  eighty 
others,  were  lost.     The  general 

1647.           .    .    '  v  -,., 

opinion  was,  11  we  may  credit 
Winthrop,  that  this  calamity  was  a 
mark  of  divine  displeasure  against  such 
as  had  opposed  or  injured  God's  "poor 
people  of  New  England," — so  prone 
are  men  to  pronounce  harsh  and  un 
charitable  judgments  respecting  calami 
ties  which  it  pleases  God  to  send  upon 
individuals. 

On  Stuyvesant's  assuming  the  gov 
ernment,  in  May,  1647,  the  colony  was 
far  from  being  in  a  prosperous  con 
dition,  as  compared  with  Virginia  and 
Maryland  on  the  south,  and  New  Eng 
land  on  the  north.  The  former  num 
bered  some  twenty  thousand  inhabi 
tants,  and  New  England  about  as 
many ;  while  New  Netherland  had 
hardly  three  thousand,  including  the 
Swedes  on  the  Delaware.  Bevers- 
wyck — the  site  of  the  present  city  of 
Albany — was  a  hamlet  of  ten  houses ; 
New  Amsterdam  was  a  village  of 
wooden  huts,  with  roofs  of  straw,  and 
chimneys  of  mud  and  sticks,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  rum-shops,  and  shops  for 
the  sale  of  tobacco  and  beer.  On  the 
western  end  of  Long  Island  there  were 
several  plantations,  but  a  considerable 
part  of  the  inhabitants  were  English. 

The  United  Colonies  of  New  Eng 
land  sent  to  Stuyvesant  a  congratula- 

1647.  tory  letter  on  kis  arrival?  but 
wound  up  with  numerous  com 
plaints.  The  old  soldier  had  been 
charged  with  the  settling  these  dis 
putes  and  differences,  if  possible,  and 
he  accordingly  undertook  with  vigor 
to  accomplish  the  difficult  task.  Mat 
ters  did  not  advance  rapidly  or  easily ; 


1650. 


and  it  was  not  till  September,  1650, 
that  any  award  was  effected  by  the 
arbitrators  appointed  by  the  respective 
litigants  in  the  case.  "  By  their  award, 
all  th-3  eastern  part  of  Long 
Island,  composing  the  present 
county  of  Suffolk,  was  assigned  to 
New  England.  The  boundary  betveen 
New  Haven  and  New  Netherland  was 
to  begin  at  Greenwich  Bay,  to  run 
northerly  twenty  miles  into  the  coun 
try,  and  beyond  '  as  it  shall  be  agreed,' 
but  nowhere  to  approach  the  Hudson 
nearer  than  ten  miles.  The  Dutch  re 
tained  their  fort  of  Good  Hope,  with 
the  lands  appertaining  to  it;  but  all 
the  rest  of  the  territory  on  the  river 
was  assigned  to  Connecticut.  Fu<ri- 

•— '  O 

tives  were  to  be  mutually  given  up."'* 
Adventurers  from  New  Haven  un 
dertook  a  fresh  expedition  to  the  Dela 
ware,  the  question  respecting  which 
had  unfortunately  been  left  unsettled. 
Stuyvesant  resisted  this  attempt, 

.    •/     .,  •       -,  1651. 

instantly,  seized  upon  the  ship, 
detained  the  emigrants,  and  proceeded 
to  build  a  fort — Fort  Casirnir — on  the 
present  site  of  Newcastle.  This  ener 
getic  conduct  was  denounced  at  New 
Haven  as  a  violation  of  the  Iqte  treaty, 
and  fresh  troubles  sprang  up  in  conse 
quence.  It  was  even  contemplated  to 
attempt  the  conquest  of  New  Nether 
land,  especially  as  at  the  time  war  had 
broken  out  between  Cromwell  and  the 
Dutch,  and  inasmuch  as  it  was  alleged 
that  there  was  a  plot  between  the 
Dutch  and  the  Narragansetts  to  mur 
der  the  entire  body  of  English  colo 
nists.  Massachusetts  refusing  to  join 

*  Hildreth's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  voL 
L,  p.  438 


Cxi.  X.] 


STUYVESANT'S  ADMINISTRATION. 


87 


1652. 


1653. 


in  any  such  scheme,  it  came  to  nought. 
The  inhabitants  of  New  Amsterdam, 
having  obtained  by  petition  to  the  au 
thorities  at  home,  certain  mu 
nicipal  privileges,  were  desirous 
of  proceeding  still  further  in  the  path 
of  popular  liberty.  A  convention  of 
two  delegates  from  each  village  as 
sembled,  and  were  disposed  to  demand 
for  the  people  a  share  in  legislation 
and  the  appointment  of  magistrates. 
Sturdy  old  Stuyvesant  dissolved  the 
convention,  rejected  their  de 
mand  as  absurd  and  presump 
tuous,  and  gave  them  to  understand 
that  he  needed  no  help  from  the  igno 
ble  crowd  to  sustain  his  authority,  or 
aid  him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 
His  conduct  and  bearing  were  highly 
approved  by  the  Company  in  Holland. 
The  Swedes  by  a  stratagem,  got  pos 
session  of  Fort  Casimir ;  but  as  Sweden 
no  longer  held  the  rank  of  a 
formidable  power,  the  Company 
directed  Stuyvesant  to  subdue  the 
Swedes  and  take  possession  of  the  South 
Bay  and  Kiver.  The  year  following,  the 
Director  embarked  for  the  Dela 
ware  with  a  force  of  six  hun 
dred  men,  and  without  difficulty  ac 
complished  his  object,  so  that  New 
Sweden  became  again  a  part  of  New 
Netherland. 

The  affairs  of  New  Netherland 
seemed  to  be  now  decidedly  on  the 
improvement.  Amicable  rela 
tions  were  kept  up  with  Vir 
ginia,  and  a  mutually  profitable  trade 
was  carried  on.  With  Maryland,  how 
ever,  there  was  a  dispute  as  to  the  oc 
cupancy  of  the  western  bank  of  the 
Delaware,  the  governor  of  Maryland 


1651. 


1655. 


1656. 


1659. 


claiming  the  territory  as  within  the 
limits  of  that  colony,  and  the 
Dutch  stoutly  denying  the  Mary 
land  claim,  and  insisting  upon  their 
right  of  prior  occupancy.  Further 
difficulties,  too,  occurred  this  year 
(1659)  with  the  Indians,  whose  thirst 
for  blood  was  stimulated  by  selling  or 
giving  to  them  the  poisonous  "fire 
water."  Murders  on  their  part  were 
followed  by  retaliatory  steps  on  the 
part  of  the  Dutch,  and  many  lives  were 
lost  in  consequence.  A  peace  was 
made  the  next  year;  but  in  1663,  the 
savages,  who  had  been  waiting  an  op 
portunity  to  revenge  the  sending  away 
some  Indians  by  Stuyvesant  to  the 
West  Indies,  attacked  the  settlers  at 
Esopus  with  unpitying  fury.  Late  in 
that  year  the  Indians  were  r  .early  all 
subdued,  and  tranquillity  was  restored 
for  the  time. 

The  dispute  with  Maryland  was 
vexatious  and  troublesome,  but,  com 
paratively,  was  of  small  moment :  it 
was  the  restless  New  England  spirit 
which  seemed  destined  to  be  the  plague 
of  Stuyvesant's  life.  Connecticut  was 
eager  in  the  pursuit  of  territory,  and 
on  obtaining  a  royal  charter, 
began  to  press  a  claim  to  Long 
Island,  Westchester,  and  in  fact,  all  the 
land  east  of  the  Hudson.  Stuyvesant 
went  to  Boston,  and  sent  agents  to 
Hartford :  the  New  Englanders  spoke 
fairly,  but  their  actions  still  excited  the 
suspicions  of  the  old  soldier;  and  de 
spite  his  contempt  for  popular  assem 
blies,  he  was  fain  to  ask  the  advice 
of  the  people  in  the  emergen 
cy.  Unfortunately  the  Assembly 
could  not  yield  him  any  assistance :  the 


1662. 


1663. 


NAW  NETHERLAND:   NEW  YORK  AND   NEW  JERSEY. 


.  I 


days  of  New  Xetherland  were  num 
bered. 

The  English  claim,  such  as  it  was,  to 
the  territory  occupied  by  the  Dutch,  it 
will  be  remembered,  had  never  been 
given  up ;  it  was  now  determined  to 
enforce  that  claim  by  something  more 
cogent  than  words.*  The  Duke  of 
York  had  bought  up  the  claims  of 
Lord  Stirling,  under  grants 

1C6-4 

which  he  had  received  frp^i  the 

' -v^  — 

extinct  Council  of  New  England  ;  ami 
in  March,  1G64,  he  had  received  from 
his  brother,  Charles  II,  a  charter  for  a 
large  and  valuable  tract  between  the 
Connecticut  and  the  Delaware  princi 
pally,  and  swallowing  up  entirely  New 
Netherland.  NEW  YOKE:  was  the  name 
bestowed  upon  this  new  province. 

Prompt  measures  were  adopted. 
Three  ships,  with  six  hundred  soldiers, 
having  on  board  Colonel  Richard  Nich 
ols,  Colonel  George  Cartwright,  Sir  Rob- 
ert  Carr,  and  Samuel  Maverick  as  com 
missioners,  were  dispatched  in  August, 
1664,  to  seize  upon  New  Netherland 
for  the  Duke  of  York.  Rumors  of  their 
design  had  indeed  reached  that  city, 
but  no  effectual  defence  had  been,  or  in 
deed  could  be,  attempted  by  the  Dutch. 
Stuyvesant  endeavored  to  awaken  the 
spirit  of  the  inhabitants  to  a  gallant  de 
fence,  by  recalling  to  them  the  recent 
heroic  struggle  of  the  fatherland  against 
the  Spaniards,  but  he  met  but  with  a 
feeble  response.  Determined  at  least 
to  put  a  bold  front  upon  the  matter, 

*  Chalmers,  who  writes  with  strong  English  feel 
ing  and  prejudices,  goes  so  far  as  to  state  that  the 
settlement  of  New  Netherland  was  in  violation  of  the 
law  of  nations!  See  his  "Introduction  to  the  Re 
volt  of  the  American  Colonies?  vol.  i.,  p.  116. 


he  sent,  in  concert  with  the  deputies, 
to  request  of  the  English  commander 
the  reason  of  his  hostile  appearance. 
Nichols  replied  by  asserting  the  claims 
of  England,  and  demanding  an  imme 
diate  surrender  of  New  Amsterdam  on 
condition  that  the  lives,  liberties,  and 
property  of  the  inhabitants  should  be 
respected.  Stuyvesant  retorted  by  a 
spirited  protest,  detailing  the  manner 
in  which  the  Dutch  had  obtained  a 
lawful  possession  of  the  country,  affect 
ing  to  doubt  whether,  "  if  his  Majesty 
of  Great  Britain  were  well  informed 
of  such  passages,  he  would  not  be  too 
judicious  to  grant  such  an  order"  as 
that  by  which  he  was  summoned,  espe 
cially  in  a  time  of  profound  peace ;  and 
reminding  the  commissioners,  that  it 
was  "a  very  considerable  thing  to  af 
front  so  mighty  a  state  as  Holland,  al 
though  it  were  not  against  an  ally  and 
confederate."  Neither  argument  nor 
threats  produced,  however,  any  effect 
upon  the  English  commander,  who  re 
fused  to  protract  the  negotiation,  and 
threatened  an  immediate  attack  up 
on  the  city.  Mortifying  as  it  was  to 
an  old  soldier  to  surrender  without  a 
struggle,  Stuyvesant  was  compelled  to 
submit  to  circumstances ;  the  majority 
of  the  inhabitants  were  unwilling  to 
run  the  risk  of  an  assault  to  which  they 
could  not  hope  to  offer  any  effectual 
opposition,  in  defence  of  a  government 
with  which  they  were  discontented,  and 
against  another  which  many  among 
them  were  secretly  disposed  to  wel 
come.  A  liberal  capitulation  was  ar 
ranged  ;  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  inhabitants  were  guaranteed  ;  and 
New  Amsterdam  quietly  passed  into 


CH.  X.J 


CLAIM   OF  JUSTICE  FOR  THE  DUTCH. 


89 


166-1. 


the   possession   of  the   bold   invaders. 

A  few  days  after,  Fort  Orange,  on 

the  Hudson,  capitulated,  and  the  name 

Albany  was  bestowed  upon  it. 

A  treaty  was  here  concluded 
with  the  chiefs  of  the  Five  Nations, 
whose  hostilities  had  occasioned  so 
much  distress  to  the  Dutch.  Sir 
Robert  Can-  meanwhile  entered  the 
Delaware,  and  plundering  and  ill  using 
the  Dutch,  soon  reduced  them  to  sub 
mission.  Thus  it  was  that,  by  a  claim 
firmly  persisted  in,  and  enforced  with 
out  the  shedding  of  a  single  drop  of 
blood,  New  Netherland  became  an  in 
tegral  part  of  the  growing  and  im 
portant  colonial  empire  of  England. 
The  Dutch  inhabitants  readily  acqui 
esced  in  the  change  of  rulers,  and  even 
the  sturdy  Governor  Stuyvesant,  at 
tached  to  the  country,  spent  the  re 
mainder  of  his  life  in  New  York. 

It  seems  but  fair,  at  this  point  in  the 
history  of  New  York,  to  quote  the 
words  of  Mr.  Brodhead,  who  claims 
that  the  Dutch  have  hardly  received 
justice  at  the  hands  of  American  his 
torians.  "The  reduction  of  NEW  NE- 
TIIEHLAND  was  now  accomplished.  All 
that  could  be  further  done  was  to 
change  its  name;  and,  to  glorify  one 
of  the  most  bigotted  princes  in  Eng 
lish  history,  the  royal  province  was  or 
dered  to  be  called  NEW  YOEK 

The  flasr  of  England  was  at  length  tri- 

o  o  o 

umphantly  displayed,  where,  for  half  a 
century,  that  of  Holland  had  rightfully 
waved  ;  and,  from  Virginia  to  Canada 
the  King  of  Great  Britain  was  acknow 
ledged  as  sovereign This 

treacherous  and  violent  seizure  of  the 
territory  and  possessions  of  an  unsus- 

Voi,  l.—U 


pecting  ally  was  no  less  a  breach  of 
private  justice  than  of  public  faith. 
It  may,  indeed,  be  affirmed,  that  among 
all  the  acts  of  selfish  perfidy  which 
royal  ingratitude  conceived  and  exe 
cuted,  there  have  been  few  more  char- 
acteristic,  and  none  more  base.  .  .  . 
.  •  .  .  '*.  The  emigrants  who  first 
explored  the  coasts  and  reclaimed  the 
soil  of  New  Netherland,  and  bore  the 
flag  of  Holland  to  the  wigwams  of  the 
Iroquois,  were  generally  bluff,  plain- 
spoken,  earnest,  yet  unpresumptuous 
men,  who  spontaneously  left  their  na 
tive  land  to  better  their  condition,  and 
bind  another  province  to  the  United 
Netherlands.  They  brought  over  with 
them  the  liberal  ideas,  and  honest  max 
ims,  and  homely  virtues  of  their  coun 
try They  came  with  no 

loud-sounding  pretensions  to  grandeur 
in  purpose,  eminence  in  holiness,  or 
superiority  in  character.  They  were 
more  accustomed  to  do  than  to  boast ; 
nor  have  their  descendants  been  am 
bitious  to  invite  and  appropriate  exces 
sive  praise  for  the  services  their  ances 
tors  rendered  in  extending  the  limits 
of  Christendom,  and  in  stamping  upon 
America  its  distinguishing  features  of 
freedom  in  religion,  and  liberality  in 

political  faith .  ; 

Much  of  what  has  been  written  of 
American  history  has  been  written  by 
those  who,  from  habit  or  prejudice, 
have  been  inclined  to  magnify  the  influ 
ence,  and  extol  the  merit  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  at  the  expense  of  every 
other  element  which  has  assisted  to 
form  the  national  greatness.  In  nc 
particular  has  this  been  more  remark 
able  than  in  the  unjust  view  which  has 


92 


NEW  NETHERLAND:   NEW"   YORK   AND   NEW    JERSEY. 


tempted  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  He  de 
manded  payment  of  customs,  asserted 
jurisdiction  over  New  Jersey,  seized 
and  tried  Carteret,  and  kept  him  in 
confinement  until  the  matter  could  be 
referred  to  England.  These  hisrh- 

o  o 

handed  measures  roused  even  the  pa 
cific  Quakers  to  remonstrance.  Penn 
drew  up  a  document,  mild  in  tone,  yet 
firm  in  asserting  constitutional  rights. 
By  mutual  consent,  the  disputed  ques 
tion  was  referred  to  the  decision  of  Sir 
William  Jones,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
lawyers  of  the  time.  His  opinion  was 
unfavorable  to  the  pretensions  of  the 
Duke  of  York,  who  thereupon,  by  a 
fresh  instrument,  resigned  all  claim  to 
both  West  and  East  Jersey,  which, 
left  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  pro 
vince  freely,  continued  steadily  to  in 
crease,  and  gave  promise  of  its  future 
rank  in  the  colonial  family. 

Andros.  on  his  first  visit  to  England, 
had  endeavored  to  convince  the  Duke 
of  York  that  it  would  be  necessary  to 
concede  a  system  of  self-government  to 
the  discontented  colonists.  On  a  sub 
sequent  occasion  his  request  was  power 
fully  seconded  by  symptoms  of  deter 
mined  opposition  to  the  arbitrary  levy 
of  taxes  under  the  sole  authority  of  the 
Duke.  A  jury  in  New  York  had  by 
their  verdict,  declared  that  they  deemed 
this  measure  illegal,  and  the  same  opin 
ion  was  expressed  by  the  lawyers  in 
England.  Overwhelmed  with  fresh  pe 
titions  from  the  council,  court  of  assize, 
and  corporation,  praying  that  they 
might  "participate  in  the  government, 
a  request  reinforced  by  Penn,  whose 
influence  with  him  was  considerable, 
the  Duke  of  York  was  at  length  com 


pelled  to  yield,  and  Dongan,  a  Roman 
Catholic,  was  sent  out  as  governor,  em 
powered  to  accede  to  the  wishes  of 
the  colonists,  and  to  summon  the  free 
holders  to  choose  their  representa 
tives. 

Accordingly,  on  the  17th  of  October, 
1683,  a  meeting  was  held  of  the  first 
popular  assembly  in  the  State  of  New 
York — consisting  of  the  governor  and 
ten  counsellors,  with  seventeen  deputies 
elected  by  the  freeholders.  A  declara 
tion  of  rights  was  passed ;  trial  by  jury 
was  confirmed;  and  taxes  henceforth 
were  to  be  levied  only  with  the  consent 
of  the  Assembly.  Every  freeholder 
was  entitled  to  a  vote  for  the  repre 
sentatives;  and  religious  liberty  was 
declared. 

Such  Tras  the  spirit  in  which  the  As 
sembly  proceeded  to  exercise  their  new 
ly  acquired  powers.  One  of  their  acts 
was  entitled  "  The  Charter  of  Liberties 
and  Privileges  granted  by  his  Royal 
Highness  to  the  Inhabitants  of  New 
York  and  its  Dependencies."  The 
following  year  (1684)  another 
session  was  held,  to  the  great 
satisfaction  of  the  colonists;  but  soon 
afterwards  the  flattering  prospect  thus 
opened  to  them  of  redressing  their  own 
grievances,  and  of  managing  their  own 
affairs,  was  interrupted  by  the  accession 
of  the  Duke  of  York  to  the  throne  of 
England,  u_ider  the  title  of  James  II. 
Dongan  had  a  new  commission  granted 
him,  by  which  he  was  authorized, 
with  his  council,  to  enact  laws, 
to  continue  the  taxes  already  imposed, 
and  if  he  saw  fit,  to  impose  additional 
taxes.  As  in  the  case  of  Effingham  in 
Virginia,  he  was  specially  charged  to 


16§1. 


Ca.  XI] 


NEW  ENGLAND   DURING   THE   COMMONWEALTH. 


93 


allow  no  printing,  the  press  being  re 
garded  as  rather  a  dangerous  element 
among  a  people  situated  as  the  colonists 
mostly  were.  Dongan  also  gave  a  char 


ter  to  the  city  of  Albany,  and  bestowed 
upon  Robert  Livingston  a  sort  of  feu 
dal  principality  on  the  Hudson  River, 
known  as  Livingston  Manor. 


CHAPTER     XI. 

1640—1660, 


NEW     ENGLAND      DURING    THE      COMMONWEALTH. 

Condition  of  the  New  England  colonies  in  1640  —  Fundamentals,  or  Body  of  Liberties  —  Its  provisions  —  Annexa 
tion  of  New  Hampshire  —  Articles  of  Confederation  of  United  Colonies  of  New  England  —  Religious  troubles 
in  Massachusetts  —  Anabaptist  sect — Gorton's  heresy  —  Death  of  Miantonimoh — Sympathy  with  the  Parlia 
ment  party  —  Resistance  to  interference  —  Roger  Williams's  voyage  to  England — Obtains  a  charter  —  Provi 
dence  Plantations  —  Intolerant  spirit  of  the  theocratic  party  —  First  execution  for  witchcraft  —  Deatli  of  Win- 
throp  —  Rise  of  Quakers  —  Persecution  —  Execution  of  Quakers  —  The  magistrates'  defence  —  End  of  tke 
troubles  —  Eliot  and  his  labors  —  Prosperity  of  the  colonies  —  Progress  in  morals,  social  life,  education,  etc. 


1610. 


THE  political  changes  in  England, 
consequent  upon  the  success  of  the 
Parliament  in  its  contest  with 
Charles  I.,  put  a  sudden  stop  to 
emigration,  and  for  a  time  had  a  serious 
effect  upon  the  fortunes  of  the  New 
England  colonies.*  There  was  a  great 

o  o 


*  "  Now  that  fountain  began  to  be  dried,  and  the 
stream  turned  another  way,  and  many  that  intended 
to  have  followed  their  neighbors  and  friends  into  a 
land  not  sown,  hoping  by  the  turn  of  the  times,  and 
the  great  changes  that  were  then  afoot,  to  enjoy  that 
at  their  own  doors  and  homes,  which  the  other  had 
travelled  so  far  to  seek  abroad,  there  happened  a  total 
cessation  of  any  passengers  coming  over  ;  yea,  rather, 
as  at  the  turn  of  a  tide,  mo,ny  came  back  with  the 
help  of  the  same  stream,  or  sea,  that  carried  them 
thither  ;  insomuch,  that  now  the  country  of  New 
England  was  to  seek  of  a  way  to  provide  themselves 
of  clothing,  which  they  could  not  attain  by  selling  of 
their  cattle  as  before  ;  which  now  were  fallen  from 
tnat  huge  price  forernentioned,  £25,  first  to  JCM,  and 
<£lO,  an  head,  and  presently  after  (at  least  within  a 
year)  to  JC5  a  piece ;  nor  was  there  at  that  rate  ready 
vent  for  them  neither." — Hubbard,  p.  238. 


fall  in  the  prices  of  the  main  articles 
on  which  the  colonists  depended,  espe 
cially  in  the  articles  of  cattle  and  corn ; 
and  the  difficulty  of  settling  accounts 
and  defraying  debts  was  correspond 
ingly  great.  Several  provisions  were 
made  by  the  authorities  to  meet  tlje 
emergency,  and  beavers'  skins,  wam 
pum,*  etc.,  were  used  as  currency  in 
place  of  coin.  New  kinds  of  industry 
were  also  attempted  under  the  pressure 
of  this  state  of  affairs,  such  as  fisheries, 
ship-building,  cultivation  of  hemp  and 
flax,  manufactures  of  linen,  cotton  and 
woolen  cloths,  etc. 

A  call  on  the  part  of  the  freemen, 
jealous  of  the  arbitrary,  undefined 
powers  and  prerogatives  of  the  inagi- 

*  Wampum:  the  wampum,  or  peage,  consisted  of 
cylindrical  beads  half  an  inch  long,  of  two  colors, 
white  and  bluish  black,  made  by  the  Indians  from 
parts  of  certain  sea  shells. 


94 


NEW  ENGLAND   DURING  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 


[B*.  1. 


strates,  lesulted  in  the  preparation  of 
a  collection  of   laws,  known  as 
ll*  "Fundamentals,"    or  "Body  of 
Liberties."     Of  these,  the  rough  draft, 
having  been  prepared  by  the  council, 
was  sent  round  and  submitted,  first  to 
the  local  magistrates  and  elders,  then  to 
the  freemen  at  large,  for  due  considera 
tion  and  improvement ;  and  having  been 
thus  decided  upon,  they  were  at  length 
formally  adopted.     After  three  years' 
trial  they  were  to  be  revised,  and  final 
ly   established.     These   laws,   about   a 
hundred  in  number,  are  characteristic 
and  curious.     The  supreme  power  was 
still  to  reside  in  the  hands  of  the  church 
members  alone ;  universal  suffrage  was 
not  conceded,  but  every  citizen  was  al 
lowed  to  take  a  certain  share  in  the 
business  of  any  public  meeting.     Some 
degree  of  liberty  was  granted  to  private 
churches,  and  assemblies  of    different 
Christians,  but  the  power  of  veto  was 
still  vested  in  the  supreme  council,  who 
might  arbitrarily  put  down  any  proceed 
ings  which  they  deemed  heterodox  and 
dangerous,  and  punish  or  expel  their 
authors.     Strangers  and  refugees  pro 
fessing  the  true  Christian  religion  were 
to  be  received  and   sheltered.     Bond- 
slavery,  villanage,  or  captivity,  except 
in  the  case  of  laioful  captives  taken  in 
war,   or   any   who   should   either   sell 
themselves  or  le  sold  ly  others,  were 
to  be  abolished.     Injurious  monopolies 
were   not   to   be   allowed.       Idolatry, 
witchcraft,  and  blasphemy,    or   wilful 
disturbing  of  the  established  order  of 
the  state,  were  punishable  with  death. 
All  torture  was  prohibited,  unless  whip 
ping,    ear-cropping,    and    the    pillory, 
which  were  retained  as  wholesome  and 


1643. 


necessary  punishments,  might  be  so  con 
sidered.  The  liberties  of  women,  chil 
dren,  and  servants,  are  defined  in  a  more 
benevolent  spirit,  in  harmony  with  the 
milder  provisions  of  the  Mosaic  code, 
so  constantly  referred  to  by  those  who 
framed  the  body  of  Fundamentals. 

New  Hampshire,  still  in  its  infancy, 
sought  and  obtained  annexation,  on 
favorable  terms,  to  its  powerful  neigh 
bor  Massachusetts.  Not  long  after,  in 
1643,  the  various  settlements  and  col 
onies  in  New  England,  feeling  the  need 
of  mutual  aid  and  support,  determined 
to  enter  into  arrangements  by  which 
this  end  could  be  effectually  attained. 
Accordingly  a.confederation  was 
formed,  under  the  name  of  "  The 
United  Colonies  of  New  England."  It 
consisted  of  the  colonies  of  Massachu 
setts,  New  Plymouth,  Connecticut,  and 
New  Haven.  By  the  articles  of  con 
federation,  these  colonies  entered  into  a 
firm  and  perpetual  bond  of  friendship 
and  amity,  for  offence  and  defence,  mu 
tual  advice  and  succor,  upon  all  just  oc 
casions,  both  for  preserving  and  propa 
gating  the  truth  and  liberties  of  the  Gos 
pel,  as  they  interpreted  it,  and  for  their 
own  mutual  safety  and  welfare.  Each 
colony  was  to  retain  its  own  jurisdiction 
and  government ;  and  no  other  planta 
tion  or  colony  was  to  be  received  as  a 
confederate,  nor  any  of  the  two  confed 
erates  to  be  united  into  one  jurisdiction, 
without  the  consent  of  the  rest.  The 
affairs  of  the  United  Colonies  were  to 
be  managed  by  a  legislature,  to  con 
sist  of  two  persons,  styled  commission 
ers,  chosen  from  each  colony.  The 
commissioners  were  to  meet  annually 
in  the  colonies,  in  succession,  and  when 


CH.  Xl.J 


THE   UNITED   COLONIES   OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


95 


met,  to  choose  a  president,  and  the  de 
termination  of  any  six  was  to  be  bind 
ing  on  all.*  This  confederacy,  which 
was  declared  to  be  perpetual,  continued 
essentially  the  same  until  the  time  when 
James  II.  deprived  the  New  England 
colonies  of  their  charters. 


*  "  These  commissioners  had  power  to  hear,  ex 
amine,  weigh,  and  determine,  all  affairs  of  war  or 
peace,  leagues,  aids,  charges,  and  number  of  men  for 
war,  divisions  of  spoils,  and  whatsoever  is  gotten  by 
conquest,  receiving  of  more  confederates  for  planta 
tions  into  combination  with  any  of  the  confederates, 
and  all  things  of  a  like  nature,  which  are  the  proper 
concomitants  and  consequences  of  such  a  confedera 
tion  for  amity,  offence  and  defence,  not  intermeddling 
with  the  government  of  any  of  the  jurisdictions,  which, 
by  the  third  article,  is  preserved  entirely  to  them 
selves.  The  expenses  of  all  just  wars  to  be  borne  by 
each  colony,  in  proportion  to  its  number  of  male  in 
habitants,  of  whatever  quality  or  condition,  between 
the  ages  of  sixteen  and  sixty.  In  case  any  colony 
should  be  suddenly  invaded,  on  motion  and  request 
of  three  magistrates  of  such  colony,  the  other  con 
federates  were  immediately  to  send  aid  to  the  colony 
invaded,  in  men,  Massachusetts  one  hundred,  and 
the  other  colonies  forty-five  each,  or  for  a  less  num 
ber,  in  the  same  proportion.  The  commissioners, 
however,  were  very  properly  directed,  afterwards,  to 
take  into  consideration  the  cause  of  such  war  or  inva 
sion,  and  if  it  should  appear  that  the  fault  was  in  the 
colony  invaded,  such  colony  was  not  only  to  make 
satisfaction  to  the  invaders,  but  to  bear  all  the  ex 
penses  of  the  war.  The  commissioners  were  also 
authorized  to  frame  and  establish  agreements  and 
orders  in  general  cases  of  a  civil  nature,  wherein  all 
the  plantations  were  interested,  for  preserving  peace 
among  themselves,  and  preventing,  as  much  as  may 
be,  all  occasions  of  war,  or  difference  with  others,  as 
about  the  free  and  speedy  passage  of  justice,  in  every 
jurisdiction,  to  all  the  confederates  equally  as  to  their 
own,  receiving  those  that  remove  from  one  plantation 
to  another,  without  due  certificates.  It  was  also  very 
wisely  provided  in  the  articles,  that  runaway  ser 
vant,  and  fugitives  from  justice,  should  be  returned 
to  uie  colonies  where  they  belonged,  or  from  which 
they  had  fled.  If  any  of  the  confederates  should  vio 
late  any  of  the  articles,  or  in  any  way  injure  any  one 
of  the  other  colonies,  such  breach  of  agreement,  or 
injury,  was  to  be  considered  and  ordered  by  the  com 
missioners  of  the  other  colonies." — Pitkin  s  "Political 
History  "  vol.  i.,  p.  51. 


In  this  connection,  the  language  of 
Chalmers  deserves  to  be  quoted :  "  The 
principles  upon  which  this  famous  as 
sociation  was  formed  were  altogether 
those  of  independency,  and  it  cannot 
easily  be  supported  upon  any  other. 
The  colonies  of  Connecticut  and  New 
Haven  had  at  that  time  enjoyed  no 
charter,  and  derived  their  title  to  their 
soil  from  mere  occupancy,  and  their 
powers  of  government  from  voluntary 
agreement.  New  Plymouth  had  ac 
quired  a  right  to  their  lands  from  a 
grant  of  a  company  in  England,  which 
conferred,  however,  no  jurisdiction. 
And  no  other  authority,  with  regard  to 
the  making  of  peace,  or  war,  or  leagues, 
did  the  charter  of  Massachusetts  convey, 
than  that  of  defending  itself,  by  force 
of  arms,  against  all  invaders.  But,  if 
no  patent  legalized  the  confederacy, 
neither  was  it  confirmed  by  the  appro 
bation  of  the  governing  powers  in  Eng 
land.  Their  consent  was  never  applied 
for,  and  was  never  given.  The  various 
colonies,  of  which  that  celebrated  league 
was  composed,  being  perfectly  inde 
pendent  of  one  another,  and  having  no 
other  connection  than  as  subjects  of  the 
same  crown,  and  as  territories  of  the 
same  state,  might,  with  equal  propriety 
and  consistency,  have  entered  into  a 
similar  compact  with  alien  colonies  or 
a  foreign  nation.  They  did  make  trea 
ties  with  the  neighboring  plantations 
of  the  French  and  Dutch ;  and  in  this 
liovht  was  their  conduct  seen  in  England, 

O  ^ 

and  at  a  subsequent  period  did  not  fail 
to  attract  the  attention  of  Charles  II."* 


*  Chalmers's  "Political  Annals,"  book  i.,  chap,  viii., 
p.  178.     See  also  the  same  writer's  "Introduction  to 


NEW   ENGLAND  DURING  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 


[BK.  1. 


Massachusetts  was  not  destined  to  re 
main  long  at  any  one  time  undisturbed 
by  religious  dissensions.  Clark  and 
Holmes,  two  leaders  of  the  Anabaptist 
sectaries,  were  very  active  in  their  ef 
forts  to  propagate  their  favorite  tenets; 
and  Clark,  on  one  occasion,  when  in  a 
church,  having  put  on  his  hat  to  insult 
the  minister  as  well  as  the  people,  was 
subjected  to  a  severe  flagellation.  Quite 
a  number  of  his  followers  were  expelled 
from  the  colony.  At  this  time,  too,  one 
Samuel  Gorton,  a  religionist  of  rather 

7  O 

an  unusual  stamp,  afforded  the  authori 
ties  additional  work  in  theii  endeavors 
to  repress  heterodoxy.  Gorton  enter 
tained,  it  appears,  certain  mystical 
views  of  the  doctrines  of  Scripture  pe 
culiar  to  himself ;  to  him  there  was  "  no 
heaven  but  in  the  heart  of  a  good  man, 
no  hell  but  in  the  conscience  of  the 
wicked ;"  he  looked  upon  the  doctrinal 
formulas  and  church  ordinances  of  the 
orthodox  Puritans  as  human  inventions, 
alike  unauthorized  and  mischievous,  and 
regarded  their  assumed  authority  as  an 
intolerable  yoke  of  bondage,  which  he 
was  daring  enough  to  defy  or  ridicule. 
The  "soul-tyranny"  of  the  Massachu 
setts'  theocracy  seems  indeed,  as  a 
natural  result,  invariably  to  have  stim 
ulated  to  opposition  and  defiance.  Gor- 
1637  ton,  expelled  from  Plymouth, 
retired  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Providence,  where  he  became  involved 
in  further  dispute  with  some  of  the  in 
habitants,  who  invited  the  interference 
of  Massachusetts.  He  was  cited  to  ap 
pear  before  the  magistrates  of  Boston, 

the  History  of  the  Revolt  of  the  American  Colonies,1'1 
vol.  i.,  pp.  86,  87. 


but  he  preferred  to  retire  still  farther 
from  their  reach,  and  haying  purchased 
some  land  at  Shawomet,  of  Miantoni- 
moh,  the  Narragansett  chief,  and  the 
ally  of  the  colonists  in  the  Pequod  war, 
commenced  an  independent  settlement. 
The  rightfulness  of  this  grant  of  Mian- 
tonimoh's  was  denied  by  two  inferior 
sachems;  their  appeal  was  confirmed 
by  the  Boston  magistrates,  to  whom 
they  now  made  over  the  disputed  ter 
ritory.  Gorton  was  summoned  to  ap 
pear  before  the  court  at  Boston ;  he 
replied  with  a  denial  of  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  "  men  of  Massachusetts" — in 
which  he  was  clearly  in  the  right — and 
offered  to  submit  the  case  to  the  arbi 
tration  of  the  other  colonists.  A  strong 
party  was  sent  out  to  seize  him  and  his 
adherents,  and  being  taken  and  con 
veyed  to  Boston,  he  was  shortly  after 
brought  before  the  court  on  the  charge 

o  o 

of  being  a  blasphemous  subverter  of 
"  true  religion  and  civil  government." 
He  vainly  endeavored  to  explain  away 
the  obnoxious  imputations,  but  was 
convicted,  and  together  with  many  of 
his  adherents,  sentenced  to  death.  This 
sentence  was  commuted,  in  1644,  and 
Gorton  and  his  followers,  subjected  to 
imprisonment  and  hard  labor  du 
ring  the  winter,  and  mercilessly 
deprived  of  their  cattle  and  stores,  were 
finally  released  and  expelled.  Gorton 
returned  to  England,  but  though  he 

<j  /  o 

tried  hard  for  many  years,  he  was 
never  able  to  obtain  redress. 

Miantonimoh,  the  Narraimnsett  chief. 

7  O  / 

was  deadly  hostile  to  Uncas,  the 
sachem  of  the  Mohegans.    Hav 
ing  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Uucas,  he 
was,  by  advice  of  the  Colonial  Comniis- 


1644. 


Cn.  XL] 


ROGER   WILLIAMS  AND   RHODE  ISLAND. 


97 


sioners,  put  to  death  with  circumstances 
of  savage  barbarity.  The  war,  pro 
tracted  for  some  time  between  the  In 
dians,  was  finally  brought  to  a  close 
by  the  vigorous  interposition  of  the 
colonists. 

Although  the  Massachusetts  people 
fully  sympathized  with  the  "  Godly 
Parliament,"  yet  they  were  very  wary 
not  to  commit  themselves  too  fkr  in 
any  measures  from  which  it  might  not 
be  easy  to  draw  back.  The  Board 
of  Control,  appointed  by  Parliament, 
was  possessed  of  very  extensive  pow 
ers  ;  there  was,  however,  no  attempt 
for  awhile  at  interference  with  Massa 
chusetts  and  her  privileges ;  and  her 
exports  and  imports  were  exempted 
from  taxation.  Some  two  years  later, 
when  Parliament  endeavored  to  assert 
its  jurisdiction  over  the  colonies,  Mas 
sachusetts  made  a  spirited  protest  and 
remonstrance,  which,  being  warmly  sup 
ported  by  Sir  Henry  Vane  and  others, 
prevented  matters  proceeding  further 
in  the  way  of  interfering  with  the  pri 
vileges  of  the  colonists. 

It  was  in  March  of  this  year  (1043), 
that  the  venerated  Roger  Williams, 
alarmed  at  the  evident  purpose  of  Mas 
sachusetts  to  interfere  with  his  lawful 
rights,  resolved  to  proceed  to  England 
and  solicit  a  charter.  As  he  was  not 
allowed  to  visit  Boston,  he  went  to 
Manhattan,  and  proceeded  to  his  desti 
nation  by  way  of  Holland.  While  in 
England,  he  published  his  "  Key 
to  the  Language  of  America," 
which  contained  interesting  notices  of 

O 

Indian  manners.  He  also  attacked  the 
principle  of  religious  despotism  in  his 
"  Bloody  Tenet  of  Persecution  for  the 

Yor..  T.— 15 


Cause  of  Conscience  ;"  to  which  Cotton 
replied  in  a  tract,  the  "Bloody  Tenet 
washed  and  made  white  in  the  Blood 
of  the  Lamb."  Williams  was  entirely 
successful  in  the  object  for  which  he 
had  visited  England.  Vane  favored 
his  wishes  and  added  his  influence.  The 
charter  obtained  included  the  shores 
and  islands  of  Narragansett  Bay,  west 
of  Plymouth  and  south  of  Massachu 
setts,  as  far  as  the  Pequod  river  and 
country.  The  name  of  PROVIDENCE 
PLANTATIONS  was  adopted,  and  the 
inhabitants  were  empowered  to  rule 
themselves  as  they  might  choose.* 

*  "  The  first  legislator  who  fully  recognized  the 
rights  of  conscience,  was  ROGER  WILLIAMS,  a  name 
less  illustrious  than  it  deserves  to  be  ;  for,  although 
his  eccentricities  of  conduct  and  opinion  may  some 
times  provoke  a  smile,  he  was  a  man  of  genius  and 
of  virtue,  of  admirable  firmness,  courage,  and  disin 
terestedness,  and  of  unbounded  benevolence.  After 
some  wanderings,  he  pitched  his  tent  at  a  place,  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  Providence,  and  there  be 
came  the  founder  and  legislator  of  the  colony  of 
Rhode  Island.  There  he  continued  to  rule,  some 
times  as  the  governor,  and  always  as  the  guide  and 
father  of  the  settlement,  for  forty-eight  years,  employ 
ing  himself  in  acts  of  kindness  to  his  former  enemies, 
affording  relief  to  the  distressed,  and  offering  ar. 
asylum  to  the  persecuted.  The  government  of  his 
colony  was  formed  on  his  favorite  principle,  that  in 
matters  of  faith  and  worship,  every  citizen  should 
walk  according  to  the  light  of  his  own  conscience, 
without  restraint  or  interference  from  the  civil  ma 
gistrate.  During  a  visit  which  Williams  made  to 
England,  in  1613,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  a  co 
lonial  charter,  he  published  a  formal  and  labored 
vindication  of  this  doctrine,  under  the  title  of  The 
Bloody  Tenet,  or  a  Dialogue  between  Truth  and 
Peace.  In  this  work,  which  was  written  with  Inn 
usual  boldness  and  decision,  he  anticipated  most  of 
the  arguments,  which,  fifty  years  after,  attracted  so 
much  attention,  when  they  were  brought  forward  by 
Locke.  His  own  conduct  in  power  was  in  perfect 
accordance  with  his  speculative  opinions  ;  and  when, 
in  his  old  age,  the  order  of  his  little  community  was 
disturbed  by  an  irruption  of  Quaker  preachers,  ho 
combated  them  only  in  pamphlets  and  public  dispu 
tations;,  and  contented  himself  with  overwhelming 


98 


NEW  ENGLAND   DURING  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 


After  many  difficulties,  arising  out  of 
claims  on  the  part  of  Massachusetts 
and  Plymouth  to  portions  of  territory 
within  the  limits  of  Williams's  charter, 
the  government  of  the  new  State  was 
firmly  and  peacefully  established'  in 
1647. 

Constant  efforts  were  made  by  the 
opponents  of  the  rigid  theocracy  of 
Massachusetts  to  obtain  a  relaxation 
of  its  severity.  The  authorities  conse 
quently  had  to  choose  between  yield 
ing,  or  proceeding  to  even  greater 
lengths  in  support  of  their  claims  to 
virtual  infallibility.  Toleration  was  not 
once  to  be  thought  of;  antinomian  and 
anabaptist  notions  were  to  be  crushed 
unrelentingly  ;  and  latitudinarianism 
was  to  meet  with  instant  punishment. 
Some  verses  which  that  stern  old  gov 
ernor,  Dudley,  who  died  in  1650,  left 
behind  him,  express  very  fairly  his  own 
and  the  usual  Puritan  principles  :  —  • 

"  Let  men  of  God,  in  courts  and  churches  watch 
O'er  such  as  do  a  toleration  hatch, 
Lest  that  ill  egg  bring  forth  a  cockatrice, 
To  poison  all  with  heresy  and  vice. 
If  men  be  left,  and  otherwise  combine, 
My  epitaph's  —  '  I  died  no  libertine  !'  " 


As   will  be   seen,  it   was   not 

'  O 

before  an  occasion  offered  to  test  how 
far  the  authorities  were  willing  to  pro 
ceed  in  maintaining  their  supremacy. 
It  deserves  to  be  put  on  record,  that, 
in  1648,  Massachusetts  set  the 
first  example  of  an  execution  for 


161S. 


their  doctrines  with  a  torrent  of  learning,  invective, 
syllogisms,  and  puns.  It  should  also  be  remembered, 
to  the  honor  of  Roger  Williams,  that  no  one  of  the 
early  colonists,  without  excepting  William  Penn 
himself,  equalled  him  in  justice  and  benevolence 
towards  the  Indians." — Mr.  G.  C.  Verplanck's  "An 
niversary  Discourse  lefire  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  18 18,"  p.  23. 


witchcraft.  The  unhappy  victim  was  a 
woman,  named  Margaret  Jones,  who 
was  charged  with  having  "  a  malignant 
touch." 

In  March,  1649,  in  his  tenth  term 
of  office,  Winthrop  died,  widely 
and  justly  lamented.  His  best- 
efforts  were  ever  put  forth  in  behalf  of 
the  colony,  which  he  served  with  a 
faithfulness  and  zeal  rarely  equalled. 
He  died  poor,  and  the  General  Court, 
as  a  testimony  to  worth,  unanimously 
voted  £200  to  his  surviving  family. 
The  journal  which  he  left  behind  is 
an  invaluable  document  for  our  early 
history. 

The  increasing  trade  with  the  West 
Indies    brought     into    New    England 

O  O 

a  considerable  quantity  of  bullion ;  in 
order  to  put  a  stop  to  its  exportation 
to  England  in  payment  for  goods,  Mas 
sachusetts  undertook  to  erect  a  mint  for 
the  coinage  of  money,  an  act  which  has 
been  denounced  by  some  writers  as  an 
express  assumption  of  sovereignty.  The 
mint  was  set  up  at  Boston,  and  in  it 
were  "  coined  shillings,  sixpences,  and 
threepences,  with  a  pine  tree  on  one 
side,  and  'NEW  ENGLAND'  on  the  othei. 
These  pieces  were  alloyed  one-fourth 
below  the  British  standard — an  experi 
ment  often  tried  elsewhere,  under  the 
fallacious  idea  that,  thus  debased,  they 
would  not  be  exported.  Thus  it  hap 
pened  that  the  pound  currency  of  New 
England  came  to  be  one-fourth  less 
valuable  than  the  pound  sterling  of  the 
mother  country — a  standard  afterwards 
adopted  by  the  English  Parliament  for 
all  the  North  American  colonies. 

Hildreth's  "History    f  the  United,  States."  vol 
i.,  p.  385. 


On.  XL] 


RISE   AND   TENETS   OF  THE   QUAKERS. 


9S 


1651. 


War  having  been  declared  between 
Holland  and  England  in  1651,  fresh 

O  7 

attempts  were  made  upon  New 
Netherland,  as  noted  in  a  pre- 
vions  chapter.  Peace  was  proclaimed 
in  1654,  and  the  troops  were  disband 
ed.  The  fleet,  however,  having  no 
chance  to  invade  the  Dutch,  turned 
their  attention  to  Acadie,  of  which 
they  took  forcible  possession,  although 
France  and  England  were  at  peace. 
Another  execution  for  witchcraft  took 
place  in  1655  :  the  sufferer  was  a  widow 
named  Anne  Hibbius,  sister  of  Bellinsr- 

'  O 

ham ;  soured  by  losses  and  disappoint 
ments,  she  became  offensive  and  trou 
blesome  to  the  neighbors.  Notwith 
standing  her  influential  connections,  she 
was  easily  disposed  of  as  guilty  of 
witchcraft. 

The  remonstrances  of  men  like  Sir 
Richard  Salstonstall  in  England,  and 
the  complaints  of  many  in  the  colony, 
as  was  said  above,  had  no  effect  upon 
the  views  and  principles  of  the  magis 
trates.  They  were  now  called  upon  to 
carry  them  out  to  an  extent  which 
probably  they  had  not  contemplated. 

The  Quakers  were  a  sect  which  took 
its  rise  in  England  about  1644,  under 
the  preaching  of  George  Fox.  Their 
tenets  and  practices  were  peculiar  and 
novel  to  an  extreme.  As  their  funda 
mental  principle  was  that  of  an  inward 
revelation  of  God  to  man,  an  indwelling 
of  the  Divine  Spirit  in  the  human  soul, 
and  as  by  this  unerring  voice,  and  not 
by  the  creeds  and  formularies  of  man, 
tLe  Holy  Scriptures  were  to  be  inter 
preted  to  every  individual  believer,  so 
any  interference  with  the  consciences  of 
men  was  expressly  denounced  as  anti- 


Christian  and  intolerable.  While  Crom 
well  had  declared  that  "he  that  prays 
best,  and  preaches  best,  will  flght  best," 
a  doctrine  religiously  carried  out  in 
Massachusetts,  the  Quakers  denied  the 
lawfulness  of  even  defensive  warfare, 
and  refused  to  bear  arms  when  com 
manded  by  the  civil  magistrate.  Their 
"  yea  was  yea,  and  their  nay  was  nay," 
and  believing  that  "  whatsoever  was 
more  than  this  cometh  of  evil,"  they 
insisted  upon  observing  the  letter  of 
Scripture,  which  commands  the  believer 
to  "swear  not  at  all,"  and  refused  to 
take  oaths  when  required  by  authority. 
They  abhorred  titles ;  declined  to  use 
the  ordinary  civilities  and  courtesies 
of  life ;  believed  every  man  and  woman 
at  liberty  to  preach  if  he  or  she  thought 
herself  moved  thereto  ;  and  regarded  a 
settled  ministry  as  hirelings  and  wolves 
amid  the  flock.  Beside  all  this  they 
denounced  the  most  simple  and  inno 
cent  pleasures,  and  especially  the  ty 
ranny  of  rulers  in  high  places,  whether 
temporal  or  spiritual.  Filled  to  the 
full  and  running  over  with  zeal,  they 
sought  the  propagation  of  their  peculiar 
tenets  every  where,  and  seemed  to  de 
light  in  nothing  more  than  courting 
persecution  and  outrage.  A  contest 
with  the  New  England  theocracy  was 
a  thing  rather  to  be  coveted  by  zealots 
of  this  sort. 

Accordingly,  in  July,  1656,  two  wo 
men  came  from  Barbadoes,  Mary  Fisher 
and  Ann  Austin.  Looked  upon 
as  possessed  by  the  devil,  they 
were  speedily  arrested,  imprisoned  for 
five  weeks,  and  their  trunks  having 
been  rifled,  and  their  books  burnt,  they 
were  sent  out  of  the  colony.  Heavy 


1656. 


100 


NEW  ENGLAND   DURING  THE   COMMONWEALTH. 


[BE.  I. 


fines  were  imposed  upon  any  who 
should  introduce  Quakers  into  Massa 
chusetts  or  spread  abroad  Quaker  tracts 
and  books.  N>  one  was  to  harbor  a 
Quaker  under  any  pretence,  and  if  one 
were  found,  whipping  was  the  mildest 
punishment  inflicted ;  and  this,  too,  up 
on  females  equally  with  males.  On  the 
first  conviction  they  were  to  lose  one 
ear,  on  the  second  the  other  one,  and, 
although  the  law  proscribed  torture,  on 
the  third  were  to  have  their  tongues 
bored  through  with  a  hot  iron. 

•m  (1-iy  O 

But  the  zeal  of  this  sect  amount 
ed  almost  to  insanity;  they  insulted 
and  defied  the  magistrates — disturbed 
the  public  worship  with  contemptuous 
clamor — nay,  instances  afterwards  oc 
curred  in  which  women,  to  testify  after 
prophetic  fashion  against  the  spiritual 
nakedness  of  the  land,  and  regarding 
the  violence  thus  done  to  their  natural 
modesty  as  "  a  cross"  which  it  behooved 
them  to  bear,  displayed  themselves, 
without  a  particle  of  clothing,  in  the 
public  streets. 

Many  of  them  had  repaired  to  Ehode 
Island,  where  the  free  toleration  af 
forded  to  all  sects  indiscriminately, 
allowed  them  to  propagate  their  tenets 
undisturbed.  But  they  were  not  con 
tent  with  this;  they  preferred  perse 
cution  to  every  thing  else ;  so  Boston 
became  the  centre  of  attraction.  It  was 
war  to  the  knife  between  ecclesiastical 
bigotry  and  insane  fanaticism.  The 
Puiitans,  as  we  may  well  believe,  did 
not  desire  to  take  the  lives  of  the  Qua 
kers,  but  they  were  determined  to  put 
them  down.  Hitherto  all  had  been  in 
vain;  fines,  whippings,  croppings,  and 
imprisonments ;  and  now,  by  a  decree 


of  the  council,  as  a  last  resource,  though 
not  without  the  strenuous  resis 
tance  of  a  portion  of  the  deputies, 
banishment  was  enforced  on  pain  of 
death.  But  the  indomitable  Quakers 
gloried  in  the  opportunity  of  suffering 
martyrdom.  Robinson,  Stephensou, 
and  Mary  Dyer,  persisting  in  braving 
the  penalty  denounced  against  them, 
were  tried  and  condemned.  The  young 
er  Winthrop  earnestly  sought  to  pre 
vent  their  execution,  and  Colonel  Tem 
ple  offered  to  carry  them  away,  and,  if 
they  returned,  fetch  them  off  a  second 
time.  There  was  a  struggle  among  the 
council,  many  regarding  them  as  mere 
lunatics,  against  whom  it  would  be  as 
foolish  as  cruel  to  proceed  to  extremi 
ties ;  but  the  majority  prevailed,  and 
Stephenson  and  Robinson  were  brought 
to  the  scaffold.  "  I  die  for  Christ," 
said  Robinson.  "  We  suffer  not  as  evil 
doers,  but  for  conscience'  sake,"  said 
Stephenson.  Mary  Dyer,  with  the  rope 
round  her  neck,  after  witnessing  the 
execution  of  her  two  companions,  ex 
claimed,  "Let  me  suffer  as  iny 
brethren,  unless  you  will  annul 
your  wicked  law."  At  the  intercession 
of  her  son,  she  was  almost  forced  from 
the  scaffold,  on  condition  of  leaving  the 
colony  in  eight  and  forty  hours,  but 
the  spirit  of  the  wretched  woman  was 
excited  almost  to  insanity  by  inward 
enthusiasm  and  the  horrible  scenes  she 
had  witnessed,  and  after  the  trial  she 
addressed  from  her  prison  an  energetic 
remonstrance  against  the  cruelty  of  the 
council.  "  Woe  is  me  for  you  !  ye  are 
disobedient  and  deceived,"  she  urged 
to  the  magistrates  who  had  condemned 

O 

her.     "You  will  not  repent  that  you 


1659. 


CH.  XI." 


DEFENCE  OF  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  QUAKERS. 


101 


were  kept  from  shedding  blood,  though 
it  was  by  a  woman."  With  a  courage 
that  would  be  sublime  were  it  not  tinc 
tured  with  insanity,  she  returned  to 
defy  the  tyrants  of  "  the  bloody  town," 
and  to  seal  her  testimony  against  them 
with  her  life.  She  was  taken  and 
hanged  on  Boston  Common  in  June, 
1660. 

The    discontent     caused     by    such 
shocking  scenes  compelled  the  magis 
trates  to  enter  upon  a  formal  defence 
of  their  action.     The   lan^uasre 

"Mi"'""  O 

of  it  is  worth  noticing.  "Al 
though  the  justice  of  our  proceedings 
against  William  Robinson,  Marrn^- 
duke  Stephenson,  and  Mary  Dyer  sup 
ported  by  the  authority  of  this  Court, 
the  laws  of  the  country,  and  the  law  of 
God,  may  rather  persuade  us  to  expect 
encouragement  and  commendation  from 
all  prudent  and  pious  men  than  con 
vince  us  of  any  necessity  to  apologize 
for  the  same ;  yet,  forasmuch  as  men  of 
weaker  parts,  out  of  pity  and  commise 
ration — a  commendable  and  Christian 
virtue,  yet  easily  abused,  and  suscepti 
ble  of  sinister  and  dangerous  impres 
sions — for  want  of  full  information,  may 
be  less  satisfied,  and  men  of  perverser 
principles  may  take  occasion  hereby  to 
calumniate  us  and  render  us  bloody 
persecutors — to  satisfy  the  one  and  stop 
the  mouths  of  the  other,  we  thought  it 
requisite  to  declare,  That  about  three 
years  since,  divers  persons,  professing 
themselves  Quakers — of  whose  pernici 
ous  opinions  and  practices  we  had  re 
ceived  intelligence  from,  good  hands, 
both  from  Barbadoes  and  England — 
arrived  at  Boston,  whose  persons  were 
only  secured  to  be  sent  away  by  the 


first  opportunity,  without  censure  or 
punishment.  AKliough  their  professed 
tenets,  turbulent  and  contemptuous  be 
haviour  to  authority,  would  have  justi 
fied  a  severer  animadversion,  yet  the 
prudence  of  this  Court  was  exercised 
only  to  make  provision  to  secure  the 
peace  and  order  here  established, 
against  their  attempts,  whose  design — 
we  were  well  assured  of  by  our  own 
experience,  as  well  as  by  the  example 
of  their  predecessors  in  Munster — was 
to  undermine  and  ruin  the  same.  And 
accordingly  a  law  was  made  and  pub 
lished,  prohibiting  all  masters  of  ships 
to  bring  any  Quakers  into  this  jurisdic 
tion,  and  themselves  from  coming  in,  on 
penalty  of  the  house  of  correction  until 
they  should  be  sent  away.  Notwith 
standing  which,  by  a  back  door,  they 
found  entrance,  and  the  penalty  inflict 
ed  upon  themselves,  proving  insufficient 
to  restrain  their  impudent  and  insolent 
intrusions,  was  increased  by  the  loss  of 
the  ears  of  those  that  offended  the 
second  time ;  which  also  being  too  weak 
a  defence  against  their  impetuous  fa 
natic  fury,  necessitated  us  to  endeavor 
our  security ;  and  upon  serious  conside 
ration,  after  the  former  experiment,  by 
their  incessant  assaults,  a  law  was  made, 
that  such  persons  should  be  banished 
on  pain  of  death,  according  to  the  ex 
ample  of  England  in  their  provision 
against  Jesuits,  which  sentence  being 
regularly  pronounced  at  the  last  Court 
of  assistants  against  the  parties  above- 
named,  and  they  either  returning  or 
continuing  presumptuously  in  this  juris 
diction  after  the  time  limited,  were  ap 
prehended,  and  owning  themselves  to 
be  the  persons  banished,  were  sentenced 


102 


NEW    ENGLAND   DURING  THE   COMMONWEALTH. 


[BK.  I. 


by  the  Court  to  death,  according  to  the 
law  aforesaid,  which  hath  been  executed 
upon  two  of  them.  Mary  Dyer,  upon 
the  petition  of  her  son,  and  the  mercy 
and  clemency  of  this  Court,  had  liberty 
to  depart  within  two  days,  which  she 
hath  accepted  of.  The  consideration 
of  our  gradual  proceedings  will  vindi 
cate  us  from  the  clamorous  accusations 
of  severity ;  our  own  just  and  necessary 
defence  calling  upon  us — other  means 
failing — to  offer  the  point  which  these 
persons  have  violently  and  wilfully 
rushed  upon,  and  thereby  become 
f clones  de  se,  which  might  have  been 
prevented,  and  the  sovereign  law,  solus 
populi,  been  preserved.  Our  former 
proceedings,  as  well  as  the  sparing  of 
Mary  Dyer  upon  an  inconsiderable  in 
tercession,  will  manifestly  evince  we  ow- 
sire  their  lives,  absent,  rather  than  their 
deaths,  present.'' 

Matters,  however,  had  now  gone  too 

far  for  the  magistrates  to  draw  back. 

William    Leddra   was    put    to 

1  &*  f*  1  -*- 

trial  and  sentenced,  but  was 
offered  pardon  on  condition  of  leaving 
the  colony.  He  refused,  and  was  con 
sequently  put  to  death ;  but  he  was  the 
last  victim.  Another  Quaker,  Wenlock 
Christison,  who  had  been  banished,  re 
turned,  and  courted  death.  "  What  do 
you  gain,"  he  cried  boldly  to  them,  "  by 
taking  Quakers'  lives?  For  the  last 
man  that  ye  put  to  death,  here  are  five 
come  in  his  room.  If  ye  have  power  to 
take  my  life,  God  can  raise  up  ten  of 
his  servants  in  my  stead."  It  was  true, 
that  persecution  only  increased  the 
number  who  would  become  martyrs. 
The  magistrates  were  not  able  to  with 
stand  the  tide  of  popular  sympathy, 


and  the  conviction  that  they  were  scan 
dalizing  themselves  before  the  world. 
They  gave  up  all  attempts  to  carry  out 
their  former  plans ;  the  prisoners  were 
discharged;  they  were  ordered  to  be 
whipped  beyond  the  colony's  bounds, 
if  ever  they  returned  ;  and  so,  treating 
them  in  this  wise,  the  mania,  in  due 
time,  died  out  a  natural  death. 

The  labors  of  John  Eliot,  the  Indian 
missionary,  deserve  a  passing  notice. 
He  was  born  in  England  in  1604,  was 
educated  at  Cambridge,  and  emigra 
ted  to  New  England  in  1631.  Earn 
estly  desiring  the  spiritual  improve 
ment  of  the  Indians,  Eliot,  though 
discharging  the  duties  of  a  minister 
over  a  church  at  Eoxbury,  added  to 
hi«  regular  charge  the  toil  of  learning 
the  dialect  spoken  in  New  England,  so 
as  to  translate  the  Bible  for  the  benefit 
of  the  natives.  He  began  his  efforts  as 
far  back  as  1645 — preaching  his  first 
sermon  to  the  Indians  on  the  28th  of 
October,  1646 — and  by  his  zeal,  tem 
pered  with  prudence,  his  never  failing 
kindness  and  gentleness,  and  his  perse 
verance  in  his  labor  of  love,  he  really 
wrought  wonders;  a  consider- 

O  ' 

able  sum  of  money  was  remitted 
from  England  to  carry  on  the  work ; 
converts  were  made ;  churches  were 
founded,  and  a  sort  of  Indian 
college  was  established.  No  per 
manent  impression,  however,  seems  to 
have  been  made  upon  the  great  body  of 
the  natives.  Most  of  the  sterner  Puri 
tans  looked  coldly  upon  the  project, 
and  the  Indian  sachems  and  priests 
were  very  difficult  persons  to  be  in  any 
wise  changed  from  savage  life  and  its  en. 
joyments.  All  this,  however,  ought  not 


1661. 


1663. 


CH.  XI.J 


ELIOT'S   LABORS   AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 


103 


to,  and  does  not,  detract  from  the  mer 
its  of  Eliot.  "It  is  a  remarkable  fea 
ture,"  to  use  the  words  of  Grahame, 
"in  Eliot's  long  and  arduous  career, 
that  the  energy  by  which  he  was  actu 
ated  never  sustained  the  slightest  abate 
ment,  but,  on  the  contrary,  evinced  a 
steady  and  vigorous  increase.  As  his 
bodily  strength  decayed,  the  energy  of 
his  being  seemed  to  retreat  into  his 
soul,  and  at  length,  all  his  faculties,  he 
said,  seemed  absorbed  in  holy  love. 
Being  asked,  shortly  before  his  depar 
ture,  how  he  did,  he  replied,  '  I  have 
lost  every  thing ;  my  understanding 
leaves  me,  my  memory  fails  me,  my 
utterance  fails  me — but  I  thank  God, 
my  charity  holds  out  still :  I  find  that 
rather  grows  than  fails.'"  Eliot  died 
ui  1090,  full  of  years  and  honors.* 

During  the  time  that  Cromwell  was 
at  the  head  of  affairs  in  England,  the 

O  i 

affairs  of  Massachusetts  and  her  im 
mediate  neighbors  were  on  the  whole 
very  prosperous.  Cromwell  favored 
them  all  he  could,  and,  freed  from  out 
side  interference,  the  'New  Englanders 
advanced  steadily  in  their  progress  to 
wards  wealth  and  power.  Every  thing 
tended  to  the  rearing  of  hardy,  upright, 
self-reliant  men.  The  fisheries  nurtured 
a  race  of  expert,  daring  fishermen ;  ship 
building  became  active ;  commerce  in 
creased  ;  and  trades  of  various  sorts 
were  in  active  operation.  The  Puritan 
legislators  frowned  upon  every  thing 
that  tended  to  laxity  of  manners ;  they 


*  The  learned  Dr.  Cotton  Mather,  in  his  "  Life  of 
the  Renowned  John  Eliot,"  enters  largely,  and  with 
a  profoundly  admiring  spirit,  into  the  history  of  Eliot's 
labors  among  the  Indians.  See  Mather's  "  Magnalia" 
vol.  i.,  pp.  521V-583. 


sternly  watched  over  the  morals  of  the 
community ;  wisely  considering  preven 
tion  as  better  than  cure,  they  counte 
nanced  early  unions ;  and  although 
courtship  carried  on  without  permission 
of  the  girl's  parents,  or  of  "the  next 
magistrate,"  was  punishable  with  im 
prisonment,  the  magistrates  might  re 
dress  "wilful  and  unreasonable  denial 
of  timely  marriage"  on  the  part  of  pa 
rents.  Adultery  was  a  capital  offence, 
and  incontinence  was  punished  with  a 
severe  discipline.  Underhill,  who,  unit 
ing,  as  he  did,  the  gallantry  of  the  sol 
dier  with  his  proverbial  love  of  license, 
and  of  "  bravery  of  apparel,"  having 
been  accused  of  a  backsliding  of  this 
nature,  was  summoned  into  the  presence 
of  the  magistrates ;  and  then,  "  after 
sermon,  in  presence  of  the  congregation, 
standing  on  a  form,  and  in  his  worst 
clothes,  without  his  band,  and  in  a  dirty 
night  cap,  confessed  the  sin  with  which 
he  had  been  charged ;"  and  "  while 
his  blubberings  interrupted  him,"  says 
Winthrop,  he  dolefully  lamented  the 
loss  of  his  "assurance,"  which,  as  he 
said,  had  been  vouchsafed  while  enjoy 
ing  a  pipe  of  tobacco.  The  whole 
population  were  trained  as  militia,  and 
a  martial  spirit  was  readily  kept  up. 
Several  forts,  and  a  good  supply  of 
artillery  and  ammunition,  showed  the 
determination  of  the  people  to  maintain 
their  rights  at  the  price  of  blood  if 
need  be.  Material  prosperity  was  very 
much  increased,  and  there  was  no  lack 
of  comforts  and  enjoyments  of  the  good 
things  of  this  life. 

The   founders   of  New  England,  to 

O  / 

their  credit  be  it  observed,  were  sin 
cerely  anxious  for  the  promotion  of 


106 


NEW   ENGLAND   UNDER  CHARLES   II.   AND   JAMES  IT. 


[BK.  I. 


street,  two  confidential  envoys,  were 
sent  over  to  attempt,  if  possible,  to 

amuse  the  English  ministry,  but 
i  <*<*'* 

they  were  at  the  same  time  in 
structed  to  deprecate  its  interference, 
or,  if  it  came  to  the  worst,  openly  to 
disclaim  its  authority.  It  was  a  mission 
by  no  means  without  hazard,  under  all 
the  circumstances;  for  when  Norton 
and  his  colleague  arrived  in  England 
they  found  various  and  important 
changes  had  already  taken  place, 
changes,  too,  which  were  well  calcu 
lated  to  alarm  the  New  England  col 
onists. 

Weary  of  the  unsettled  state  of 
things  in  the  last  days  of  the  Common 
wealth,  all  classes  had  welcomed  the 
Restoration.  Charles  promised  every 
thing,  but  his  promises  were  very  soon 
forgotten.  There  was  besides  a  general 
reaction  against  all  parties  concerned 
in  overturning  the  monarchy,  which 
tended  to  fortify  the  prerogative  of  the 
king,  and  to  abet  the  arbitrary  pro 
ceedings  of  his  advisers.  The  Church 
of  England  was  a^ain  in  the  ascendant, 

O  O  / 

the  Act  of  Uniformity  had  been  passed, 
and  Presbyterians  and  Independents 
were  compelled  to  submit.  The  royal 
ist  party  had  to  the  utmost  gratified 
their  thirst  for  revenge.  Such  of  the 
regicides  as  could  be  taken  were  hung, 
drawn,  and  quartered — among  them 
Hustfi  Peters,  father-in-law  of  the 

O  / 

younger  Winthrop,  and  formerly  min 
ister  of  Salem.  A  more  illustrious  vic 
tim,  Sir  Henry  Vane,  was  soon  after 
conducted  to  the  block.  Though  op 
posed  to  the  intolerance  of  the  Massa 
chusetts  theocracy,  he  had  ever  been  a 
firm  friend  to  New  England,  and  his 


influence  had  procured  a  charter  for 
Rhode  Island  from  the  Long  Parlia 
ment.  When  charged  with  treason  he 
was  "  not  afraid  to  bear  witness  to  tho 
glorious  cause"  of  popular  liberty,  nor 
to  "seal  it  with  his  blood,"  and  his  con 
duct  on  the  scaffold  won  the  admira 
tion  of  even  his  enemies. 

The  Massachusetts  commission  were 
only  partially  successful  in  their  object. 
The  confirmation  of  the  charter  was 
conceded,  together  with  a  conditional 

'  O 

amnesty  for  all  recent  offences  ;  but  the 
king,  firmly  insisting  upon  the  main 
tenance  of  his  prerogative,  demanded 
the  repeal  of  all  laws  derogatory  to  his 
authority,  the  imposition  of  an  oath  of 
allegiance,  and  the  administration  of 

O  ' 

justice  in  his  own  name.  He  also  re 
quired  complete  toleration  for  the 
Church  of  England,  and  the  repeal  of 
the  law  confining  the  privilege  of  voting 
to  church  members  alone,  with  the  con 
cession  of  the  franchise  to  every  inhab 
itant  possessing  a  certain  amount  of 
property.  In  one  respect,  indeed,  he 
responded  cordially  to  the  wishes  of 
the  Massachusetts  council :  they  were 
freely  allowed  to  punish  the  pertina 
cious  Quakers  in  any  way  they  might 
see  fit. 

Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  were 
more  prompt  than  Massachusetts  to  ac 
knowledge  the  authority  of  Charles  II. 
The  younger  Winthrop  for  Connecticut, 
and  Clarke  for  Rhode  Island,  went  to 
England  in  quest  of  charters.  Their  ar 
rival  was  timely.  Winthrop,  a  scholar 
and  a  man  of  high  standing,  easily  so- 
cured  to  •  himself  influential  friends  at 
court.  He  was  also  possessed  of  a  va 
luable  ring,  which  had  been  given  by 


CH.  XII.] 


CHARTERS   OF   CONNECTICUT  AND   RHODE  ISLAND. 


107 


Charles  I.  to  his  grandfather ;  this,  on 
his  audience  with  the  king,  he  present 
ed  to  his  majesty,  which  is  said  to  have 
materially  influenced   the  kini* 

1662. 

in  his  favor.  On  the  23d  of 
April,  1662,  he  obtained  a  patent  un 
der  the  great  seal,  granting  the  most 
ample  privileges,  and  confirming  to 
the  freemen  of  the  Connecticut  colony, 
and  such  as  should  be  admitted  free 
men,  all  the  lands  which  had  been 
formerly  granted  to  the  Earl  of  War 
wick,  and  by  him  transferred  to  Lord 
Saye  and  Sele,  and  his  associates.  This 
charter  established  over  the  colony  a 
form  of  government  of  the  most  popu 
lar  kind,  and  continued  the  fundamental 
law  of  Connecticut  for  the  space  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  years.  "It  is 
remarkable,"  says  an  able  writer  in  the 
North  American  Review,  "that,  al 
though  it  was  granted  at  a  period  of 
the  world  when  the  rights  of  the  people 
were  little  understood  and  little  regard 
ed,  and  by  a  sovereign  who  governed 
England  with  a  more  arbitrary  sway 
than  any  of  his  successors,  the  form 
of  government  established  by  this  char 
ter  was  of  a  more  popular  descrip 
tion,  and  placed  all  power  within  the 
more  immediate  reach  of  the  people, 
than  the  constitution  for  which  it  has 
been  deliberately  exchanged,  in  these 
modern  days  of  popular  jealousy  and 
republican  freedom."  The  colony  of 
New  Haven  was  included  in  the  new 
charter  of  Connecticut ;  but  the  inhab 
itants  for  several  years  refused  to  con 
sent  to  the  union,  till  the  apprehension 
of  the  appointment  of  a  general  gov 
ernor,  and  of  their  beinsr  united  with 

'  O 

some  other  colony,  with  a  charter  less 


favorable  to  liberty,  induced  them  to 
yield  a  reluctant  assent. 

Clarke,  the  agent  for  Rhode  Island, 
having  secured  the  favor  of  Lord 
Clarendon,  the  prime  minister,  was 
successful  in  obtaining  the  ratification 
of  the  charter  for  Rhode  Island.  How 
this  little  State  was  originated  and  in 
creased  by  refugees  from  the  intoler 
ance  of  Massachusetts  has  been  already 
described.  Freedom  of  conscience,  and 
liberty  of  discussion,  had  only,  upon 
further  experiment,  become  more  dear 
to  its  citizens ;  they  had  been  exempt 
ed  from  the  theological  disputes  and 
bloody  persecutions  that  had  disgraced 
Massachusetts,  and  in  their  petition  to 
Charles  II.  they  declare  "  how  much  it 
is  in  their  hearts  to  hold  forth  a  lively 
experiment,  that  a  most  flourishing  civil 
state  may  stand,  and  best  be  maintained 
with  a  full  liberty  of  religious  concern 
ments."  The  general  terms  of  the 
charter  differed  but  little  from  that  of 
Connecticut,  but  it  contained  the  espe 
cial  provision,  that  "no  person  within 
the  said  colony  shall  be  molested,  pun 
ished,  disquieted,  or  called  in  question, 
for  any  differences  of  opinion  in  matters 
of  religion,  who  does  not  actually  dis 
turb  the  civil  peace ;  but  that  all  per 
sons  may,  at  all  times,  freely  enjoy 
their  own  consciences  in  matters  of 
religious  concernment,  they  behaving 
themselves  peaceably  and  quietly,  and 
not  using  this  liberty  to  licentiousness 
and  profaneness,  nor  to  the  civil  injury 
and  outward  disturbance  of  others."  A 
very  considerable  part  of  Providence 
Plantation  having  been  included  in  the 
charter  of  Connecticut,  Clarke  and 
Winthrop  entered  into  an  agreement 


108 


NEW  ENGLAND   UNDER  CHARLES  II.   AND  JAMES  If. 


1663. 


by  which  the  Pawcatuck  was  fixed  up 
on  for  the  limit  between  the  two  col 
onies.  This  agreement,  as  Mr. 
Hildreth  says,  was  specially  set 
forth  in  the  charter  of  RHODE  ISLAND 
AND  PROVIDENCE  PLANTATIONS. 

The  founder  and  people  of  Rhode 
Island  were,  beyond  doubt,  sincerely 
desirous  of  entire  freedom  and  tolera 
tion  in  religious  matters.  "Yet  how 
difficult  it  is  to  act  up  to  a  principle 
in  the  face  of  prevailing  prejudice  and 
opposing  example  !  The  Rhode  Island 
laws,  as  first  printed,  many  years  poste 
rior  to  the  charter,  contain  an  express 
exclusion  from  the  privileges  of  freedom 
of  Roman  Catholics,  and  of  all  persons 
not  professing  Christianity.  These  laws 
had  undergone  repeated  revisals,  and  it 
is  now  impossible  to  tell  when  these 
restrictions  were  first  introduced,  though 
probably  not  till  after  the  English  re 
volution  of  1G88. 

While  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island 
were  rejoicing  in  the  privileges  just  con 
ferred  upon  them  by  their  new  charters, 
Massachusetts  remained  uneasy  and  un 
willing  to  make  any  submission.  Their 
answer  to  the  king's  requisitions,  spoken 
of  above,  was  couched  in  respectful  but 
evasive  language.  "  For  the  repealing 
of  all  laws  here  established  since  the 
late  changes  contrary  and  derogatory  to 
his  majesty's  authority,  we,  having  con 
sidered  thereof,  are  not  conscious  to  any 
of  that  tendency ;  concerning  the  oath 
of  allegiance,  we  are  ready  to  attend  to 
it  as  formerly,  according  to  the  charter ; 
concerning  liberty  to  use  the  Common 


Hildroth's   "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol. 
i.,  p.  459. 


1661. 


Prayer  Book,  none  as  yet  among  ua 
have  appeared  to  desire  it;  touching 
administration  of  the  sacraments,  this 
matter  hath  been  under  consideration 
of  a  synod,  orderly  called,  the  result 
whereof  our  last  General  Court  com 
mended  to  the  several  congregations, 
and  we  hope  will  have  a  tendency  to 
general  satisfaction."  Such  a  reply,  it 
may  be  well  conceived,  gave  but  little 
satisfaction;  and  as  fresh  com 
plaints  against  the  government 
of  Massachusetts  continued  to  pour  in, 
the  king  declared  his  intention  of  pres 
ently  sending  out  commissioners,  armed 
with  authority  to  inquire  into  and  de 
cide  upon  the  matters  in  dispute. 

The  commissioners,  Nichols,  Carr, 
Cartwright,  and  Maverick,  arrived  in 
Boston  about  the  end  of  J'iily,  pre 
pared  to  enter  upon  their  work;  but 
they  were  met  with  icy  coldness  and 
most  steadfast  and  determined  oppo 
sition.  The  leaders  of  Massachusetts 
were  well  aware  of  the  vast  importance 
of  the  contest,  and  while  they  never  for 
a  moment  failed  in  profuse  professions 
of  loyalty,  they  on  the  other  hand  never 
at  any  time  yielded  to  the  demands  of 
the  commissioners.  The  demands  which 
these  made,  and  the  measures  they  pur 
posed  to  adopt,  were  considered  by  the 
colonists  as  a  violation  of  their  charters. 

The  first  session  of  the  commissioners 
was  held  at  Plymouth,  where  but  little 
business  was  transacted;  the  next  in 
Rhode  Island,  where  they  heard  com 
plaints  from  the  Indians,  and  all  who 
were  discontented,  and  made  several  de 
cisions  respecting  titles  to  land,  which 
were  but  little  regarded.  In  Massa 
chusetts,  the  General  Court  complied 


CH.  XII.] 


ACTS   OF  THE  ROYAL  COMMISSIONERS. 


103 


with  such  of  their  requisitions  as  they 
thought  proper;  but,  professing  sincere 
loyalty  to  his  majesty,  declined  acknowl 
edging  their  authority,  and  protested 
against  the  exercise  of  it  within  their 
limits.  In  consequence  of  this  asser 
tion  of  their  rights,  an  angry  corres 
pondence  took  place  between  them,  at 
the  close  of  which  the  commissioners 
informed  the  General  Court,  that  they 
would  lose  no  more  of  their  labors  upon 
them,  but  would  represent  their  con 
duct  to  his  majesty.  From  Boston,  the 
commissioners  proceeded  to  New  Hamp 
shire,  where  they  exercised  several  acts 
of  government,  and  offered  to  release 
the  inhabitants  from  the  jurisdiction  of 
Massachusetts.  This  offer  was  almost 
unanimously  declined.  In  Maine,  they 
excited  more  disturbance.  They  en 
couraged  the  people  to  declare  them 
selves  independent,  and  found  many 
disposed  to  listen  to  their  suggestions; 
but  Massachusetts,  by  a  prompt  and 
vigorous  exertion  of  power,  constrained 
the  disaffected  to  submission  to  her  au 
thority. 

Connecticut  appears  to  have  been 
the  favorite  of  the  commissioners.  She 
treated  them  with  respect,  and  complied 
with  their  requisitions.  In  return  they 
made  such  a  representation  of  her  mer 
its  to  the  king,  as  to  draw  from  him  a 
letter  of  thanks  :  "  Although,"  says  he, 
"  your  carriage  doth  of  itself  most  justly 
deserve  our  praise  and  approbation,  yet 
it  seems  to  be  set  off  with  more  lustre 
by  the  contrary  behavior  of  the  colony 
of  Massachusetts." 

The  commissioners  were  recalled  in 
1666.  Under  the  influence  of  morti 
fied  feelings,  they  had  made  such  a 


16G6. 


report,  that  the  king  issued   an  order 
that  Bellincrham,  the  governor, 

O  O  / 

and  some  others,  should  pro 
ceed  to  England  to  answer  for  their 
defiance  of  his  majesty's  authority. 
The  summons  created  no  little  excite 
ment,  and  it  was  earnestly  debated 
whether  to  obey  or  not.  They  who 
advocated  seeming  obedience  without 
really  giving  up  the  points  at  issue, 
prevailed;  and,  fortunately,  just  at  this 
juncture,  by  sending  a  timely  supply 
of  provisions  for  the  fleet  in  the  West 
Indies,  and  also  a  present  of  masts  for 
the  English  navy,  they  were  able  to 
put  off  the  immediate  danger.  The 
king's  designs  upon  the  liberty  of  the 
colonies  were  suspended,  if  not  aban 
doned  ;  the  great  plague  and  the  fire 
in  London  intervened,  and  for  several 
years  after  this  New  England  remained 
undisturbed  in  the  enjoyment  of  her 
ancient  rights  and  privileges. 

At  the  end  of  fifty  years  from  the 
arrival  of  the  emigrants  at  Plymouth, 
the  New  England  colonies  were  sup 
posed  to  contain  one  hundred  and 
twenty  towns,  and  probably  some  six 
ty  or  seventy  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  acts  of  Parliament  not  beins'  Hor. 

O  O 

idly  enforced,  their  trade  had  become 
extensive  and  profitable.  The  habits 
of  industry  and  economy,  which  had 
been  formed  in  less  happy  times,  con 
tinued  to  prevail,  and  gave  a  compe 
tency  to  those  who  had  nothing,  and 
wealth  to  those  who  had  a  competency 
The  wilderness  receded  before  adven 
turous  and  hardy  laborers,  and  its 
savage  inhabitants  found  their  game 
dispersed,  and  their  favorite  haunts  in 
vaded.  This  was  the  natural  const* 


110 


NEW    ENGLAND   UNDER   CHARLES  II.  AND  JAMES 


quence  of  the  sales  of  land  which,  were 
at  all  times  readily  made  to  the  whites. 
But  this  consequence  the  Indians  did 
not  foresee ;  and  when  they  felt  it  in 
all  its  force,  the  strongest  passions  of 
the  savage  nature  were  aroused  to  seek 
revenge.  A  leader  only  was  wanting  to 
concentrate  and  direct  their  exertions, 
and  Philip,  of  Pokanoket,  sachem  of 
the  Wampanoags,  a  tribe  living  within 
the  boundaries  of  Plymouth  and  Rhode 
Island,  assumed  that  honorable  but  dan 
gerous  station.  His  father,  Massasoit, 
was  the  friend,  but  he  had  ever  been 
the  enemy,  of  the  whites ;  and  this  en 
mity,  arising  from  causes  of  national 
concern,  had  been  embittered  to  vin 
dictive  hatred  by  their  conduct  towards 
his  elder  brother.  This  brother,  being 
suspected  of  plotting  against  them,  was 
seized  by  a  detachment  of  soldiers  and 
confined  ;  and  the  indignity  so  wrought 
upon  his  proud  spirit  as  to  produce  a 
fever  that  put  an  end  to  his  life.  Philip 
inherited  the  authority  and  proud  spirit 
of  his  brother.  He  exerted  all  the  arts 
of  intrigue  and  powers  of  persuasion 
of  which  he  was  master,  to  induce  the 
Indians,  in  all  parts  of  New  England, 
to  unite  their  efforts  for  the  destruction 
of  the  whites.  He  succeeded  in  form 
ing  a  confederacy  able  to  send  into  ac 
tion  between  three  and'  four  thousand 
warriors. 

The  bloody  struggle  commenced 
sooner  than  was  intended  by  Philip. 
A  hasty  act  of  revenge  placed 
him  in  open  defiance  of  the 
colonists,  and  he  had  no  alternative 
but  to  yield  in  absolute  submission,  or 
to  persist  and  endeavor  bravely  to  car 
ry  out  his  plans.  Philip  plundered  the 


1675. 


houses  nearest  Mount  Hope,  his  resi 
dence.  Soon  after,  he  attacked  Swan- 
zey,  and  killed  a  number  of  the  inhab 
itants.  This  was  in  the  latter  part  of 
June,  1675. 

The  troops  of  the  colony  inarched 
immediately  to  Swanzey,  and  were  soon 
joined  by  a  detachment  from  Massachu 
setts.  The  Indians  fled,  and  marked 
the  course  of  their  flight  by  burning 
the  buildings,  and  fixing  on  poles,  by 
the  way  side,  the  hands,  scalps,  and 
heads  of  the  whites  whom  they  had 
killed.  The  troops  pursued,  but  un 
able  to  overtake  them,  returned  to 
Swanzey.  The  whole  country  was 
alarmed,  and  the  number  of  troops 
augmented.  By  this  array  of  force, 
Philip  was  induced  to  quit  his  residence 
at  Mount  Hope,  and  take  post  near  a 
swamp  at  Pocasset.  At  that  place  the 
English  attacked  him,  but  were  re 
pulsed.  Sixteen  were  killed,  and  the 
Indians  by  this  success  were  made 
bolder. 

Panic  prevailed  throughout  the  col 
ony.  Dismal  portents  of  still  heavier 
calamities  were  fancied  in  the  air  and 
sky  ;  shadowy  troops  of  careering 
horses,  Indian  scalps,  and  bows  im 
printed  upon  the  sun  and  moon,  even 
the  sigh  of  the  wind  through  the  forest, 
and  the  dismal  howling  of  wolves,  ter- 

O 

rified  the  excited  imagination  of  the 
colonists.  The  out-settlers  fled  for  se 
curity  to  the  towns,  where  they  spread 
abroad  fearful  accounts  of  the  cruel 
atrocities  of  the  Indians. 

Meanwhile,  the  war  spread  along  the 
whole  exposed  frontier  of  Connecti 
cut,  Massachusetts,  and  even  of  New 
Hampshire.  The  villages  were  isola- 


CH.  XI L] 


DESTRUCTION   OF  THE  INDIANS. 


Ill 


ted,  large  uncultivated  tracts  lying  be 
tween.  The  Indians  lived  intermixed 
with  the  whites,  and  as  every  brake 
and  lurking  place  was  well  known  to 
them,  they  were  able  to  fall  suddenly 
apon  any  village  or  settlement  they 
might  mark  for  destruction.  Many 
were  shot  dead  as  they  opened  their 
doors  in  the  morning — for  the  Indians 
had  both  learned  the  use  and  acquired 
possession  of  firearms ;  many  were  killed 
in  the  same  way  while  in  the  fields,  or 
while  travelling,  or  while  going  to  the 
places  of  the  public  worship  of  God. 
Unable  also  to  cultivate  the  fields,  the 
settlers  were  exposed  to  famine,  while 
the  convoys  of  provisions  sent  to  their 
assistance  were  waylaid  and  seized,  and 
their  escort  cut  off  in  ambush.  Such 
was  the  fate  of  the  brave  Lathrop,  at 
the  spot  which  still  retains  the  name  of 
"  Bloody  Brook."  On  one  occasion,  at 
Hadley,  while  the  people  were  engaged 
in  divine  service,  the  Indians  burst  in 
upon  the  village ;  panic  and  confusion 
were  at  their  height,  when  suddenly 
there  appeared  a  man  of  very  venerable 
aspect,  who  rallied  the  terrified  inhab 
itants,  formed  them  into  military  order, 
led  them  to  the  attack,  routed  the  In 
dians,  saved  the  village,  and  then  dis 
appeared  as  marvellously  as  he  had 
come  upon  the  scene.  The  excited 
and  grateful  inhabitants,  unable  to  dis 
cover  any  trace  of  their  preserver,  sup 
posed  him  to  be  an  angel  sent  from 
God.  It  was  no  angel,  but  one  of 
Cromwell's  generals,  old  Goffe  the  regi 
cide,  who,  compelled  by  the  vigilant 
search  made  after  him  by  order  of  the 
English  government,  to  fly  from  place 
to  place,  had  espied  from  an  elevated 


cavern  in  the  neighborhood  the  mur- 

O 

derous  approach  of  the  savages,  and 
hurried  down  to  aid  the  affrighted  colo 
nists  in  this  extremity. 

During  the  summer,  the  Indians, 
having  the  advantage  of  concealment 
in  the  woods  and  forests,  were  able  tc 
carry  on  this  very  harassing  and  de 
structive  warfare ;  but  when  winter 
came,  and  the  forests  were  more  open, 
the  colonists,  by  a  vigorous  effort,  suc 
ceeded  in  raising  a  force  of  a  thousand 
men,  and  determined  to  strike  a  deci 
sive  blow.  Josiah  Winslow,  of  Ply 
mouth,  was  appointed  commander-in- 
chief.  On  the  18th  of  December,  the 
troops  formed  a  junction  in  the  terri 
tory  of  the  Narragansetts,  Avho  had 
given  shelter  to  the  enemy,  and  after  a 
long  march  through  the  snow,  and  a 
night  spent  in  the  woods,  they  ap 
proached  the  stronghold  of  the  tribe. 
This  was  about  one  o'clock.  The  In 
dians  had  entrenched  themselves  on  a 
rising  ground,  in  the  midst  of  a  swamp 
surrounded  by  a  palisade.  The  leaders 
were  all  shot  down  as  they  advanced 
to  the  charge ;  but  this  only  excited  to 
the  highest  pitch  the  desperate  deter 
mination  of  the  colonists,  who,  after 
having  once  forced  an  entrance,  and 
being  again  repulsed,  after  a  fierce 
struggle  protracted  for  two  hours, 
burst  infuriated  into  the  Indian  fort. 
Revenge  for  the  blood  of  their  mur 
dered  brethren  was  alone  thought  of; 
mercy  was  implored  in  vain ;  the  fort 
was  fired,  and  hundreds  of  Indian  wives 
and  children  perished  in  the  midst  of  the 
conflagration;  while  their  provisions 
gathered  to.irether  for  the  long  winter, 
being  consumed,  and  their  wigwams 


112 


NEW   ENGLAND   UNDER  CHARLES  II.   AND  JAMES  II. 


[B*.  1. 


1677. 


burned,  those  who  escaped  from  fire  and 
sword  wandered  miserably  through  the 
forests  to  perish  with  cold  and  hunger. 
This  was  the  most  desperate  battle  re 
corded  in  the  early  annals  of  the  coun 
try.  But  the  victory  was  decisive.  One 
thousand  Indian  warriors  were  killed  ; 
three  hundred  more,  and  as  many  wo 
men  and  children,  were  made  prisoners. 
Yet  the  price  of  victory  was  dear,  in 
deed.  Six  captains  and  eighty  men 
were  killed,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty 
men  were  wounded. 

The  Indians,  rendered  desperate, 
vented  their  fury  upon  all  who  came 
within  their  reach.  But  their 
power  was  broken,  and  ere 
long  they  began  to  fade  away  out 
of  sight.  The  leaders  alone,  Philip, 
and  Canonchet,  sachem  of  the  Narra- 
gansetts,  refused  to  yield.  The  lat 
ter  died  rather  than  attempt  to  make 
a  peace  with  the  whites.  The  un 
happy  Philip,  the  author  of  the  war, 
wandered  from  tribe  to  tribe,  assailed 
by  recriminations  and  reproaches  for 
the  misery  he  had  brought  upon  his 
brethren,  and  with  a  heart  full  of  the 
bitterest  anguish.  Compelled  at  length 
to  return  to  his  old  haunts,  where  he 
was  yet  sustained  by  Witamo,  a  female 
chief  and  relative,  he  was  presently  at 
tacked  by  the  English,  who  carried  off 
his  wife  and  child  as  captives ;  shortly 
after,  he  was  treacherously  shot  by  one 
of  his  own  adherents  who  deserted  to 
the  English.  Thus  perished  Philip  of 
Pokanoket,  who,  in  many  respects,  was 
worthy  of  a  better  fate.  His  child 
was  sent  to  Bermuda,  and  sold  into 
slavery. 

Peace  was  welcome  indeed,  for  nearly 


16SO. 


a  thousand  houses  had  been  burned,  and 
goods  and  cattle  of  great  value  had 
been  plundered  or  destroyed.  The 
colonies  had  also  contracted  a  heavy 
debt,  which,  with  characteristic  pride 
of  independence,  they  forbore  to  apply 
to  the  mother  country  to  lighten. 

In  1680,  New  Hampshire,  at  the  so 
licitation  of  John  Mason,  to  whose  an 
cestor  a  part  of  the  territory 
had  been  granted,  was  consti 
tuted  a  separate  colony.  Massachu 
setts,  apprehending  the  loss  of  Maine 
also,  purchased  of  the  heirs  of  Gorges 
their  claim  to  the  soil  and  jurisdiction, 
for  about  $6,000. 

The  colonists  continuing  to  evade  the 
acts  of  trade,  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  violations  of  their  rights,  Edward 
Randolph  was  sent  over  in  July,  1680, 
as  collector  of  the  royal  customs,  and 
inspector  for  enforcing  the  acts  of  trade 
The  magistrates  ignored  his  commission. 

O  O  * 

and  refused  to  allow  him  to  act,  so  that 
he  was  compelled  to  go  back  to  Eng 
land.  He  speedily  returned, 
however,  in  February,  1682, 
with  a  royal  letter,  peremptorily  de 
manding  that  agents  be  sent  at  once 

O  O 

fully  empowered  to  act  for  the  colonies. 
Resistance  became  useless,  although 
there  was  no  flinching  on  the  part  of  the 
leaders.  Every  effort  was  made,  even 
to  bribery,  to  propitiate  the  king  with 
out  yielding  the  point  of  their 
rights;  but  to  no  purpose.  A 
scire  facias  was  issued  in  England,  and, 
in  1684,  the  charter  was  declared  to  be 
forfeited ;  thus  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  Massachusetts,  so  long  and  so  dearly 
cherished,  lay  at  the  mercy  of  Charles 
II.,  who  was  known  to  meditate  the 


1CS2. 


CH.  Xll.J 


\NDROS   AND  THE  CONNECTICUT  CHARTER. 


113 


16§6. 


most  serious  and  fundamental  innova 
tions,  but  who  died  before  any  of  them 
could  be  carried  into  effect. 

A  temporary  government  was  estab 
lished  by  the  appointment  of  Joseph 
Dudley,  son  of  the  former  gov 
ernor.  Soon  after,  however,  in 
1686,  James  II.  placed  Sir  Edmund 
Andros  over  the  colonies.  He  came 
out  fully  prepared  to  forward  the  ar 
bitrary  and  tyrannical  designs  of  the 
last  of  the  Stuarts,  and  brought  with 
him,  in  the  royal  frigate  in  which  he 
came,  two  companies  of  troops  to  en 
force  his  authority,  if  need  be.  He  was 
empowered  to  remove  and  appoint  the 
members  of  the  council  at  his  pleasure, 
and,  with  the  consent  of  a  body  thus 
under  his  control,  to  levy  taxes,  make 
laws,  and  call  out  the  militia.  His 
subordinates  were  entirely  devoted  to 
him.  Dudley  was  made  chief  justice, 
and  Randolph,  that  old  antagonist  of 
the  theocracy,  who  had  spent  years  of 
persevering  hostility,  and  had  done 
every  thing  he  could  to  humble  the 
pride  of  his  enemies,  was  appointed  as 
colonial  secretary.  The  press,  previ 
ously  placed  under  his  control,  had 
already  been  thoroughly  gagged ;  it 
was  now  entirely  suppressed. 

Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  suf 
fered  from  the  same  spirit  of  arbitrary 
exercise  of  power.  A  writ  of  quo  war- 
ranto  hail  been  issued,  and  Andros  re 
paired  to  Hartford  and  demanded  the 
charter  of  the  Assembly  then  in  ses 
sion.  That  body,  says  Trumbull,  was 
11  extremely  reluctant  and  slow  with  re 
spect  to  any  resolve  to  surrender 
the  charter,  or  with  respect  to 
any  motion  to  bring  it  forth.  The  tra- 

VOL.  I.— 17 


I68T. 


dition  is,  that  Governor  Treat  strongly 
represented  the  great  expense  and  hard 
ships  of  the  colonists  in  planting  the 
country ;  the  blood  and  treasure  which 
they  had  expended  in  defending  it,  both 
against  the  savages  and  foreigners ;  to 

O  O  O  7 

what  hardships  and  dangers  he  himself 
had  been  exposed  for  that  purpose ; 
and  that  it  was  like  giving  up  his  life, 
now  to  surrender  the  patent  and  privi 
leges  so  dearly  bought,  and  so  long  en 
joyed.  The  important  affair  was  de 
bated  and  kept  in  suspense  until  the 
evening,  when  the  charter  was  brought 
and  laid  upon  the  table  where  the  As 
sembly  were  sitting.  By  this  time, 
great  numbers  of  people  were  assem 
bled,  and  men  sufficiently  bold  to  enter 
prise  whatever  might  be  necessary  or 
expedient.  The  lights  were  instantly 
extinguished,  and  Captain  Wadsworth, 
of  Hartford,  in  the  most  silent  and  se 
cret  manner,  carried  off  the  charter, 
and  secreted  it  in  a  large  hollow  tree, 
fronting  the  house  of  the  Honorable 
Samuel  Wyllys,  then  one  of  the  magis 
trates  of  the  colony.  The  people  ap 
peared  all  peaceable  and  orderly.  The 
candles  were  officiously  relighted,  but 
the  patent  was  gone,  and  no  discovery 
could  be  made  of  it,  or  of  the  person 
who  had  conveyed  it  away."*  Andros, 
however,  declared  the  charter  forfeited, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  records  inscribed 
the  expressive  word — FINIS. 

The  arbitrary  proceedings  of  Andros 
were  not  permitted  to  continue  for  any 
great  length  of  time.  The  infatuated 
James  II.  was  rapidly  bringing  on  that 
crisis  in  England  which  resulted  in  his 

O 

*  "  History  of  Connecticut^  pp.  371,  372. 


114 


VIRGINIA   AND   MARYLAND. 


[BK.  1. 


detliroiiernent,  and  the  Revolution  of 

1G88 — unlike  other  revolutions,  with 
out  bloodshed — effected  a  complete 
change  in  affairs,  not  only  at  home, 
but  also  in  the  colonial  dependencies 


of  England.  The  fate  of  Andros  was 
wrapped  up  in  that  of  the  weak  tyrant 
his  master,  and  his  fall,  so  far  as  Mas 
sachusetts  was  concerned,  was  sudden 
and  complete. 


CH  APTEE     XIII. 

16GO— 1688, 

VIRGINIA      AND     MARYLAND. 

Changes  in  Virginia  in  the  course  of  years  —  Causes  of  these  changes  —  Classes  of  settlers  —  Aristocracy  predomi 
nant —  Navigation  Act  —  Intolerance  of  the  ruling  party  —  Popular  discontent  —  Culpepper  and  Arlington  — • 
Charter  solicited  —  Causes  which  led  to  Bacon's  Rebellion  —  Course  pursued  by  Berkeley —  Progress  of  the  con 
test —  Success  of  Bacon  —  His  sudden  death  —  Sanguinary  revenge  of  the  governor  —  "Bacon's  Laws'" — • 
Subsequent  suffering  of  the  colony  under  Culpepper  and  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham  —  Affairs  in  Maryland  — 
General  prosperity  — Efforts  in  favor  of  church  establishment —  Insurrection  stirred  up  by  Feudal  —  James  II. 
no  favorer  of  the  proprietary — Writ  issued  against  the  charter — James's  downfall — English  Revolution  of  1088. 


1660. 


IN  resuming  the  history  of  Virginia 
from  Chapter  VIIL,  (p.  78,)  it  will  be 
borne  in  mind  that  Sir  William 
Berkeley,  a  staunch  royalist,  had 
been  elected  governor  by  the  burgesses, 
in  1660.  At  that  date,  popular  liberty 
and  privileges  were,  to  all  appearance, 
well  established,  as  before  noted:  du 
ring  the  twenty-five  years  or  so  follow 
ing,  important  changes  took  place,  by 
which  the  powers  of  the  governor  and 
counsellors  were  increased  in  the  exact 
proportion  that  those  of  the  Assembly 
and  freemen  were  curtailed.  Several 
causes  helped  to  bring  about  this  result. 
A  brief  glance  at  them  is  all  that  our 
space  admits. 

Originally  settled  by  offshoots  or  ad 
herents  of  the  English  nobility,  Virginia 
had  received  a  more  decidedly  aristo 
cratic  cast  from  the  influx  of  Cavaliers 


during  the  civil  war  in  England,  who 
carried  with  them  to  the  New  AVorld 
their  hereditary  prejudices  in  favor  of 
the  privileges  conferred  by  birth  and 
rank,  and  a  contemptuous  disregard  of 
popular  rights  and  pretensions.  Under 
lying  this  class  was  another,  consisting 
of  free  descendants  of  the  first  settlers 
of  inferior  rank,  and  also  of  indented 
servants  who  had  been  brought  over  by 
the  planters,  and  who,  bound  to  labor 
for  a  certain  number  of  years,  were,  du 
ring  that  period,  virtually  in  a  state  of 
serfdom.  Negro  slaves,  as  we  have  pre 
viously  stated,  had  also  been  introduced 
into  the  colony ;  and  partly  from  the 
supposed  necessity  of  the  case  in  the 
cultivation  of  tobacco  and  the  general 
work  on  plantations,  negroes  had  large 
ly  increased  in  Virginia :  these  were 
destitute  of  all  the  privileges  and  op- 


CH.  XIII. j 


COURSE  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY. 


115 


portunities  for  improvement  which  the 
freemen  enjoyed. 

The  aristocratic  class  very  naturally 
obtained  a  controlling  ascendancy  in 
the  management  of  public  affairs.  Sir 
William  Berkeley  had  been  put  for 
ward  by  them  as  especially  devoted  to 
their  interests.  Warmly  attached  to 
the  soil  of  Virginia,  Berkeley's  views 
accorded  well  with  those  of  the  As 
sembly  by  whom  he  had  been  chosen, 
and  their  influence  was  united  to  per 
petuate  the  tenure  of  that  power  already 
'.n  their  hands.  The  term  for  which 
they  were  authorized  to  hold  office  was 
two  years,  when  a  fresh  election,  ac 
cording  to  previous  usage,  ought  to 
have  taken  place.  They  continued, 
nevertheless,  quietly  to  retain  posses 
sion  of  their  seats,  to  obtain  the  reap- 
pointment  of  Berkeley,  and  to  legislate 
in  a  spirit  entirely  favorable  to  their 
own  interests.  Furthermore,  in  order 
to  insure  the  continuance  of  aristocratic 
influence,  they  disfranchised,  by  their 
own  act,  a  large  proportion  of  the  peo 
ple  who  had  chosen  them,  confining  in 
future  the  exercise  of  the  elective  privi 
lege  to  freeholders  and  householders 
— a  principle  maintained  in  Virginia  to 
this  day.  The  taxes  became  exorbitant, 
the  governor  and  Assembly  were  over 
paid,  while  all  power  of  checking  these 
disorders  was  taken  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  people. 

The  navigation  act,  which  was  warm 
ly  opposed  by  Massachusetts,  met  with 
equally  earnest  and  strong  opposition 
in.  Virginia.  It  bore  very  severely  up 
on  their  trade  by  restricting  the  market 
to  England  and  English  vessels  alone. 

O  O 

Berkeley  was  sent  to  England  to  en 


deavor   to  obtain    relief,  but    without 

success;  though  he  did  succeed 

,,.'       f  °  ,  .       ,,  icei. 

m  getting  lor  himselt   a   share 

in  the  newly-erected  province  of  North 
Carolina.  Meanwhile  the  proceedings 
of  the  Virginia  Assembly  were  very 
much  like  those  of  the  government  in 
England.  Intolerance  obtained  the 
ascendancy,  old  edicts  were  revived 
and  sharpened,  and  fresh  ones  enacted 
against  Puritans,  Baptists,  and  Quakers, 
who  were  visited  with  fines  and  banish 
ment; — although  it  is  but  fair  to  say, 
that  Virginia  did  not,  like  Massachu 
setts,  hang  and  put  to  death  the  un 
fortunate  followers  of  George  Fox. 

O 

With  the  remembrance  of  what  had 
happened  during  the  civil  Avar,  even 
the  pulpit  itself  was  feared,  Berkeley 
expressing  a  wish  that  the  established 
ministry  "should  pray  often er  and 
preach  less."  Education,  too,  was  stu 
diously  discouraged.-  "I  thank  God," 
are  the  words  of  the  governor, 
some  years  later,  "  that  there 
are  no  free  schools,  nor  printing,  and 
I  hope  we  shall  not  have  these  hundred 
years;  for  learning  has  brought  dis- 

*/  O  O 

obedience,  and  heresy,  and  sects  into 
the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged 
them,  and  libels  against  the  best  gov 
ernment  :  God  keep  us  from  both !'; 
he  piously  concludes.  Such  was  the 
aim  of  the  party  in  power,  to  maintain 
the  domination  of  a  body  of  wealthy 
aristocratic  planters,  over  a  submissive 
and  ignorant  commonalty,  and  a  still 
lower  class  of  indented  white  servants 
and  neoro  slaves. 

O 

The  popular  discontent  was  certainly 
not  allayed  "by  the  news  that  the  prodi 
gal  Charles  II.  had  granted  away  the 


ICTI. 


110 


YIKGINIA   AND   MARYLAND. 


.  1. 


107:5. 


1675. 


whole  colony  to  Lord  Culpepper  and 
Lord  Arlington,  two  rapacious  cour 
tiers  whom  it  was  necessary  to  satisfy. 
Fresh  taxes  and  levies  were  the  conse 
quence  of  measures  taken  to  see  if  these 
new  claimants  could  not  be  bought  oif. 
Colonel  Moryson,  Secretary  Ludwell, 
and  General  Smith  were  dis 
patched  to  England  on  this 
business,  and  the  governor  and  Assem 
bly  took  the  opportunity  to  solicit  a 
royal  charter.  Their  petition  was 
granted,  but  delays  having  occurred  in 
the  charter  passing  the  seals,  its 
progress  was  finally  cut  short 
by  news  of  a  rebellion  which  had 
broken  out  in  Virginia. 

The  immediate  occasion  of  this  popu 
lar  outbreak  was  an  Indian  war:  the 
man  who  presented  himself  as  a  leader 
was  Nathaniel  Bacon.  Virginia,  it  will 
be  remembered,  had  suffered  too  deeply 
from  the  treacherous  outbreaks  of  the 
Indians,  not  to  be  predisposed,  even 
after  an  interval  of  thirty  years'  peace, 
to  take  the  worst  view  of  their  char 
acter  and  intentions,  which  the  war 
with  Philip  of  Pokanoket,  then  raging 
in  Massachusetts,  could  not  fail  to 
strengthen.  The  Senecas  had  attacked 

O 

and  driven  the  Susquehannahs  upon 
the  frontiers  of  Maryland,  with  which 

*/ 

State  a  war  had  arisen,  in  which  the 
neighboring  Virginians  became  in- 

o  o  o 

volved.  Certain  outrages  of  the  In 
dians  had  been  resented  by  the  plant 
ers,  among  others  by  one  named  John 
Washington,  who  had  emigrated  some 
years  back  from  the  north  of  England, 
arid  became  the  founder  of  that  family 
from  which,  a  century  later,  sprung  the 
illustrious  father  of  his  country.  He 


1C7G. 


had  collected  a  body  of  his  neighbors, 
besieged  an  Indian  fort,  and  unhappily 
put  to  death  six  envoys  sent  forth  to 
treat  of  a  reconciliation ;  an  outrage 
met  on  the  part  of  the  savages  by  the 
usual  retaliation  of  murder,  pillage,  and 
incendiarism.  The  Assembly  undertook 
to  provide  for  the  present  emergency 
by  a  very  elaborate  but  ruinously  ex 
pensive  system  of  forts  and  levies  of 
troops  to  protect  the  country.  Addition 
al  dissatisfaction  was  the  consequence ; 
the  whole  arrangement  was  stigmatized 
as  absurd  and  oppressive;  and 
active  and  energetic  operations 
were  loudly  demanded.  Bacon  was 
among  the  most  earnest  complainants. 
In  the  vigor  of  early  manhood,  educa 
ted  in  the  Temple,  of  good  address,  and 
influential  connections,  he  declared  his 
determination  to  act  on  his  own  author 
ity  should  a  commission,  which  he  had 
requested,  be  denied  him. 

The  people  generally  were  in  a  high 
state  of  excitement,  when  the  news  ar 
rived  that  the  Indians  had  broken  in 
upon  Bacon's  plantation  and  murdered 
some  of  his  servants.  He  instantly  ilew 
to  arms ;  and,  being  joined  by  some  five 
or  six  hundred  men,  set  off  in  pursuit 
of  the  enemy.  The  governor  looking 
upon  this  proceeding  as  an  insult  to  his 
authority,  proclaimed  Bacon  as  a  rel  >el, 
deprived  him  of  his  seat  in  the  council, 
and  called  upon  all  those  who  respected 
his  own  authority  to  disperse  immedi 
ately.  Some  of  the  less  zealous  of  the 
insurgents  obeyed  the  summons  and  re 
turned  to  their  homes ;  but  this  defec 
tion  did  not  restrain  their  leader,  who 
pushed  forward  in  hot  pursuit  of  the 
Indians.  Some  bodies  of  these  were 


CH.  XIII.] 


BACON   AND   GOVERNOR  BERKELEY. 


117 


still  on  a  friendly  footing,  although 
suspected;  and  when  nearly  out  of 
provisions,  Bacon  and  his  company  ap 
proached  one  of  their  forts  and  re 
quested  a  supply.  Having  been  kept 
waiting  for  three  days,  until  their  ne 
cessity  became  extreme,  the  English 
waded  the  stream  in  order  to  compel 
their  acquiescence :  a  shot  was  dis 
charged  from  the  shore  they  had  just 
left,  which  induced  Bacon  to  attack 
the  fort,  and  put  a  hundred  and  fifty 
Indians  to  the  sword.  This,  at  least,  is 
said  to  be  his  own  account. 

Governor  Berkeley,  having  gathered 
a  body  of  troops,  proceeded  to  march 
after  Bacon  and  his  men,  but  his  pro 
gress  was  arrested  by  disturbances  in 
the  lower  counties.  His  own  authority 
in  the  capital  passed  out  of  his  hands ; 
the  old  Assembly  was  dissolved ;  and 
Bacon  was  one  anion^  the  newlv  elect- 

O  t/ 

ed  burgesses ;  but,  having  ventured  to 
approach  Jamestown  in  a  sloop  with 
armed  followers,  he  was  apprehended 
and  compelled  very  humbly  to  beg 
pardon  for  his  mutinous  conduct.  The 
Assembly  proceeded  directly,  so  soon 
as  possible,  to  restore  the  franchise  to 
the  freemen,  and  to  endeavor  to  effect 
needed  reforms  in  almost  every  de 
partment. 

Bacon,  though  pardoned  and  restored 
to  his  seat  in  the  council,  soon  after  se 
cretly  left  Jamestown,  and  in  a  few 
days,  having  got  together  some  four 
hundr-ed  of  his  adherents  from  the  up 
per  counties,  suddenly  made  his  ap 
pearance  in  the  town.  His  demands 
had  to  be  listened  to,  although  the 
tiery  old  governor,  it  is  said,  tore  open 
his  dress,  and  exposing  his  naked  breast, 


exclaimed,  "Here,  shoot  me!  'Fore 
God !  fair  mark  !  shoot !"  But  Bacon, 
not  giving  way  to  excitement,  replied, 
"  No,  may  it  please  your  honor,  we  will 
not  hurt  a  hair  of  your  head,  nor  of  any 
other  man's — we  are  come  for  a  com 
mission  to  save  our  lives  from  the  In 
dians,  which  you  have  so  often  prom 
ised,  and  now  we'll  have  it  before  we 
go."  The  insurgents  also  made  the 
same  demand,  accompanied  by  men 
aces  in  case  of  refusal,  asrainst  the  As- 

i        O 

sembly  itself,  who,  thus  threatened, 
and  with  many  among  them  the 
warm  partisans  of  Bacon,  were  content 
enough  to  give  way  before  the  popular 
movement,  and  to  compel  the  governor, 
though  sorely  against  his  will,  to  yield, 
and  also  to  appoint  Bacon  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  forces  sent  against  the  In 
dians.  This  point  being  settled,  the 
Assembly  proceeded  to  enact  many 
salutary  reforms,  popularly  known  as 
"Bacon's  Laws,"  all  tending  to  abate 
the  exorbitant  pretensions  of  the  aris 
tocratic  party,  and  to  restore  to  the 
mass  of  the  people  the  privileges  of 
which  they  had  been  deprived.  These 
laws,  though  afterwards  abrogated  in  a 
mass  by  the  government  at  home,  were, 
the  most  important  of  them,  reenacted, 
in  nearly  the  same  words,  by  succeeding 
Assemblies. 

But  there  was  yet  a  further  struggle 
between  the  contending  parties.  Hard 
ly  had  Bacon  set  out  on  his  work  of 
subduing  the  Indians,  before  Berkeley 
issued  a  proclamation  denouncing  Ba 
con  as  a  rebel,  setting  a  price  on  his 
head,  and  commanding  his  followers  to 
disperse.  Indignant  at  this  treatment, 
Bacon  immediately  retraced  his  steps, 


VIRGINIA   AND  MARYLAND. 


[BR.  i. 


and  the  governor  fled  in  dismay  from 
the  capital.  Steps  were  taken  directly 
to  reorganize  the  government.  The 
people  were  called  together ;  a  public 
declaration  was  issued;  and  writs  is 
sued  for  a  new  election  of  burgesses  in 
October.  Bacon  set  out  again  to  carry 
on  the  war  against  the  Indians,  which 
led  Berkeley  to  contrive  by  promises 
of  pay  and  plunder  to  recover  his  lost 
authority.  Quite  unexpectedly  he  suc 
ceeded  ;  but  it  was  only  a  passing  tri 
umph.  Bacon  made  a  rapid  descent 
from  the  upper  country,  with  an  army 
that  had  just  gained  the  victory  at  the 
Bloody  Run.  Jamestown  was  invested 
and  speedily  retaken,  and  further,  to 
prevent  its  again  being  occupied  by 
Berkeley,  it  was,  by  Bacon's  orders, 
burned  to  the  ground.  A  large  body 
of  troops  under  Colonel  Brent  were 
marching  to  attack  Bacon,  but,  terrified 
by  his  promptitude  and  success,  they 
dispersed  without  venturing  a  battle. 

Bacon  was  now  completely  victori 
ous,  and  at  liberty  to  carry  out  his  de 
signs  to  their  fullest  extent.  Precisely 
what  he  purposed,  however,  can  never 
be  known ;  for  just  at  this  juncture  he 
was  suddenly  stricken  down  by 

1677.  . 

the  hand  of  death.  This  was  in 
January,  16Y7  ;  and  as  he  was  the  mas 
ter  spirit  of  the  whole  popular  move 
ment,  with  him  died  also  all  systematic 
effort  to  obtain  redress  of  grievances.* 

*  Mr.  Ware,  in  his  discriminating  "  Memoir  of 
Nathaniel  Bacon,"  says  that  "there  seems  no  good 
reason  to  doubt  the  purity  of  his  motives,  and  the 
singleness  and  simplicity  of  his  character."  Mr. 
Ware  also  doubts  the  correctness  of  the  opinion  ad 
vanced  by  Hening  that  Bacon  was  taken  off  by  poi- 
Bon.  See  Sparks'  "American  Biography,"  vol.  xiii., 
pp.  239— 306. 


Bacon's  supporters  were  mostly  taken, 
and  Berkeley,  again  restored  to  power, 
pursued  a  course  of  malignant  revenge 
utterly  disgraceful  to  his  name  and  po 
sition.  No  less  than  twenty-five  per 
sons  were  executed  during  the  few  suc 
ceeding  months.  Horsford  was  hanged, 
and  Drummond,  formerly  a  governor  of 
the  colony  of  South  Carolina,  shared  the 
same  fate.  So  furious  had  Berkeley  be 
come,  that  the  Assembly  strongly  pro 
tested,  and  the  king's  commissioners, 
who  had  arrived  to  inquire  into  the 
rebellion,  were  shocked,  and  endea 
vored  to  put  a  stop  to  this  wholesale 
slaughter.  His  conduct  excited  great 
indignation  in  England,  and  Charles  is 
reported  to  have  exclaimed,  on  hearing 
of  his  doings,  "  The  old  fool  has  taken 
away  more  lives  in  that  naked  country 
than  I  did  here  in  England  for  the  mur 
der  of  my  father."  Berkeley,  not  long 
after,  returned  to  the  mother  country, 
and  in  a  brief  space  ended  his  days 
there. 

The  issue  of  Bacon's  rebellion  was 
injurious  to  the  interests  of  the  colon 
ists.  Some  trifling  concessions  were 

O 

indeed  made  to  their  complaints,  but 
the  majority  of  those  abuses  by  which 
they  had  been  provoked  into  a  rising, 
remained  in  full  force.  The  whole  of 
"  Bacon's  Laws"  enacted  by  the  popu 
lar  Assembly  were  annulled,  the  fran 
chise,  as  just  before,  and  not  as  origin 
ally,  was  restricted  to  freeholders  alone, 
and  the  Assembly  chosen  by  it  was  only 
to  meet  once  in  two  years,  nor,  except 
on  special  occasions,  to  remain  in  session 
for  more  than  a  fortnight.  Oppressed 
with  the  still  stricter  enforcement  of 
the  navigation  laws,  which  ruinously 


On.  XIli.J 


EXTORTIONS   OF   ROYAL  GOVERNORS. 


119 


16§0. 


reduced  tlie  price  of  their  staple,  to 
bacco,  saddled  with  the  additional  bur 
den  of  supporting  a  body  of  English 
soldiers,  forbidden  even  to  set  up  a 
printing  press,  the  Virginians  had  to 
bear  their  trials  as  best  they  might,  in 
hope  that  a  day  of  redress  would  sooner 
or  later  arrive. 

For  a  number  of  years  subsequent 
the  government  of  Virginia  resembled 
much  that  of  the  mother  country  in  the 
reckless  profligacy  and  rapacity  of  those 
in  authority.  The  grant  of  the  colony 
to  Arlington  and  Culpepper  has  been 
already  mentioned.  The  latter  noble 
man  had  obtained  the  cession  of 
his  partner's  share  in  1680,  and 
had  been  invested  besides  with  the  of 
fice  of  governor  for  life,  as  the  succes 
sor  of  Berkeley.  The  spirit  of  sordid 
avarice  which  had  infected  the  English 
court  had  alone  dictated  the  request  of 
these  privileges,  and  in  the  same  spirit 
was  the  administration  of  Culpepper 
conducted.  Compelled  to  repair  with 
reluctance  from  the  delights  of  the 
court  to  the  government  of  a  distant 
province,  his  only  indemnification  was 
to  make  the  best  use  of  the  period  of 
his  banishment.  He  carried  out  with 
him  a  general  amnesty  for  the  recent 
political  offences,  and  an  act  for  increas 
ing  the  royal  revenue  by  additional  du 
ties.  He  obtained  a  salary  of  $8,000, 
double  that  of  Berkeley's,  and  still  fur 
ther  contrived  to  swell  his  emoluments, 
and  to  satisfy  his  greediness,  by  means 
of  perquisites  and  peculations.  The 
pinch  began  to  be  severely  felt  even 
by  the  most  ardent  loyalists,  and  symp 
toms  of  opposition  arose  in  the  Assembly 
itself.  The  misery  of  the  planters  had 


led  them  to  solicit  the  enforcement  of 
a  year's  cessation  from  the  planting  of 
tobacco :  the  Assembly  could  but  refer 
it  to  "the  pleasure  of  the  king,"  and  in 
the  mean  time  the  exasperated  sufferers 
proceeded  to  cut  up  the  tobacco  plants. 
These  outrages,  dictated  by  despair,  led 
to  several  executions,  and  laws  were 
passed  for  their  future  suppression.  Af 
ter  thus  conducting  his  administration 
for  three  years,  he  was  glad  to  surren 
der  his  patent  and  take  in  its  place  a 
pension  of  about  $2,400. 

In  1684,  Lord  Howard,  of  Effingham, 
succeeded  Culpepper  as  governor.  He 
quite  surpassed  his  predecessor 

.  .  -.-r-  ft  lOS'fi. 

in  extorting  money.  JN'ew  fees 
were  multiplied,  and,  in  1687,  a  court 
of  chancery  was  established,  of  which 
the  governor  declared  himself  the  sole 
judge.  Despotism,  was  rapidly  attain 
ing  its  climax.  A  frigate  was  stationed 
to  enforce  the  stricter  observation  of 
the  navigation  laws,  and  an  additional 
excise  duty  in  England  on  the  import 
of  tobacco  still  further  discouraged 
trade.  The  conduct  of  the  governor 
towards  the  Assembly  became  more 
and  more  arbitrary,  until  scarcely  the 
shadow  of  popular  liberty  was  left. 
Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
Virginia  at  the  accession  of  the  last  of 
the  Stuarts.  Alarming  symptoms  of 
insubordination  having  appeared,  not 
only  among  the  body  of  the  people, 
but  even  in  the  Assembly  itself,  who 
presumed  to  question  the  veto  of  the 
governor,  that  body,  by  order  of  the 
arbitrary  monarch,  was  summarily  dis 
solved.  But  the  same  spirit  that  was 
about  to  hurl  James  II.  from  the  Eng 
lish  throne  was  now  fully  awakened 


120 


VIRGINIA  AND  MARYLAND. 


also  in  the  breast  of  the  Virginians, 
once  so  loyal,  but  whose  loyalty  had 
been  too  cruelly  abused  by  an  infatua 
ted  race  of  kings,  and  the  next  Assem 
bly,  in  1688,  was  imbued  with 

16§».  ,    ,  .       ,. 

such  a  determination  to  mam- 
tain  its  privileges,  that  the  governor, 
counting  upon  the  royal  support,  deter 
mined,  after  a  brief  experience  of  its 
temper,  to  dissolve  it  upon  his  own 
authority ;  upon  which  they  deputed 
Ludwell,  formerly  conspicuous  among 
the  most  influential  loyalists,  to  proceed 
to  England  and  complain  of  his  con 
duct. 

Philip  Calvert,  as  before  stated, 
(p.  83),  had  become  firmly  established 
in  the  government  of  Maryland  in 
1660.  For  some  years  subsequent  to 
this  everything  went  on  prosperously 
ai\d  harmoniously.  The  settlements 
gradually  extended,  and  the  prospect 
of  increase  in  wealth  and  population 
was  bright  and  cheering.  Lord  Balti 
more  endeavored  to  establish 
his  claim  to  jurisdiction  even 
to  the  banks  of  the  Delaware ;  but  he 
found  the  officers  of  the  Duke  of  York 
quite  as  unwilling  to  yield  to  him  in 
this,  as  the  Dutch  had  been  when  they 
were  in  possession  of  New  Netheiiand. 
As  in  Virginia,  the  cultivation  of  to 
bacco  was  the  principal  staple  ;  a  great 
impulse  was  given  to  its  increase  by 
the  introduction  of  slave  labor,  and  a 
proportionable  discouragement  was  the 
result  of  the  navigation  act,  which  cut 
off  a  valuable  revenue  to  the 
colony  from  the  impost  on  to 
bacco  exported  in  Dutch  vessels.  Fol 
lowing  the  example  of  Virginia,  a  tax 
of  two  shillings  per  hogshead  was  laid 


1661. 


1671. 


1676. 


upon  all  tobacco  exported,  one  half  of 
which  went  to  defray  colonial  expenses, 
the  other  half  was  a  personal  revenue 
to  the  proprietary. 

Lord  Baltimore's  wise  and  prudent 
measures  had  rendered  Maryland  more 
successful  to  the  proprietary,  than  any 
other  of  the  American  colonies.  In 
his  old  age  he  obtained  a  handsome 
return  for  his  heavy  outlays. 
At  his  death  the  province  had 
ten  counties,  with  about  16,000  inhabit 
ants,  the  largest  part  of  whom  were 
Protestants.  This  fact  led  to  the  ad 
dressing  of  a  letter,  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Yeo  of  Patuxent,  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  complaining  as  well  of 
the  low  state  of  morals  in  the  colony, 
as  of  the  fact  that  the  clergy  of  the 
Church  of  England  had  no  settled  in 
comes  like  their  Virginia  brethren ; 
consequently  their  position  was  neither 
so  respectable,  nor  so  well  calculated 
to  effect  good,  as  it  ought  to  be.  When, 
after  Lord  Baltimore's  death,  his  suc 
cessor  repaired  to  England,  earnest  at 
tempts  were  made  by  the  Bishop  of 
London — under  whose  jurisdic 
tion  the  colonies  were  placed — 
to  induce  Lord  Baltimore  to  provide 
maintenance  for  the  Church  of  England 
clergy,  a  claim  which  he  was  enabled 
with  some  difficulty  to  resist.  The 
popular  feeling  of  the  time  was,  how 
ever,  so  unfavorable  to  Roman  Catho 
lics,  both  in  England  and  in  the  colony 
itself,  that  an  order  was  sent  out  by 
Charles  II.  to  confine  the  possession  of 
office  to  Protestants  alone,  a  stretch  of 
authority  evidently  unauthorized  by  the 
terms  of  the  charter  granted  to  his 
father,  which  exempted  the  proprietary 


1678. 


CH.  XIV.] 


PROGRESS  OF  MARYLAND. 


121 


from  any  control  on  the  part  of  the 
crown.  This  requisition  of  the  king 
met  with  little  attention  in  Maryland. 

It  was  while  Lord  Baltimore  was  in 
England  that  a  Protestant  excitement 
was  raised  in  the  colony  against  the 
proprietary  on  the  ground  of  his  being 
a  Papist.  Fendal,  the  former  gover 
nor,  took  the  lead  in  this  matter,  he 
being  experienced  in  managing  in  times 
of  civil  commotion.  The  proprietary, 
however,  hastened  his  return,  and  soon 

succeeded  in  putting  an  end  to 
168  !• 

the    insurrection.     Fendal   was 

arrested,  tried,  found  guilty  of  sedition, 
and  banished. 

Although  James  II.  was  an  avowed, 

O  / 

as  Charles  II.  was  a  secret,  Romanist, 
yet  his  accession  was  by  no  means 
favorable  to  the  Roman  Catholic  pro- 


1685. 


prietary  of  Maryland.  On  the  contrary, 
he  was  disposed  to  favor  the 
Quaker  William  Penn,  far  more, 
and  in  the  disputes  about  the  bound 
aries,  Lord  Baltimore  was  compelled 
to  yield  to  his  neighbor's  claims. 
Even  the  charter  of  Maryland,  like 
other  charters  at  the  time,  was  not  safe ; 
and  despite  Lord  Baltimore's  remon 
strances  and  appeals,  a  writ  of  Quo 
Warranto  was  issued  against  it. 
He  hastened  to  England  to  de 
fend  his  rights,  but  before  the  question 
was  settled,  the  abandonment  of  the 
throne  by  James  II.  placed  this  and  all 
other  matters  of  the  kind  on  an  en 
tirely  new  footing.  We  shall  see,  as 
we  proceed,  the  effect  of  the  political 
changes  in  England  upon  the  American 
colonies. 


16§§. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

1630—1690. 

ORIGIN     AND     PEOGEESS     OF     THE     CAEOLINAS. 

Heath's  patent  in  1630  —  Settlements  about  1660  —  The  proprietaries  —  Provisions  of  the  charter  —  Measures 
adopted  towards  the  settlers  —  Albemarle  —  Clarendon  —  Second  charter  —  George  Fox's  preaching  —  The 
"  Grand  Model"  of  John  Locke  —  Outline  of  its  plan  —  Emigrants  under  Sayle  —  Spanish  intrigues  —  Dis 
contents —  Emigration  under  Yeamans's  governorship  —  Proprietaries  dissatisfied  —  Increase  in  population  — 
North  Carolina  affairs  —  Disturbances  for  some  years  —  Seth  Sothel's  career  —  The  buccaneers — Favored  by 
the  Carolinians  —  James  II.  and  the  Quo  Warranto  —  Further  troubles  in  South  Carolina — Sothel  again  — 
Progress  of  North  and  South  Carolina. 


THE  disastrous  results  of  the  attempts 
on  the  part  of  the  French  to  found  a 
colony  on  the  shores  of  Florida  have 
already  been  narrated.  Spain  had 
never  relinquished  her  title  to  that 
region,  yet  she  had  made  no  progress 
in  colonization  beyond  here  and  there 

TOL.  I.— 13 


a  settlement  on  the  coast.  The  efforts 
made  by  Raleigh  and  Gilbert  had  been 
productive  of  no  permanent  result ; 
and  even  the  patent  granted  by 
Charles  I.  to  Sir  Robert  Heath, 
his  Attorney  General,  in  1630,  for  a 
tract  to  the  southward  of  Virginia,  to  be 


1630. 


122 


ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS  OF  THE  CAROLINAS. 


[BK.  I. 


1060. 


1065. 


called  Carolana,  does  not  appear  to  have 
led  to  any  settlement.  Heath's  patent 
was  subsequently  declared  void,  the 
conditions  on  which  it  was  granted  not 
having  been  fulfilled.  Different  points, 
however,  in  this  fertile  region,  were, 
during  the  following  fifteen  or  twenty 
years,  occupied  by  bands  of  emigrants. 
Certain  persons,  suffering  from  religious 
difficulties  in  Virginia,  fled  beyond  her 
limits  and  occupied  a  portion  of  the 
country  on  the  banks  of  the  Chowan, 
north  of  Albemarle  Sound.  A  small 
party  of  adventurers  from  New  Eng 
land  settled  near  the  mouth  of 
Cape  Fear  River,  about  1660; 
but  as  the  land  was  not  found  to  be 
productive,  and  the  neighboring  In 
dians  were  not  well  disposed,  the 
greater  part  of  the  emigrants 
soon  after  returned  home ;  to 
the  honor  of  Massachusetts  it  must  be 
stated,  that  contributions  were  for 
warded,  in  1667,  to  the  relief  of  those 
who  remained,  and  who  had  fallen  into 
great  distress. 

Soon  after  the  Restoration,  a  body 
of  noblemen  of  the  highest  rank,  the 
Earl  of  Clarendon,  Monk,  Duke  of 
Albemarle,  Lords  Berkeley,  Craven, 
and  Ashley,  Sir  George  Cartaret,  Sir 
John  Colleton,  and  Sir  William  Berke 
ley,  governor  of  Virginia,  "excited," 
as  they  declared,  "by  a  laudable  and 
pious  zeal  for  the  propagation 
of  the  Gospel,  begged  a  certain 
country  in  the  parts  of  America  not 
yet  cultivated  and  planted,  and  only 
inhabited  by  some  barbarous  people, 
who  have  no  knowledge  of  God." 
Charles  II.  readily  granted  their  peti 
tion,  and  erected  out  of  the  territory 


south  of  the  Chesapeake  the  new  pro 
vince  of  CAROLINA,  embracing  the 

'  O 

region  from  Albemarle  Sound,  south' 
ward  to  the  River  St.  John's,  and  west 
ward  to  the  Pacific.  The  charter  em 
powered  the  eight  joint  proprietaries, 
named  above,  to  enact  and  publish 
any  laws  which  they  should  judge  ne 
cessary,  with  the  assent,  advice,  and 
approbation  of  the  freemen  of  the 
colony;  to  erect  courts  of  judicature, 
and  appoint  civil  judges,  magistrates, 
and  officers ;  to  erect  forts,  castles,  cities, 
and  towns;  to  make  war,  and,  in  cases 
of  necessity,  to  exercise  martial  law; 
to  build  harbors,  make  ports,  and  en 
joy  customs  and  subsidies,  imposed 
with  the  consent  of  the  freemen,  on 
goods  loaded  and  unloaded.  One  of 
the  provisions  of  this  charter  deserves 
particular  notice.  The  king  authorized 
the  proprietaries  to  allow  the  inhabit 
ants  of  the  province  such  indulgences 
and  dispensations  in  religions  affairs, 
as  they,  i  a  i*;heir  discretion,  should  think 
proper  and  reasonable  :  and  no  person, 
to  whom  such  liberty  should  be  granted, 
was  to  be  molested,  punished,  or  called 
in  question,  for  any  differences  in  specu 
lative  opinions  with  respect  to  religion, 
provided  he  disturbed  not  the  civil  or 
der  and  peace  of  the  community. 

The  first  object  of  the  proprietaries 
naturally  was  to  conciliate  the  settlers 
from  New  England  and  Virginia,  who 
were  already  on  the  ground.  Very 
liberal  terms  were  offered  to  the  former 
of  these,  such  as  a  hundred  acres  of 
land  to  each  free  settler,  liberty  of 
conscience,  a  distinct  and  recognized 
share  in  the  government,  etc. ;  but  for 
reasons  just  now  stated,  the  colony  at 


Cu.  XIV.]          SETTLEMENTS   AT  ALBEMARLE  AND   CLARENDON. 


123 


1664. 


Cape  Fear  did  not  prove  successful,  and 
fresh  emigrants  from  New  England 
were  not  attracted  to  the  new  province. 
Towards  the  Virginia  settlers  on  the 
Sound,  which,  with  the  surrounding 
district,  now  received  the  name  of 
Albemarle,  and  who  were  supposed 
hy  the  proprietaries  to  be  "  a  more  fa 
cile  people"  than  the  New  Englanders, 
Berkeley,  upon  whom  the  juris 
diction  had  been  conferred,  was 
instructed  to  be  somewhat  less  liberal 
AM  his  concessions.  But  to  a  body,  ma 
ny  of  whom  had  fled  malcontent  from 
Virginia,  and  with  whose  temper  he 
was  well  acquainted,  he  judged  it  ex 
pedient  to  behave  with  caution.  Mak 
ing  therefore  the  tenure  of  land  as  easy 
as  possible,  and  appointing  as  governor 
the  popular  William  Drummond,  the 
same  who  afterwards  shared  and  suf 
fered  death  in  Bacon's  rebellion,  he 
made  no  attempt  at  further  interfer 
ence  in  the  concerns  of  the  settlers. 
We  are  sorry  to  say  that  the  noble 
proprietaries  made  no  provision  for  the 
spiritual  interests  of  the  colonists,  or 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  al 
though  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  had 
been  one  of  their  professed  objects  in 
asking  a  grant  of  the  territory. 

Some  planters  from  Barbadoes,  hav 
ing  examined  the  coast  of  Carolina, 
entered  into  an  agreement  with  the 
proprietaries  to  remove  to  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Cape  Fear  River,  near  the 
neglected  settlement  of  the  New  En^- 

o 

landers,      Sir   John  Yeamans,  one  of 
their    number,     was    appointed 

. 

governor  of  the  new  district, 
which  received  the  name  of  Clarendon. 
He  was  especially  directed  to  "  make 


things  easy  to  the  people  of  New  Eng 
land,  from  which  the  greatest  emigra 
tions  were  expected ;"  an  instruction 
which  he  carried  out  so  wisely,  as  soon 
to  incorporate  the  remains  of  the  old 
settlement.  He  also  opened  a  profit 
able  trade  in  boards  and  shingles  with 
the  island  whence  he  had  emigrated, 
and  arranged  the  general  affairs  of  the 
little  colony  with  great  prudence  and  a 
fair  measure  of  success. 

The  proprietaries  of  Carolina,  on  fur 
ther  acquaintance  with  the  geography 
of  that  region,  were  desirous  of  mak 
ing  still  larger  additions  to  their  ter 
ritory.  Accordingly,  in  June,  1665, 
they  obtained  a  second  charter  which 
extended  the  limits  of  Carolina  both 
northwardly  and  southwardly ;  and  by 
an  additional  grant  in  1667,  the 
Bahama  Islands  were  also  con 
veyed  to  the  same  proprietaries.  Ac 
cessions  from  Virginia  and  New  Eng 
land  continued  to  be  made  to  the 
settlement  at  Albemarle  ;  and  under 
Stevens,  who  succeeded  Drummond  as 
governor,  the  first  laws  were 
enacted  by  an  Assembly  com 
posed  of  the  governor  and  council, 
with  twelve  delegates  chosen  by  the 
settlers. 

A  few  years  afterwards,  the  proprie 
taries,  by  a  solemn  grant,  confirmed  the 
settlers  in  the  possession  of  their  lands, 
and  a*ave  them  the  riirht  to  nominate 

O  o 

six  councillors  in  addition  to  the  six 
named  by  the  proprietaries.  About 
the  same  date,  the  famous  George  Fox, 
the  founder  of  the  Quaker  sect,  visited 
the  settlement  at  Albemarle,  and  by  his 
preaching  and  efforts,  he  gave  a  strong 
impulse  to  Quakerism  in  that  vicinity. 


1669. 


124 


ORIGIN   AND   PROGRESS  OF  THE  CAROLlNAS. 


A  settled  form  of  government  for 
the  vast  extent  of  territory  put  in 
charge  of  the  proprietaries,  was  every 
way  desirable.  They  entrusted  the 
drawing  up  of  the  scheme  to  Shaftes- 
bury,  who  called  to  his  aid  the  well 
known  John  Locke.  This  emi 
nent  metaphysician  elaborated 
a  "  Grand  Model,"  which  affords  a  singu 
lar  proof  of  how  little  practical  value 
are  theoretical  attempts  to  arrange  and 
regulate  satisfactorily  the  position  and 
claims  respectively  of  the  governors 
and  governed.  It  was  never  carried 
into  effect,  and  indeed  could  not  be  in 
an  infant  colony.  For  the  sake  of  the 
estimable  author,  however,  we  subjoin 
a  brief  outline  of  its  provisions  : 

"  The  eldest  of  the  eight  proprietors 
was  always  to  be  palatine,  and  at  his 
decease  was  to  be  succeeded  by  the 
eldest  of  the  seven  survivors.  This 
palatine  was  to  sit  as  president  of  the 
palatine's  court,  of  which  he  and  three 
more  of  the  proprietors  made  a  quorum, 
and  had  the  management  and  execution 
of  all  the  powers  in  their  charter. 
This  palatine's  court  was  to  stand  in 
room  of  the  king,  and  give  their  assent 
or  dissent  to  all  laws  made  by  the  legis 
lature  of  the  colony.  The  palatine  was 
to  have  power  to  nominate  and  appoint 
the  governor,  who,  after  obtaining  the 
royal  approbation,  became  his  represen 
tative  in  Carolina.  Each  of  the  seven 
proprietors  was  to  have  the  privilege 
of  appointing  a  deputy,  to  sit  as  his 
representative  in  parliament,  and  to 
act  agreeably  to  his  instructions.  Be 
sides  a  governor,  two  other  branches, 
somewhat  similar  to  the  old  Saxon  con 
stitution,  were  to  be  established — an 


[BK. 

upper  and  lower  House  of  Assembly ; 
which  three  branches  were  to  be  called 
a  parliament,  and  to  constitute  the 
legislature  of  the  coantry.  The  par 
liament  was  to  be  chosen  every  two 
years.  No  act  of  the  legislature  was 
to  have  any  force  unless  ratified  in 
open  parliament  during  the  same  ses 
sion,  and  even  then  to  continue  no 
longer  in  force  than  the  next  biennial 

O 

parliament,  unless  in  the  mean  time  it 
be  ratified  by  the  hands  and  seal  of 
the  palatine  and  three  proprietors. 
The  upper  House  was  to  consist  of  the 
seven  deputies,  seven  of  the  oldest 
landgraves  and  caciques  and  seven 
chosen  by  the  Assembly.  As  in  the 
other  provinces,  the  lower  House  was  to 
be  composed  of  the  representatives 
from  the  different  counties  and  towns. 
Several  officers  were  also  to  be  ap 
pointed,  such  as  an  admiral,  a  secretary. 
a  chief  justice,  a  surveyor,  a  treasurer, 
a  marshal,  and  register;  and  besides 
these  each  county  was  to  have  a  sheriff, 
and  four  justices  of  the  peace.  Three 
classes  of  nobility  were  to  be  estab 
lished,  called  barons,  caciques  and 
landgraves  ;  the  first  to  possess  twelve, 
the  second  twenty-four,  and  the  third 
forty-eight  thousand  acres  of  land,  and 
their  possessions  were  to  be  unalienable. 
Military  officers  were  also  to  be  nomi 
nated,  and  all  inhabitants  from  sixteen 
to  sixty  years  of  age,  as  in  the  times 
of  feudal  government,  when  summoned 
by  the  governor  and  grand  council, 
were  to  appear  under  arms,  and,  in  time 
of  war,  to  take  the  field.  With  re- 
pect  to  religion,  three  terms  of  com 
munion  were  fixed ;  first,  to  belie ve 
that  there  is  a  God ;  secondly  r  that  he 


CH.  XIV.] 


LOCKE'S   "GRAND  MODEL." 


125 


is  to  be  worshipped ;  and  thirdly,  that 
it  is  lawful,  and  the  duty  of  every  man, 
when  called  upon  by  those  in  authority, 
to  bear  witness  to  the  truth,  without 
acknowledging  which  no  man  was  to 
be  permitted  to  be  a  freeman,  or  to 
have  any  estate  or  habitation  in  Caro 
lina.  But  persecution  for  observing 
different  modes  and  ways  of  worship 
was  expressly  forbidden,  and  every 
man  was  to  be  left  full  liberty  of  con 
science,  and  might  worship  God  in  that 
manner  which  lie  in  his  private  judg 
ment  thought  most  conformable  to  the 
Divine  will  and  revealed  Word.  Every 
freeman  of  Carolina  was  declared  to  pos 
sess  absolute  power  and  authority  over 
his  negro  slaves,  of  what  opinion  or 
religion  soever." 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  complicated 
scheme  of  government  proposed  by 
John  Locke,  a  scheme  which,  as  Mr. 
Hildreth  justly  remarks,  "  included  and 
even  exaggerated  some  of  the  worst 
features  of  the  feudal  system,"  and 
which,  when  attempted  to  be  carried 
out,  was  found  to  be  wholly  impracti 
cable.  The  colonists,  meanwhile,  were 
doing  for  themselves  all  that  their  ne 
cessities  required  in  the  way  of  legisla 
tion,  and  were  little  disposed  to  favor 
any  action  which  they  could  dispense 
with  on  the  part  of  the  proprietaries. 
After  long  delay  three  vessels  were 
sent  out  with  a  body  of  emigrants, 
under  the  command  of  Captain  William 
Sayle,  who  had  some  years  previously 
been  employed  in  a  preliminary  explor 
ation.  An  expense  of  £12,000  was  in 
curred  in  providing  necessaries  for  the 
plantation  of  the  colony.  Touching  at 
Port  Royal,  where  they  found  traces 


1C72. 


of  the  fort  erected  by  the  Huguenots, 
they  finally  settled  at  a  spot  between 
two  rivers,  which  they  called  the  Ash 
ley  and  the  Cooper,  the  family  names 
of  Lord  Shaftesbury,  and  where  they 
laid  the  original  foundations  of  Charles 
ton,  whence  they  removed,  however, 
some  years  afterwards,  to  the  more 
commodious  situation  occupied  by  the 
present  city.  Before  this  removal  took 
place,  Sayle  died,  and  was  suc 
ceeded  by  Sir  John  Yeamans, 
governor  of  Clarendon,  who  introduced 
a  body  of  negroes  from  Barbadoes, 
afterwards  recruited  so  largely  that 
they  were  twice  as  numerous  as  the 
whites.  Slave  labor  soon  became  thus 
established  in  Carolina,  to  the  soil  and 
climate  of  which  it  was  peculiarly 
adapted.  In  consequence  of  the  con 
siderable  distance  at  which  the  new 
settlement  was  from  Albemarle,  the 
proprietaries  established  a  separate 
government  over  it ;  and  in  this  way 
arose  the  distinctive  appellations  of 
North  and  South  Carolina. 

The  trials  and  distress  which  attended 
the  first  efforts  of  the  colonists  were 
aggravated  by  the  intrigues  and  assaults 
of  the  Spaniards  at  Fort  Augustine 
They  sent  emissaries  among  the  settlers 
at  Ashley  River,  in  the  hope  of  moving 
them  to  revolt;  they  encouraged  in 
dentured  servants  to  abandon  their 
masters,  and  fly  to  the  Spanish  terri 
tory  ;  and  they  labored  so  successfully 
to  instil  into  the  savage  tribes  the  most 
unfavorable  notions  of  the  English, 
whom  they  hated  as  heretics,  that  these 
deluded  Indians  took  up  arms  to  en 
deavor  to  extirpate  a  race  who  neither 
wished  nor  had  ever  done  them  any 


126 


ORIGIN  AND  PROGRESS   OF  THE  CAROLINAS. 


injury.  Discontent  and  insubordina 
tion,  as  was  but  natural,  were  produced 
by  the  trials  and  hardships  to  which  the 
colonists  were  exposed ;  and  as  might 
be  expected,  it  led  to  various  insur 
rectionary  movements  soon  after  ;  but 
these  were  easily  suppressed  by  the  gov 
ernor.  The  Spanish  garrison  at  Augus 
tine  receiving  intelligence  of  their 

1672. 

dissensions,  a  party  advanced 
from  that  fortress  under  arms,  as  far  as 
the  island  of  St.  Helena,  to  dislodge  or 
destroy  the  settlers;  but  fifty  volun 
teers,  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Godfrey,  marching  against  them,  they 
evacuated  the  island,  and  retreated  to 
their  fort.  During  the  governorship 
of  Sir  John  Yeamans,  two  ship  loads 
of  Dutch  emigrants  from  New  York 
arrived,  and  many  other  Dutch  colon 
ists  soon  after  determined  to  remove. 
The  proprietaries  encouraged  them  in 
this  determination,  and  made  them 
liberal  offers  of  land  and  other  pri 
vileges. 

The  colonists  in  Carolina  were  for 
several  years  dependent  on  the  proprie 
taries  in  England  for  considerable  sup 
plies  of  provisions  and  stores,  and  were 
by  them  liberally  assisted  to  the  extent 
of  several  thousand  pounds;  but  the 
proprietaries  finding,  instead  of  any 
indications  of  repayment  with  a  corre 
sponding  profit,  only  demands  for  fur 
ther  supplies,  became  discouraged  with 
a  result  so  contrary  to  their  sanguine 
expectations.  Mutual  dissatis 
faction  commenced,  which  em 
bittered  all  future  intercourse  between 
the  parties,  although  it  afforded  in 
struction  to  the  colonists  which  was 
very  beneficial,  as  it  led  them  t^  de- 


1677. 


pend  solely  on  their  own  resources. 
The  proprietaries  ascribed  their  dis 
appointment,  in  a  great  measure  to  the 
mismanagement  of  Sir  John  Yeamans, 
who,  early  in  this  year,  was  compelled 
by  the  state  of  his  health  to  lay  aside 
the  duties  of  governor,  a  relief  that  was 
ineffectual  for  the  desired  purpose,  as 
he  did  not  Ions;  survive.  The  factions 

O 

and  confusion  in  which  the  colony  was 
shortly  after  involved,  have  rendered 
the  annals  of  this  period  extremely  per 
plexing,  and  have  very  considerably 
obscured  the  order  and  connection  of 
events.  Yeamans  abdicated  his  office, 
and  the  council  appointed  Joseph  West 
as  his  successor ;  several  changes  oc 
curred  within  a  few  years,  in  the  office 
of  governor.  Between  1C 80  and  1685, 
it  had  changed  hands  five  times,  There, 
was,  however,  a  steady  increase  in  the 
population.  Quite  a  number  of  emi« 
grants  from  England  came  to  Carolina. 

o  o 

and    in    1679.    a   ship   load   of 

1679. 

foreign  Protestants  was  sent  out 

o 

by  Charles  II.  to  introduce  the  culture 
of  the  grape  and  olive,  and  the  breed 
ing  of  silk  worms.  Some  Scotchmen 
also  emigrated,  and  manv  of  the  Hu^ue- 

O  ^ 

nots,  who  migrated  to  America  after 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  settled  along  the 
banks  of  the  Santee. 

After  the  death  of  Stevens,  the  gov 
ernor  of   Albemarle,   or  North   Caro 
lina,  the  Assembly,    in   16*74,   elected 
their  speaker,  Cartwright,  to  the  vacant 
office,  the  limits  of  which*  bling  doubt 
ful  under  the  "  grand  model,"  he  sailed 
for  England,  accompanied  by  the  new 
speaker,  East-church,  to  submit 
the   case    to    the    proprietaries. 
Millar,  a  person  of  eminence  in  the  col- 


On.  XIV.] 


DISTURBANCES   AMONG  THE   COLONISTS. 


127 


oiiy,  had  been  accused  of  sedition,  but 
being  acquitted,  had  also  repaired  to 
London  with  complaints,  and  his  treat 
ment  being  disapproved  of,  he  was  re 
warded  for  his  troubles  with  the  office 
cf  secretary  to  the  colony.  Eastchurch 
being  appointed  governor,  was,  on  his 
return,  delayed  in  the  "West  Indies  by 
a  wealthy  marriage ;  while  Millar  pro 
ceeded  to  execute  his  functions,  and  to 
enforce  the  obnoxious  provisions  of  the 
navigation  act,  which  pressed  heavily 
upon  the  rising  commerce  of  the  plant 
ers.  The  public  discontent  broke  out 
into  an  insurrection,  headed  by  John 
C  ulpepper  ;  Millar  was  imprisoned ;  a 
popular  assembly  established ;  and  when 
Eastchurch  appeared  to  assume  his  gov 
ernment,  the  people  refused  their  sub 
mission.  Confident  in  the  justice  of 
their  cause,  they  sent  Culpepper,  who 
had  been  appointed  by  them  collec 
tor  of  customs,  to  England,  to  obtain 
the  consent  of  the  proprietaries  to  the 
recent  changes ;  but  Millar,  hav- 

16§0.    .  .  . 

ing  in  the  mean  time  made  his 

o 

escape,  charged  Culpepper  as  he,  having 
effected  his  object,  was  about  to  em 
bark,  with  "  treason,"  for  collecting  the 
revenue  without  the  authority  of  the 
king.  It  may  seem  strange,  but  he  was 
defended  from  this  charge  by  no  other 
than  Shaftesbury  himself — then  aiming 
at  popularity — on  the  ground  that  the 
offence  was  not  towards  the  crown, 
but  the  planters  ;  a  plea  so  successfully 
urged  that  Culpepper  was  acquitted  by 
the  jury.  The  proprietaries  finding  it 
useless  to  attempt  to  carry  out 
the  "  model"  by  force,  agreed  to 
a  compromise  with  the  settlers,  pro 
mised  an  amnesty,  and  appointed  a 


16S3. 


10SS. 


new  governor,  Seth  Sothel,  a  man  of 
sordid  character,  who,  during  an  ad 
ministration  of  five  years,  pillaged  both 
the  proprietaries  and  the  colon 
ists,  until  the  Assembly  deposed 
him,  banished  him  for  a  twelvemonth, 
and  compelled  him  finally  to  abjure 
the  government  for  ever. 

During  -he  period  when  the  changes 
in  the  office  of  governor  were  so  frequent 
in  South  Carolina  (1680-85),  the  far- 
famed  buccaneers  appeared  at  Charles 
ton  to  purchase  provisions,  and  whether 
from  fear  or  interest,  the  people,  and 
even  the  governor  himself,  seemed  to 
have  connived  at  and  even  encouraged 
their  visits.  This  dreaded  body  of  free 
booters  had  sprung  up  in  the  West 
India  seas,  where  the  Spaniards  had 
once  destroyed  their  haunts,  but  during 
the  war  with  Spain  they  appeared  anew, 
and  obtained  privateering  commissions 
to  harass  the  commerce  and  attack  the 
cities  of  that  country  in  America; 
armed  with  which  power  they  so  in 
creased  their  numbers  by  desperadoes 
from  every  clime,  and  entered  upon 
such  daring  and  successful  enterprises, 
that  their  exploits  inspired  an  admira 
tion,  with  which,  hoAvever,  a  feeling  of 
terror  was  largely  mingled.  One 

J.G8-A. 

of  their  leaders  had  even  been 
knighted  by  Charles  II.,  and  another 
created  governor  of  Jamaica,  But  the 
horrible  abuses  of  such  a  system  of  li 
censed  outrage  and  plunder  had  sur 
vived  the  occasion  which  led  to  its 
permission,  and  the  peace  with  Spain 
had  withdrawn  from  them  the  coun 
tenance  of  the  English  government, 
who  now  desired  their  suppression. 
But  connivance  at  piracy  was  not  the 


128 


ORIGIN  A^D   PROGRESS  OF  THE  CAROLINAS. 


[B*.  I. 


only  indication  of  a  loose  code  of  mo 
rality  among  the  settlers.  They  per 
sisted  in  carrying  on  a  border  warfare 
with  the  Indians,  and  selling  the  cap 
tives  in  the  West  Indies,  in  spite  of 
the  remonstrances  of  the  proprietaries, 
who  found  the  breach  between  them 
selves  and  the  colonists  becoming  every 
year  wider. 

The  proprietaries  of  Carolina  were 
naturally  anxious  to  conciliate  James 
[I.  in  regard  to  their  charter ;  but  in 
asmuch  as  the  colonists  mani 
fested  quite  as  little  willingness 
as  the  New  Englanders  to  submit  to 
the  collection  of  revenue  and  the  en 
forcing  the  acts  of  trade,  the  king  or 
dered  a  Quo  Warranto  to  issue  against 
the  proprietaries. 

Amid  the  contending  parties,  the 
one  in  favor  of  the  absolute  control  of 
the  proprietaries,  the  other  contending 
for  a  local  and  independent  legislation, 
Governor  Morton,  unable  to 
satisfy  either,  was  shortly  su 
perseded  by  Colleton,  under  whose  ad- 


1G§6. 


ministration  the  dispute  broke  out  into 
an  open  quarrel.  In  vain  did  he  pro 
duce  a  copy  of  the  "grand  model,"  with 
its  numerous  titles  and  elaborate  pro 
visions,  for  the  acceptance  of  the  As 
sembly  ;  they  insisted  that  they  had 
only  accepted  that  modification  of  it 
originally  proposed  to  them,  and  drew 
up  another  body  of  laws  in  substitution. 
In  vain  did  he  attempt  to  enforce  the 
payment  of  the  quit-rents  due  to  the 
proprietaries,  and  issue,  as  a  last  expe 
dient,  a  proclamation  of  martial  law. 
In  the  midst  of  these  disturbances,  the 
noted  Sothel,  lately  banished  from  Al- 
bemarle,  appeared  on  the  field.  He  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  opposition  ; 
a  new  Assembly  was  called ; 
Colleton  was  deposed  and  ban 
ished  ;  and  Sothel  was  installed  in  his 
place.  Notwithstanding  these  difficul 
ties,  the  progress  of  the  Carolines  was 
steady  and  effective,  and  both  the  Nor 
thern  and  Southern  settlements  were 
securely  planted,  with  the  reasonable 
prospect  of  a  prospei  ous  future. 


1690. 


Cu.  XV.] 


THE  YOUTH   OF   WILLIAM  PENN. 


129 


CHAPTEE    XV. 

1661  —  1688, 

PENN     AND     PENNSYLVANIA. 

William  Penn  — His  education  and  early  career  —  Points  in  his  character  —  PENNSYLVANIA  —  Terms  of  he  charter 
—  Settlers  on  the  ground  —  Proposals  to  emigrants —  Course  pursued  towards  the  Indians —  Frame  of  govern 
ment —  Provisions  —  Quit-claim  from  the  Duke  of  York  —  Penn's  voyage  to  New  York — Freemen  called  to 
gether  —  Regulations  agreed  upon —  Code  of  laws  —  Boundary  question  —  Interview  with  the  Indians  —  Penn's 
intercourse  with  the  natives — Philadelphia  founded  —  Meeting  of  the  legislative  body — Its  acts  —  Revenue 
voted  the  proprietary  —  Prosperity  of  the  colony — Penn  returns  to  England  —  Enjoys  favor  of  James  II. — 
Vexatious  trials  and  difficulties  with  the  colonists  —  The  result  —  Printing  press  —  High  school — The  lower 
counties  on  the  Delaware — Penn  deprived  of  his  administration. 


THE  name  of  WILLIAM  PENN  is  one 
of  the  most  eminent  in  American  co 
lonial  history,  and  well  deserves  the 
esteem  and  respect  with  which  it  has 
been,  and  is,  regarded  by  philanthro 
pists  and  patriots.  This  remarkable 
man  was  the  only  son  of  Admiral  Penn, 
distinguished  during  the  protectorate 
of  Cromwell  by  the  conquest  of  the 
Island  of  Jamaica,  and  afterwards  by  his 
conduct  and  courage  during  the  war 
with  Holland,  in  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.,  with  whom  and  his  brother,  the 
Duke  of  York,  he  was  a  great 
favorite.  Young  Penn  was  en 
tered  as  a  gentleman  commoner  at  Ox 
ford  at  the  period  when  the  Quakers, 
in  the  midst  of  dislike  and  opposition 
from  all  sects  and  parties,  persisted  in 
the  propagation  of  their  offensive  tenets. 
Through  the  earnestness  of  one  of  their 
itinerant  preachers,  the  son  of  the  admi 
ral  became  converted  to  the  doctrines 
of  the  new  sect,  and  entering  upon  an 
enthusiastic  advocacy  of  his  new  views, 
he  was  fined  and  expelled  from  the 
University.  The  exasperated  old  ad- 

Vor..  I.— 19 


1001. 


miral,  his  father,  at  first  beat  him  and 
turned  him  out  of  doors,  but  afterwards 
sent  him  to  make  the  tour  of  Europe, 
in  the  hope  that  mingling  more  freely 
with  the  great  world  might  effect  the 
cure  of  his  eccentric  enthusiasm.  His 
travels  undoubtedly  tended  both  to  en 
large  his  mind  and  to  give  additional 
suavity  to  his  mariners. 

On  his  return  to  London  for  the 
purpose  of  studying  the  law  at  Lincoln's 
Inn,  he  was  considered  quite  "  a  mod 
ish  fine  gentleman."  "The  glory  of 
the  world,"  he  says,  "overtook  mo, 
and  I  was  even  ready  to  give  up  my 
self  unto  it ,"  but  his  deep  sense  of 
the  vanity  of  the  world,  and  the  "irre- 
ligiousness  of  its  religions,"  which  the 
preaching  of  the  itinerant  Quaker  had 
produced,  was  aroused  from  temporary 
slumber  by  his  providential  encounter 
with  the  same  individual,  on  the  oc 
casion  of  a  journey  to  Ireland,  and  he 
determined  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  these 
advocates  of  brotherly  love  and  im 
partial  toleration.  "God  in  his  ever 
lasting  kindness,"  thus  he  declares, 


130 


PENN  AND   PENNSYLVANIA. 


[BK. 


"  guided  my  feet  into  this  path  in  the 
flower  of  my  youth,  when  about  two 
and  twenty  years  of  age."  At  once  he 
entered  upon  that  career  of  preaching 
his  beloved  doctrines,  which,  in  the  face 
of  many  trials,  he  long  continued  to 
follow  both  at  home  and  abroad.  Im 
prisoned  in  Ireland,  he  was  enlarged 
only  to  be  received  on  his  return  to 
England  with  animosity  and  derision, 
and  a  fresh  ebullition  of  rage  from 
his  indignant  father,  who,  for  the  sec 
ond  time,  expelled  him  from  his  home. 
But  the  spirit  of  Penn  was  too  high  and 
calm  to  be  intimidated  or  exasperated. 
Menaces  and  promises  were  alike  em 
ployed  in  vain.  "  Tell  my  father,"  he 
said,  after  having  been  sent  to  the 
Tower,  "that  my  prison  shall  be  my 
grave  before  I  will  budge  a  jot,  for  I 
owe  my  conscience  to  no  mortal  man. 
I  have  no  need  to  fear.  God  will  make 
amends  for  all."  He  remained  many 
months  in  confinement,  from  which  he 
was  at  length  released  through  the 
influence  of  the  Duke  of  York,  the 
friend  of  his  father  as  well  as  himself. 
The  high  spirited  old  admiral  was,  on 
his  death  bed,  fully  reconciled  to  his 
son,  and  committed  him  and  his  claims 
on  the  government  to  the  good  offices 
of  the  Duke  of  York,  with  whom  Penn 
was  quite  a  favorite,  and  on  terms  of 
the  closest  intimacy. 

Some  years  before  Penn  entered 
directly  upon  the  great  work  with 
which  his  name  is  indissolubly  unit 
ed,  he  had  been  called  upon  to  take 
1674  an  act^ve  mterest  in  the  affairs 
of  his  fellow  Quakers  in  New 
Jersey.  He  had  done  this  with  so  much 
prudeuc.p..  and  had  on  various  occasions 


ICSl. 


shown  so  much  wisdom,  and  discretion 
that  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  was 
Booked  up  to  with  unusual  deference 
and  respect  both  at  home  and  in  Amer 
ica.  His  father  had  bequeathed  to 
him  a  claim  against  the  government  for 
.£16,000.  As  it  was  almost  hopeless 
to  expect  the  liquidation  of  this  debt 
from  a  king  like  Charles  II.,  Penn  be 
came  desirous  of  obtaining  in  lieu  of  it 
a  grant  of  American  territory  ;  a  wish 
that  his  influence  with  the  Duke  of 
York  and  the  leading  courtiers  at  length 
enabled  him  to  realize.  "This  day,"  he 
observes,  in  a  letter  dated  Janu 
ary  5th,  1681,  "after many  wait 
ings,  watchings,  solicitings,  and  disputes, 
my  country  was  confirmed  to  me  under 
the  great  seal  of  England,  with  large 
powers  and  privileges,  by  the  name  of 
PENNSYLVANIA,  a  name  the  king  gave  it 
in  honor  of  my  father.  I  chose  New 
Wales,  being  a  hilly  country,  and  when 
the  secretary,  a  Welshman,  refused  to 
call  it  New  Wales,  I  proposed  Sylvania, 
and  they  added  Penn  to  it,  though  I 
much  opposed  him,  and  went  to  the 
king  to  have  it  struck  out.  He  said 
'twas  past,  and  he  would  take  it  upon 
him  ;  nor  could  twenty  guineas  move 
the  under  secretary  to  alter  the  name, 
for  I  feared  it  should  be  looked  on  as 
a  vanity  in  me,  and  not  as  a  respect  in 
the  king  to  my  father,  as  it  really  was. 
Thou  mayst  communicate  my  grant," 
he  adds,  "to  my  friends,  and  expect 
shortly  my  proposals.  'Tis  a  dear  arid 
just  thing,  and  my  God,  that  has  giver; 
it  me  through  many  difficulties,  will,  J 
believe,  bless  and  make  it  the  seed  of  a 
nation.  I  shall  have  a  tender  care  to  the 
government,  that  it  be  well  laid  at  first." 


CH.  XV.J 


PENN'S  FRAME  OF  GOVERNMENT. 


131 


The  charter  differed  but  little  from 
that  of  Maryland :  it  created  Perm 
"true  and  absolute  lord"  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  with  ample  powers  of  govern 
ment  ;  but  "  the  advice  and  consent  of 
the  freemen  of  the  province"  were  ne 
cessary  to  the  enactment  of  laws.  A 
veto  was  reserved  to  the  crown,  and 
to  Parliament  the  right  of  levying  du 
ties  and  taxes. 

There  were  already  within  the  limits 
of  Pennsylvania  a  considerable  number 
of  Dutch  and  Swedish  settlers.  Penn 
accordingly,  in  April  of  this  year  (1681,) 
sent  out  the  royal  proclamation,  con 
stituting  him  lord  proprietor,  by  the 
hands  of  his  kinsman,  William  Mark- 
ham  ;  and  to  engage  the  good  will  of 
these,  he  tells  them  "  that  they  are  now 
fixed  at  the  mercy  of  no  governor  that 
comes  to  make  his  fortune  great ;  that 
they  shall  be  governed  by  laws  of  their 
own  making,  and  live  free,  and,  if  they 
will,  a  sober  and  industrious  people." 
"  I  shall  not  usurp  the  right  of  any," 
he  continues,  "  nor  oppress  his  person. 
God  has  furnished  me  with  a  better 
resolution,  and  has  given  me  His  grace 
to  keep  it."  Markham  was  also  autho 
rized  to  arrange  the  question  of  boun 
daries  with  the  proprietary  of  Mary 
land. 

In  England,  meanwhile,  (May,  1G81), 
there  were  proposals  issued  for  the 
sale  of  the  lands,  at  the  rate  of  forty 
shillings,  or  about  $10  the  hundred 
acres,  subject,  however,  to  a  per 
petual  quit-rent  of  one  shilling  for 
every  hundred  acres.  A  company  was 
formed,  and  three  vessels  set  sail  in 
July,  with  a  body  of  emigrants  for  the 
shores  of  the  Delaware — carrying  out 


instructions  for  building  the  new  city, 
which  Penn  desired  might  resemble  a 
green  and  open  country  town.  For  the 
first  time,  probably,  the  Indians  found 
themselves  addressed  in  the  lanoruafje 

O          O 

of  genuine  philanthropy  and  good  will, 
as  brethren  of  the  great  family  of  man, 
not  as  heathen.  "The  great  God," 
thus  he  wrote  to  their  sachems,  "  had 
been  pleased  to  make  him  concerned 
in  their  part  of  the  world,  and  the  king 
of  the  country  where  he  lived  had 
given  him  a  great  province  therein  ; 
but  he  did  not  desire  to  enjoy  it  with 
out  their  consent ;  he  was  a  man  of 
peace,  and  the  people  whom  he  sent 
were  of  the  same  disposition,  and  if 
any  difference  should  happen  between 
them,  it  might  be  adjusted  by  an  equal 
number  of  men  chosen  on  both  sides." 
Early  in  1682,  Penn  issued  his  "Frame 
of  Government,"  wherein  he  purposed 
to  leave  to  himself  and  his  suc 
cessors  "  no  power  of  doing  mis 
chief — that  the  will  of  one  man  may 
not  hinder  the  good  of  the  whole  coun 
try;  for  liberty  without  obedience  is 
confusion,  obedience  without  liberty  is 
slavery."  The  Assembly,  which  was  to 
consist,  first,  of  all  the  freemen,  after 
wards,  of  delegates,  never  more  than  five 
hundred  nor  less  than  two  hundred  free 
men,  were  to  elect  a  council  of  seventy- 
two  members,  one  third  to  go  out  arid  be 
replaced  annually,  over  whom  the  pro 
prietary  or  his  deputy  was  to  preside 
and  enjoy  a  triple  vote.  This  council 
was  not  only  invested  with  tbo  ex 
ecutive  power,  but  was  also  authorized 
to  prepare  bills  for  presentation  to  the 
Assembly.  In  addition,  a  body  of 
forty  "fundamental  laws,"  was  agreed 


16S2. 





132 


PENN   AND   PENNSYLVANIA. 


upon  by  Penn  and  the  emigrants,  who 
proposed  to  settle  in  Pennsylvania. 

In  order  to  prevent  all  future  pre 
tence  of  claim  on  the  part  of  the  Duke 
of  York,  or  his  heirs,  Penn  obtained 
of  the  Duke  his  deed  of  release  for  it ; 
and,  as  an  additional  territory,  he  pro 
cured  of  hini  also  his  right  and  interest 
in  that  tract  of  land,  which  was  at  first 
called  the  territories  of  Pennsylvania, 
afterwards  "the  three  lower  counties 
on  the  Delaware." 

Every  preliminary  arrangement  hav 
ing  been  completed,  Penn  set  sail,  ac 
companied  by  a  hundred  emigrants, 
and  during  the  year  was  followed  by 
more  than  twenty  ships,  all  of  which 
arrived  in  safety.  His  own  voyage 
was  long  and  disastrous ;  the  small 
pox  broke  out  on  board,  and  cut  off 
thirty  of  the  passengers.  At  length, 
toward  the  end  of  October,  the  ship 
entered  the  broad  and  majestic  Del 
aware,  and  came  to  an  anchor  at 
Newcastle.  As  soon  as  the  news  of 
Penn's  arrival  was  spread  abroad,  the 
magistrates  and  settlers  nocked  to^e- 

o  O 

ther,  to  greet  him  at  the  court-house ; 
his  title-deeds  were  produced ;  and 
he  conciliated  the  assembled  multitude 
with  promises  of  civil  and  religious 
freedom.  Continuing  his  ascent  of  the 
river,  he  landed  at  Upland,  or  Chester, 
where  he  found  a  plain,  simple,  in 
dustrious  population,  composed  of  Swe 
dish  Lutherans  and  Quakers,  who  had 
established  themselves  in  a  country 
which,  from  the  purity  of  the  air  and 
water,  the  freshness  and  beauty  of  the 
landscape,  and  the  rich  abundance  of 
all  sorts  of  provisions,  he  declared,  in 
his  enthusiasm,  that  "an  Abraham, 


Isaac,  and  Jacob  would  be  well  con 
tented  with."  Markham  had  already 
commenced  the  erection  of  a  mansion 
house  for  Penn  some  distance  further 
up  the  river,  nearly  opposite  the  pres 
ent  city  of  Burlington. 

Early  in  the  month  of  December, 
1682,  having  paid  a  visit  to  his 
friends  in  New  Jersey,  and  on  Long 
Island,  Penn  returned  to  Chester  to 
give  his  earnest  attention  to  the  set 
tling  the  government,  arranging  the 
question  of  boundaries,  and  propitiating 
the  good  will  of  the  natives.  Instead 
of  all  the  freemen,  as  Penn's  writ  of 
summons  had  requested,  only  twelve 
delegates  from  each  of  the  six  counties 
appeared :  eighteen  of  these  were  con 
stituted  a  council  and  the  remainder 
an  Assembly.  In  future,  too,  the  As 
sembly  was  to  consist  of  thirty-six 
members  only,  six  from  each  county, 
to  be  chosen  annually,  with  a  council 
composed  of  three  members  for  each 
county,  to  hold  their  seats  for  three 
years,  one  being  chosen  each  year.  The 
restriction  of  the  governor  to  three 
votes  was  dropped,  and  the  governor 
and  council  were  to  possess  jointly  the 
right  of  proposing  laws.  This  enlarge 
ment  of  the  proprietary's  power,  ac 
cording  to  Penn's  account  of  the  matter, 
was  the  spontaneous  movement  of  the 
freemen  themselves ;  hence  he  was  not 
guilty,  as  some  twenty  years  later  it 
was  charged  upon  him,  of  using  undue 
influence  and  violating  his  original  pro 
mise.  A  code  of  laws  was  enacted 
nearly  resembling  those  already  agreed 
upon  in  England  between  the  emi 
grants  and  Penn.  Its  broad  outlines 
were  on  the  whole  worthy  of  his  phi 


CH.  XV.] 


THE  BOUNDARY  QUESTION. 


133 


lanthropic  professions.  Universal  tol 
eration  was  proclaimed ;  each  sect  was 
to  support  itself.  Every  freeman  had 
the  right  of  voting  and  holding  office 
— the  only  reservation  being  the  ne 
cessity  of  a  belief  in  God  and  absti 
nence  from  labor  on  the  Lord's  Day. 
Trial  by  jury  was  established.  Murder 
alone  was  punishable  with  death.  Pri 
mogeniture,  with  a  trifling  reservation, 
was  abrogated.  Marriage  was  regarded 
as  a  civil  contract.  Two  wise  and  im 
portant  provisions,  must  not  be  over 
looked — every  child  was  to  be  taught 
some  useful  trade,  thus  tending  to 
prevent  future  vagabondage  and  crime 
— while  the  prisons  were  to  be  also 
workhouses,  where  the  offender  might 
be  not  only  punished,  but  if  possible, 
reclaimed  again  to  the  community. 

Penn  having  proceeded  to  New 
castle,  found  the  question  of  boundaries 
to  be  a  very  difficult  and  perplex 
ing  subject.  Many  of  the  charters  had 
been  granted  in  ignorance  of  the  pre 
cise  geography  of  the  country,  an  am 
biguity  which  occasioned,  naturally 
enough,  serious  disputes.  Such  was 
partly  the  case  with  that  of  Penn's, 
who  earnestly  contended  for  his  de 
sired  line  of  boundary,  as  being  of  the 
last  importance  to  the  future  welfare 
of  his  colonists.  "  It  was  not  the  love 
or  need  of  the  land,  but  the  water," 
and  the  facility  of  access*  and  harbor 
ing,  that  induced  him  to  press  his 
claims,  and,  as  Lord  Baltimore  af 
firmed,  to  encroach  within  the  limits 
of  his  own  grant.  Of  the  merits  of  this 
dispute,  which  is  in  truth  somewhat  ob 
scure,  different  views  have  been  taken 
by  different  historians.  Very  possibly 


both  parties  believed  themselves  to 
be  in  the  right,  and  after  a  warm  and 
unsatisfactory  debate,  the  negotiation 
was  for  the  present  broken  off;  it  was 
afterwards,  in  the  following  year,  re 
sumed  in  England  with  considerable 
acrimony,  and  terminated  in  the  as 
signment  to  Penn  of  half  the  territory 
between  the  banks  of  the  Delaware 
and  the  Chesapeake. 

The  famous  traditionary  interview 
with  the  Indians  under  the  great  elm 
of  Shakamaxon,  commemorated  by  the 
pencil  of  West,  was  held  probably  not 
long  after  Penn  and  Lord  Baltimore 
had  met  with  reference  to  the  bound 
ary  question.  It  was  a  scene  of  deep 
and  touching  interest ;  and  though  it  is 
true  that  Penn  enjoyed  advantages 
over  the  older  States  in  that  the  Del- 
awares  were  a  feeble  tribe,  yet  his  sin 
cerity  and  good  will  cannot  be  doubt 
ed,  and  we  know  that  no  Quaker  blood 
was  ever  shed  in  contests  with  the  ab 
origines  of  that  region. 

The  good  understanding  produced  by 
this  interview  was  carefully  kept  up. 
During  his  stay  in  the  country  Penn 
often  met  the  Indians  in  friendly  inter 
course.  He  partook  of  their  simple 
fere,  and  mingled  in  their  athletic 
games.  On  one  occasion,  as  he  himself 
informed  Oldmixon,  he  was  involved 
in  an  awkward  dilemma,  from  which 
he  escaped  by  the  exercise  of  his  usual 
prudence.  Having  visited  an  Indian 
sachem,  he  had  retired  for  the  night, 
when  he  was  startled  by  the  entry  of 
the  daughter  of  his  host,  who,  thus 

O  '  ' 

instructed  by  her  father,  came  and 
placed  herself  by  his  side,  in  com 
pliance  w'th  certain  ideas  Df  hospital- 


134 


PENN  AND   PENNSYLVANIA. 


[Bic.  1. 


ity,  found  also  among  other  uncivil 
ized  tribes.  Shocked  and  embarrassed 
though  he  was,  Penn  wisely  refrained 
from  rebuke,  but  quietly  taking  no 
notice  of  his  visitor,  she  after  a  while 
returned  to  her  own  place  of  rest. 

The  tract  at  the  confluence   of  the 

Schuylkill   and  the    Delaware   having 

appeared  to  Penn   very  desirable  for 

the  location   of  his   capital   city,  that 

locality  was  fixed  upon  early  in 

*3'  1683.  It  was  entitled  Phila 
delphia,  to  show  forth  to  men  the 
brotherly  love  which  the  Quakers  ad 
vocated  and  endeavored  to  practice. 
Its  buUdings  rapidly  increased,  and  by 
the  end  of  the  year  eighty  houses  were 
erected. 

In  the  midst  of  active  preparation 
for  the  future  growth  of  the  new  city, 
iii  March  of  this  year  (1683),  Penn 
summoned  his  newly  constituted  legis 
lature  to  meet  him  in  Philadelphia. 
This  Assembly  accepted  a  frame  of  go 
vernment  modelled  after  the  late  act 
of  settlement,  with  a  proviso  that  no 
changes  should  be  made  except  by 
the  joint  consent  of  the  proprietary 
and  six  parts  in  seven  of  the  freemen 
of  the  province.  By  this  frame  it  was 
ordained,  beside  the  provisions  on  these 
points  before  named,  that  to  prevent 
lawsuits,  three  arbitrators,  to  be  called 
peace-makers,  should  be  chosen  by  the 
county  courts,  to  hear  and  determine 
small  differences  between  man  and  man ; 
that  factors  wronging  their  employers 
should  make  satisfaction,  and  one  third 
over ;  that  every  thing  which  excites  the 
people  to  rudeness,  cruelty,  and  irrelig- 
ion  should  be  discouraged,  and  severely 
punished  ;  that  no  one,  acknowledging 


16§4. 


one  God,  and  living  peaceably  in  society, 
should  be  molested  for  his  opinions  or 
his  practice,  or  compelled  to  frequent 
or  maintain  any  ministry  whatever. 
A  revenue  was  also  voted  to  the  pro 
prietary,  to  be  raised  by  a  duty  on 
imports  and  exports ;  unfortunately, 
however,  Penn  having  consented  to 
suspend  the  receipt  of  it  for  a  year  or 
two,  it  was  presently  lost  altogether. 
The  Assembly  of  the  next  year 
(1684)  voted  £2,000  towards 
the  expenses  of  the  government,  to  be 
raised  by  a  tax  on  spirits. 

At  his  mansion  on  Pennsbury  manor, 
about  twenty  miles  above  Philadelphia, 
Penn  enjoyed  for  a  season,  the  sooth 
ing  tranquillity  and  beauty  of  nature, 
and  had  the  gratification  of  beholding 

<-?  O 

the  unexampled  increase  of  his  colony. 
The  news  of  its  prosperity  had  been 
carried  to  Europe,  and  many  settlers 
from  Germany  and  Holland,  of  whom 
he  and  Barclay  had  made  converts 
during  his  tour  in  those  countries,  came 
to  seek  an  asylum  from  the  storms  of 
Europe,  while  numerous  Quakers  con 
tinued  to  arrive  from  England.  He 
might  well  boast  that  he  "had  led  the 
greatest  colony  into  America  that  ever 
any  man  did  upon  a  private  credit,  and 
the  most  prosperous  beginnings  that 
ever  were  in  it,  are  to  be  found  amon" 

'  O 

us." 

But  the  active  spirit  of  Penn  prompt 
ed  him  to  return,  for  a  while  at  least, 
to  England.  Accordingly,  in  August, 
1684,  he  set  sail  for  home,  having 
firmly  planted  and  organized  his  pro 
vince  ;  and  leaving  judicial  affairs  in 
the  hands  of  five  judges  chosen  from 
the  council,  with  Nicholas  Moore  for 


Cu.  X.V.1 


TROUBLES  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT. 


135 


chief  justice.  The  executive  adminis 
tration  was  committed  to  the  council, 
Lloyd  being  president,  and  Markham 
secretary.  So  rapid  had  been  the  in 
crease  of  Pennsylvania  that  when  Penn 
returned  to  England,  it  contained  al 
ready  twenty  settlements  and  seven 
thousand  inhabitants. 

James  II.  ascended  the  throne  soon 

after  Penn's  arrival,  and  he  continued 

to  enjoy  the  same  favor  at  the  hands  of 

the  king  which  he  had  received  from 

the  Duke  of  York.     It  may  be 

worth  noting,   that  the  charter 

of  Pennsylvania  was  the  only  one  in 

America    against   which   a  Quo  War- 

ranto  was  not  issued. 

While  Penn  was  in  England,  he 
was  subjected  to  a  great  deal  of  vex 
ation  and  disappointment.  The  same 
scene  of  contention  was  renewed  in 
Pennsylvania  that  had  often  before 
taken  place  between  distant  proprie 
taries  and  popular  bodies  dissatisfied 
with  the  limited  authority  that  they 
were  constantly  aiming  to  enlarge.  Dis 
puted  questions  arose  between  the  go 
vernor  and  council  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  Assembly  on  the  other,  in 
which  Penn  necessarily  became 
involved.  Besides  being  subject 
to  continual  encroachments  upon  his 
authority,  he  complained  with  reason, 
that  the  quit-rents  to  which  he  looked 
as  a  return  for  his  heavy  outlays  in 
founding  the  colony,  were  appropriated 
in  part  to  the  public  service,  for  which 

the  Assembly  refused  to  vote  a 
168§,         .      .  J  .  . 

suitable     provision.      He    was 

also   dissatisfied  with   the   conduct  of 


!«§«. 


the  council,  which  he  superseded  by  five 
commissioners,  charged  with  executive 
functions,  but  soon  after  appointed 
Blackwell,  an  old  officer  of  Cromwell, 
and  at  the  time  resident  in  New  Eng 
land,  who  sternly  insisted  upon  the 
maintenance  of  proprietary  rights  ;  yet 
to  so  little  purpose,  that  after  another 
period  of  dissension,  Penn,  anxious,  to 
use  his  own  words,  "to  settle  the  go 
vernment  so  as  to  please  the  gene 
rality,"  determined  "  to  throw  all  into 
their  hands,  that  they  might  see  the 
confidence  he  had  in  them,  and  his 
desire  to  give  them  all  possible  con 
tentment."  Thus  did  the  council,  at 
that  time  entirely  popular  in  its  consti 
tution,  become,  early  in  1690,  invested 
with  the  chief  authority,  subject  to  the 
sole  proviso  of  a  veto  on  the  part  of 
the  proprietary.  Meanwhile,  a  printing 
press,  the  third  in  America,  was,  about 
1687,  set  up  at  Philadelphia,  Penn 
also  in  1689  gave  a  charter  to  a  public 
high  school. 

The  downfall  of  James  was  fatal  to 
Penn's  favor  at  court,  and  subjected 
him  to  severe  trials.  The  old  settlers 
on  the  Delaware  became  jealous  of  the 
newly-created  colony ;  dissensions  and 
quarrels  arose  ;  and  ended  in  the  esta 
blishment  of  the  three  lower  counties, 
by  Penn's  consent,  under  a  separate 
government  of  their  own,  of  which 
Markharn  became  the  head.  Penn 
himself,  however,  was  very  soon  de- 
pri  ved,  by  an  order  of  the  Privy  Coun 
cil,  of  the  administration  of  colonial 
affairs  in  both  the  Delaware  counties 
and  also  in  Pennsylvania. 


136 


FRENCH  COLONIAL  ENTERPRISE. 


fttt  L 


CHAPTER     X  VI. 

1626—1689, 

FRENCH     COLONIAL     ENTERPRISE. 

New  France  —  Missionary  abors  of  Franciscans  and  Jesuits  —  Extent  of  their  explorations  in  the  west  and  east  — 
Charlevoix's  account  —  ISTo  success  with  the  Iroquois  —  War  with  the  Five  Nations  —  A  truce  —  Labors  of  the 
Jesuits  —  War  again  —  Company  of  New  France  given  up  —  Marquette  and  the  Mississippi  —  La  Salle  —  En 
terprise  and  activity  —  Proceeds  to  the  Mississippi  —  Various  fortune  —  Descends  the  Mississippi  to  its  mouth  — 
LOUISIANA  —  La  Salle  goes  to  France  —  Expedition  —  Fatal  termination — Affairs  in  Canada  —  De  la  Barre  — 
Denonville  —  War  with  the  Five  Nations  —  French  attempts  at  colonization  on  the  whole  unsuccessful  —  Con 
trast  with  English  colonies  —  Accession  of  William  III.  —  War  in  consequence. 


TOWAKDS  the  close  of  our  first  chap 
ter,  we  gave  a  brief  account  of  the  pro 
gress  of  navigation  and  settlement  by 
the  French  in  Canada  and  its  contiguous 
waters.  Resuming  the  narrative  from 
that  point,  we  call  the  attention  of  the 
reader  to  some  interesting  facts  in  con 
nection  with  the  efforts  of  those  enter 
prising  Frenchmen  by  whose  energy 
and  perseverance  their  country  was 
enabled  to  lay  claim  to  that  vast  region 
of  interior  America  known  in  general 
terms  as  NEW  FRANCE. 

The  determined  hostility  of  the 
Mohawks  having  prevented  the  French 
from  occupying  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Hudson,  and  cut  off  all  progress 
towards  the  south,  the  Franciscan 
missionaries  who  had  accompanied 
,™,.  Champlain  to  Canada  were  led 

1G2C. 

to  penetrate  along  the  nor 
thern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario  till  they 
reached  the  rivers  flowing  into  Lake 
Huron.  When  Canada  was  restored 
to  the  French  in  1632,  the  Jesuits  ob 
tained  the  privilege  of  occupying  the 
vast  missionary  ground  which  New 
France  laid  open  to  their  efforts ;  and 


it  must  be  confessed  by  even  the  stern 
est  Protestant  that  their  labors  for  the 
cause  which  they  had  in  hand  have 
rarely  been  surpassed  by  missionaries 
in  any  age  or  in  any  part  of  the  world. 
Two  Jesuit  missionaries,  Brebeuf  and 
Daniel,  guided  by  a  party  of  Huron 
Indians,  set  out  for  the  far-distant 
wigwams  of  their  tribe.  Paddling  up 
the  St.  Lawrence,  they  ascended  its 
great  tributary,  the  Ottawa,  surmount 
ing  its  numerous  falls  and  rapids,  and 
by  carrying  their  canoes  through  tan 
gled  pathways  in  the  forest,  as  do  the 
"voyageurs"  of  the  present  day,  and 
enduring  every  species  of  hardship, 
they  reached,  after  a  journey  of  three 
hundred  miles,  the  eastern  projection  of 
Lake  Huron,  converted  one  of  the 
leading  chiefs,  and  succeeded  in  esta 
blishing  six  missions  among  the  rude 
but  impressible  savages  on  its  borders. 
"Now  and  then,"  says  Mr.  Hildreth, 
"one  of  these  fathers  would  make  a 
voyage  to  Quebec  in  a  canoe,  with 
two  or  three  savages,  paddle  in  hand, 
exhausted  with  rowing,  his  feet  naked, 
his  breviary  hanging  about  his  neck, 


CH.  XVI.] 


MISSIONARY   EFFORTS. 


137 


his  shirt  unwashed,  his  cassock  half- 
torn  from  his  lean  body,  but  with  a 
face  full  of  content,  charmed  with  the 
life  he  led,  and  inspiring  by  his  air  and 
his  words  a  strong  desire  to  join  him 
in  the  mission."  The  news  of  these  re 
markable  successes  being  transmitted 
to  France  created  great  excitement,  and 
led  to  many  efforts  in  behalf  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  religion  in 
Canada.  A  Jesuit  college  was  estab 
lished  at  Quebec,  as  was  soon  after  a 
hospital  for  the  benefit  of  both  French 
and  Indians,  and  a  convent  of  Ursuline 
nuns. 

Montreal,  which  was  in  the  highway 
to  the  newly  established  missions,  was 
solemnly  consecrated  to  the  Virgin  Ma 
ry,  grew  up  into  a  religious  station, 
and  became  the  nucleus  of  a  future 
city.  Fresh  bodies  of  Jesuit  mission 
aries  continued  to  arrive,  and  emulate 
the  zeal  of  their  predecessors.  Among 
these  Raymbault,  and  his  com 
panion  Jogues,  coasting  the 
shore  of  Lake  Huron,  reached  the  dis 
tant  country  of  the  Chippewas,  at  the 
foot  of  the  falls  of  St.  Mary.  Worn 
out  with  hardships,  Raynibault  again 
reached  Quebec,  but  only  to  die  ;  while 
his  companion,  descending  the  St.  Law 
rence  with  his  Huron  converts,  was  beset 
by  a  party  of  the  hostile  Mohawks,  and 
forced  to  run  the  gauntlet  three  succes 
sive  times,  between  rows  of  tormentors, 
his  Indian  companions  perishing 
in  his  sight  by  the  tomahawk 
or  the  flames.  Jogues,  having  escaped, 
made  his  way  to  the  Mohawk  valley, 
where  he  was  hospitably  received  by  the 
Dutch  commandant  at  Rensselaerwyck. 
Similar  sufferings  were  inflicted  upon 

VOL.  I. —20 


1641. 


1613. 


1640. 


such  of  the  missionaries  as  fell  into  the 
power  of  this  savage   tribe.     A   like 
success  attended  the  missionary  efforts 
toward  the  east,  where,  at  a  very  early 
period,  before  the  landing  of  the  pil 
grim  fathers,  the  French  had  labored 
to  convert  the  natives  to  Chris 
tianity.     Dreuillettes,   the   mis 
sionary  explorer,  having  reported  fa 
vorably,  measures  were  taken  by  the 
Jesuits  to  establish  a  permanent  mission. 
"It  is  certain,"  says  Charlevoix — as 
quoted  by  Hildreth — in  speaking  on 
this  subject,  "  as  well  from  the  annual 
relations  of  those  happy  times,  as  from 
the  constant  tradition  of  that  country, 
that  a  peculiar  unction  attached  to  this 
savage  mission,  giving  it  a  preference 
over  many   others  far   more   brilliant 
and  more  fruitful.   The  reason  no  doubt 
was,  that  nature,  finding  nothing  there 
to  gratify  the  senses  or  to  flatter  vanity 
— stumbling  blocks  too  common  even 
to  the  holiest — grace  worked  without 
obstacle.     The  Lord,  who  never  allows 
himself  to  be  outdone,  communicates 
himself  without  measure  to  those  who 
sacrifice   themselves   without   reserve ; 
who,  dead  to  all,  detached  entirely  from 
themselves  and  the  world,  possess  their 
souls  in  unalterable  peace,  perfectly  es 
tablished  in  that  child-like  spirituality 
which  Jesus  Christ  has  recommended 
to  his  disciples  as  that  which  ought  to 
be  the  most  marked  trait  of  their  cha 
racter."     "Such  is  the  portrait,"  adds 
Charlevoix,    "drawn  of  the   missiona 
ries  of  New  France  by  those  who  knew 
them   best.     I   myself  knew  some  of 
them  in  my  youth,  and  I  found  them 
such  as  I  have  painted  f\iem,  bending 
under  the  labor  of  a  long  apostleship, 


138 


FRENCH  COLONIAL  ENTERPRISE. 


[UK.  i. 


with  bodies  exhausted  by  fatigues  and 
broken  with  age,  but  stiU  preserving 
all  the  vigor  of  the  apostolic  spirit,  and 
I  have  thought  it  but  right  to  do  them 
here  the  same  justice  universally  done 
them  in  the  country  of  their  labors."* 

The  French  missionaries  were  not, 
however,  favored  with  any  success 
among  the  Iroquois  or  Five  Nations, 
but  met  with  unyielding  and  fierce  op 
position.  These  Five  Nations  or  allied 
communities,  comprising  the  Senecas, 
the  Cayugas,  the  Onondagas,  the  Onei- 
das,  and  the  Mohawks,  occupied  the 
country  between  the  banks  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  Hudson.  Against 
these  tribes,  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
Canada,  Champlain  had  joined  the  Al- 
gonquins  and  Hurons  in  a  warlike 
expedition,  an  impolitic  interference, 
which  was  punished  by  these  implaca 
ble  savages  with  an  inveterate  hostility 
to  his  country  and  their  allies.  They 
menaced  the  infant  settlement  of  Que 
bec,  and  waylaid,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
Jesuit  missionaries,  until  the  French 
were  compelled  to  sue  for  peace.  No 
thing  therefore  was  so  much  desired  as 
their  conversion.  During  a  temporary 
pacification,  Jogues  set  out  again  on  this 
perilous  mission,  from  which  he  never 
again  returned,  being  put  to  death  soon 
after  his  arrival  among  the  Mohawks. 

The  Dutch  having  supplied  the  Iro 
quois  with  fire-arms,  the  war  broke  out 
with  increased  ferocitv;  the  mission- 

»/     ' 

aries  were  cruelly  tortured  and 

put  to  death,  and  the  terrified 

colonists  lived  in  daily  dread  of  mas- 


*Hildreth  s  "History  of  the  United  States?  voL  ii., 
p.  86. 


sacre.  Even  Quebec  itself  was  not  safe. 
The  Huron  missions  were  entirely  bro 
ken  up,  and  the  French  became  so  dis 
pirited  as  to  ask  aid  from  New  Eng 
land  against  the  Indians ;  but  we  are 
sorry  to  say  it  was  denied.  After 

J        .    J  .       1651. 

two  or  three  years,  the  Iroquois 
consented  to  a  peace  (1654).  The  oc 
casion  was  embraced  for  fresh  efforts 
by  the  Jesuits  to  plant  the  cross  among 
their  vengeful  adversaries,  and  this 
time,  happily,  with  somewhat  better 
success.  Some  Christian  Hurons,  who 
had  become  captives  to  the  Mohawks, 
paved  the  way  for  the  reception  of  Le 
Moyne,  while  Mesnard  repaired  to  the 
Cayugas,  and  Chaumont  and  Dablon 
visited  the  other  tribes.  At  first,  their 
success  seemed  to  be  great,  but  they 
soon  discovered  that  they  had  only 
lulled,  not  subdued,  the  passions  of 
these  ferocious  warriors,  and  that 
their  lives  hung  by  a  single 
thread.  Some  Frenchmen  had  ventur 
ed  to  establish  a  colony  on  the  banks 
of  the  Oswego ;  collisions  took  place 
with  Indians ;  and  a  third  time 
war  again  burst  forth.  The  dis 
tress  was  now  so  extreme,  that  the  Com 
pany  of  New  France,  reduced  to  a  mere 
handful,  resigned  in  1662,  to  the  king, 
a  colony  which  they  were  unable  to 
defend,  by  whom  it  was  transferred  to 
the  new  "West  India  Company,  just 
then  formed  by  Colbert.  The  protec 
tion  implored  by  the  Jesuits  was  im 
mediately  afforded,  and  a  French  regi 
ment  commanded  by  Tracy,  who  was 
appointed  viceroy,  repaired  to 
Quebec,  a  measure  which  at 
length  effectually  restrained  the  per 
severing  hostility  of  the  Five  Nations 


1656. 


1665. 


CH.  XVI.] 


MARQUETTE  AND  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 


139 


Under  this  favorable  change  of  af 
fairs,  missionary  efforts  were  renewed. 
Allouez  coasted  Lake  Superior,  and 
cwo  years  afterward,  in  company  with 
Dablon  and  Marquette,  established  the 
mission  of  St.  Mary,  the  first  settlement 
of  white  men  within  the  limits 
of  our  north  western  States.  Va 
rious  missions  were  established  and  ex 
plorations  made.  Fired  by  the  rumors 
of  a  great  river  in  the  west,  Mar 
quette  was  presently  sent  by  the  inten- 
dant  Talon  to  search  it  out.  Accompa 
nied  by  Joliet,  a  merchant  of  Quebec, 
with  five  Frenchmen,  and  two  Al^on- 

O 

quin  guides,  they  ascended  on  the  10th 
of  June,  1673.  to  the  head  of  Fox  River, 
and  carrying  their  canoes  across  the 
intervening  ground  which  separates  the 
eastern  from  the  western  streams,  they 
launched  them  again  upon  the  waters 
of  the  Wisconsin,  where  their  Indian 
conductors,  fearful  of  advancing  any 
farther,  left  them  to  make  their  way 
alone.  For  seven  days  they  floated 
down  the  stream,  when  at  length,  to 

/  O          / 

their  great  joy,  they  emerged 
upon  the  mighty  waters  of  the 
MISSISSIPPI,  that  "  great  river"  —  for 
so  its  name  imports — rolling  through 
vast  verdant  prairies  dotted  with  herds 
of  buffalo,  and  its  banks  overhung  with 
primitive  forests.  With  the  feelings  of 
men  who  have  discovered  a  new  world, 
they  passed  the  mouths  of  the  Des 
Moines,  the  Illinois,  the  Missouri,  and 
the  Ohio,  keeping  on  as  far  as  the 
Arkansas.  They  landed  to  visit  the  as 
tonished  Indians  upon  the  shores,  who 
received  them  with  hospitality,  and 
invited  them  to  form  a  permanent  set 
tlement.  As  they  floated  on  day  after 


1674. 


day,  they  were  greeted  by  richer  sce 
nery  and  by  a  different  climate;  they 
were  fanned  by  the  soft  breezes  and 
delighted  by  the  luxuriant  vegetation 
of  the  south  ;  the  sombre  pines  of  the 
Canadian  forests  were  exchanged  for 
the  cotton  wood  and  palmetto  of  the 
tropics,  and  they  began  to  suffer  from 
the  heat  and  the  mosquitoes.  Mar 
quette,  satisfied  that  the  river  must 
empty  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  fear 
ful  of  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  Spaniards,  reluctantly  turned 
his  steps  back  again  towards  Canada. 
Leaving  Marquette  at  Green  Bay,  at 
his  missionary  work,  Joliet  carried  the 
news  to  Quebec.  Marquette's  health 
soon  after  gave  way,  and  while  en 
gaged  in  missionary  efforts  among  the 
Illinois,  he  died,  May  18th,  1675,  at 
the  early  age  of  thirty-eight.* 

Robert  Cavalier  De  La  Salle,  an  en 
ergetic  young  French  adventurer,  who 
had  evinced  unusual  sagacity  and  met 
with  great  success  in  his  explorations 
on  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie,  was  roused 
by  the  news  of  the  discovery  of  the 
"great  river."  Leaving  his  fur  trade, 
his  fields,  and  his  many  advantages  in 
connection  with  Fort  Frontenac — at 
the  outlet  of  Ontario — La  Salle  hurried 
to  France,  and  received  from  Colbert 
a  commission  to  proceed  with 
further  discoveries  on  the  Mis 
sissippi.  Accompanied  by  the  Che 
valier  Tonti,  a  veteran  Italian,  as  his 
lieutenant,  he  returned  to  Frontenac, 
built  a  small  bark,  with  which  he  as 
cended' the  Niagara  River  to  the  foot  of 

*  See  Mr.  J.  G.  Shea's  interesting  and  valuable 
work,  "  Discovery  anl  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley,"  p.  Ixxj. 


16T§. 


140 


FRENCH  COLONIAL  ENTERPRISE. 


.   1. 


1679. 


the  rapids,  below  the  great  fall ;  and 
above  them,  near  the  shore  of  Lake 
Erie,  began  the  construction  of  the 
first  risked  vessel  that  ever  sailed  upon 

oO  A 

the  western  waters.  In  this  little  bark 
of  sixty  tons,  called  the  "  Griffin,"  ac 
companied  by  Tonti  and  a  band  of  mis 
sionaries  and  fur  traders,  La  Salle  tra 
versed  Lake  Erie,  and  passed  through 
Detroit,  or  "  the  strait"  which  separates 
it  from  the  limpid  sheet  to  which  he 
gave  the  appropriate  name  of  St.  Clair, 
and  sailing  across  Lake  Huron, 
and  by  the  straits  of  Mackinaw, 
into  Lake  Michigan,  at  length  came  to 

O          /  O 

an  anchor  in  Green  Bay. 

From  this  point,  after  sending  back 
the  vessel  for  fresh  supplies,  La  Salle 
and  his  associates  proceeded  in  canoes 
across  Lake  Michigan  to  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Joseph's  River,  where  Al- 
louez  had  established  a  station,  and  to 
which  was  now  added  a  trading  post, 
called  the  Fort  of  the  Miamis.  Await 
ing  in  vain  the  return  of  the  "  Griffin," 
which  had  been  wrecked  on  her  way 
back,  La  Salle  and  Tonti,  with  a  body 
of  their  followers,  crossed  over  to  the 
Illinois  River,  where,  some  distance 
below  Peoria,  he  erected  another  fort. 
There  were  still  no  tidings  of  the  miss 
ing  vessel,  and  to  proceed  without  sup 
plies  was  impossible  ;  murmurs  arose 
among  his  disheartened  followers,  and 
detaching  Tonti  and  the  Recollect  Hen- 
nepin  to  continue  their  explorations, 
and  having  named  his  new  fort  "  Creve- 
coeur,"  in  memory  of  his  deep  and  bitter 
vexations,  La  Salle  set  out  with 
only  three  followers,  making  his 
way  back  across  the  vast  wilderness 
which  spread  between  him  and  Fronte- 


1680. 


nac,  where,  though  reported  dead,  he 
gathered  fresh  materials  for  the  prose 
cution  of  his  enterprise.  His  agents, 
meanwhile,  were  engaged  in  carrying 
out  his  instructions.  Hennepin  ex 
plored  the  Mississippi  to  the  Falls  of 
St.  Anthony,  and  returning  afterwards 

*/  /  O 

to  France,  published  there  an  account 
of  his  travels.  *  Tonti,  less  fortunate, 
who  had  been  directed  to  establish 
himself  among  the  Illinois,  was  driven 
thence  by  the  hostility  of  the  Iroquois, 
and  was  obliged  to  take  refuse  at 

Cj  O 

Green  Bay.  Their  indefatigable  leader 
at  length  returned  with  provisions  and 
reinforcements,  collected  his  scattered 
men,  and  constructed  a  capacious  barge. 
in  which  he  descended  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Formal  pos 
session  of  the  mouth  of  the  river  was 
taken  for  France,  April  9th,  1G82,  and 
the  name  LOUISIANA  was  conferred  up 
on  the  newly  acquired  territory. 

La  Salle  having  returned  to  France 

O 

speedily  aroused   an   ardent   desire  to 

colonize  the  fertile  region  which 

he  had  discovered.    Accordingly 

he    soon  got   together   an   expedition, 

consisting  of  a  frigate  and  three  other 

ships,  on  board  of  which  were  two  hun 

dred  and  eighty  persons  in  all, 

ecclesiastics,  soldiers,  mechanics 

and  emigrants,  and  as  speedily  as  pos 


1683. 


1681 


*  Mr.  Sparks  has  clearly  shown  that  Hennepin  is 
not  to  be  relied  on.  After  mentioning  severa. 
things,  he  says: — "  These  facts  added  toothers  are 
perfectly  conclusive,  and  must  convict  Father  Hen 
nepin  of  having  palmed  upon  the  •world  a  pretended 
discovery  and  a  fictitious  narrative. .  .  Notwithstand 
ing  this  gross  imposition,  we  must  allow  him  justice 
on  other  points.  There  seems  no  good  reason  to 
doubt  the  general  accuracy  of  his  first  book,  nor  oi 
his  second,  previously  to  his  departure  from  Fort 
Crevecceur." — "Life  of  De  La  Salle,"  p.  91. 


CH.  XVI.] 


THE  MURDER  OF  DE  LA  SALLE. 


141 


srble  got  under  way  to  plant  a  colony 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  But 
no  success  attended  the  enterprise.  La 
Salle.  falling  into  serious  disputes  and 
even  quarrels  with  Beaujeu,  who  had 
command  of  the  fleet  under  him,  missed 
the  entrance  of  the  river,  and  in  Feb 
ruary,  1685,  was  compelled  to  land  his 
dispirited  and  despairing  company  at 
some  point  on  the  coast  of  Texas.  In 
the  midst  of  disaffection  and  treachery 
and  death,  La  Salle  did  not  lose  heart : 
with  characteristic  intrepidity,  in  April, 
1686,  he  set  out  with  twenty  men  to 
find  the  Illinois,  where  Tonti  was  await 
ing  him,  but  without  avail :  he  was  com 
pelled  to  return  to  the  fort  in  Octo 
ber.  Yet  as  his  only  hope  lay  in  ex 
tricating  himself  and  his  followers — 
less  than  forty — by  an  overland  pas 
sage,  early  in  January  he  set 
out  again  with  seventeen  men 
on  this  forlorn  enterprise.  Three  of 
the  party  conspired  to  commit  mur 
der  ;  they  slaughtered  Moragnet,  Nika 
and  Saget,  and  when  La  Salle  came  to 
inquire  after  the  missing  men,  Duhaut 
discharged  his  musket  from  ambush 
and  shot  the  unhappy  commander 
through  the  head.  This  was  on  the 
19th  of  March,  1687.  Good  Father 
Anastase  dug  his  grave,  buried  him,  and 
erected  a  cross  over  his  remains.*  La 
Salle  "  died  some  where  about  the  spot 
where  now  stands  the  town  of  Washins:- 

o 

ton,"  says  Mr.  Gayarre,  "which  town 
owes  its  foundation  to  some  of  that  race 
to  which  belonged  his  avenger,  and 
the  star  spangled  banner  now  proudly 
waves  where  the  first  pioneer  of  civili- 

*  Sparks's   "Life  of  Robert  Cavalier  De  La,  Salle," 
p    158. 


16§7. 


zation  consecrated  with  his  blood  the 
future  land  of  liberty."* 

The  murderers  of  La  Salle,  quarrel 
ling  over  the' spoils  of  their  leader,  met 
themselves  with  the  same  retributive 
fate  at  the  hands  of  some  of  their  <isso- 
ciates,  of  whom  Joutel,  the  narrator  of 
these  dismal  events,  with  no  more  than 
five  others,  made  their  way  to  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi,  where  they  fell  in 
with  two  Frenchmen,  left  there  by 
Tonti,  on  his  return  from  a  vain  search 
after  his  old  commander.  The  twenty 
men  left  behind  at  the  fort  which  had 
been  built  by  La  Salle,  also  perished ; 
and  thus,  after  the  most  indefatigable 
efforts,  and  the  most  brilliant  prospects 
of  success,  the  colony  of  La  Salle  came 
to  an  untimely  end — sad  termination  to 
the  career  of  its  energetic  and  gallant 
founder.f 

Affairs  in  Canada,  meanwhile,  had  be 
come  very  much  embroiled.  Disputes 
having  arisen  between  Frontenac  the 
governor  and  the  Intendant,  De  la 
Barre  was  sent  out  in  1682  to  succeed 
Frontenac.  Dongan,  the  governor  of 
New  York,  although  charged  by 

1C83. 

James  II.  to  maintain  a  good  un 
derstanding  with  the  French,  used  his 
influence  secretly  to  inflame  the  dissen- 

*  Gayarre's  "  History  of  Louisiana,"  vol  i.,  p.  28. 

f  The  Mississippi,  however,  "  was  soon  constantly 
travelled  by  the  adventurous  trader,  and  still  more 
adventurous  missionary.  A  Spanish  vessel,  under 
Andrew  de  Pes,  entered  the  mouth  soon  after;  but, 
on  the  second  of  March,  1699,  the  Canadian  Iber- 
ville,  more  fortunate  than  La  Salle,  entered  it  with 
Father  Anastasius  Douay,  who  had  accompanied  that 
unfortunate  adventurer  on  his  last  voyage.  Mission 
aries  from  Canada  soon  came  to  greet  him,  and  La 
Sueur  ascended  the  Mississippi  to  St.  Peter's  River, 
and  built  a  log  fort  on  its  blue-earth  tributary.  Hence 
forward  all  was  progress,"  etc.— Shea's  "  Discovery 
and  Exploration  of  the  Mississippi  Valley ,"p.  xxxix. 


142 


FRENCH  COLONIAL  ENTERPRISE. 


[BK.  I. 


sions  between  them  and  their  enemies. 
De  la  Barre,  after  convoking  an  as 
sembly  to  take  into  consideration  the 
perilous  condition  of  the  province, 
and  after  making  some  abortive  at 
tempts  at  negotiation,  marched  to 
attack  the  Iroquois  at  the  head  of 
a  considerable  force;  but  on  the  way 
his  troops  were  so  reduced  and  weak 
ened  by  sickness,  arising  from  the  mias 
ma  of  the  marshes  and  forests,  that  he 
was  compelled  to  conclude  a  humilia 
ting  peace  with  the  foes  over  whom  he 
had  anticipated  a  signal  triumph.  At 
his  desire  the  chiefs  of  the  Five  Nations 
repaired  to  his  camp,  but  his  endeavor 
to  overawe  them  met  with  no  success 
whatever.  On  the  contrary  one  of 
these  fierce  warriors  is  represented  as 
having  broken  out  in  the  following  spi 
rited  speech,  personifying  De  la  Barre 
as  Onondio,  and  the  English  governor 
as  Corlear : — "  Hear,  Onondio,  I  am  not 
asleep,  my  eyes  are  open,  and  the  sun 
which  enlightens  me  discloses  to  me  a 
great  captain  who  speaks  as  if  he  were 
dreaming.  He  says  that  he  only  came 
to  smoke  the  pipe  of  peace  with  the 
Onondagas.  But  Garrangula  says  that 
he  sees  the  contrary,  that  it  was  to 
knock  them  on  the  head,  if  sickness  had 
not  weakened  the  arms  of  the  French. 
We  carried  the  English  to  our  lakes  to 
trade  with  the  Utawawas,  as  the  Adir- 
ondacks  brought  the  French  to  our 
forts  to  carry  on  a  trade  which  the 
English  say  is  theirs.  We  are  born 
free;  we  neither  depend  on  Onondio 
nor  Corlear.  We  may  go  where  we 
please,  and  buy  and  sell  what  we  please. 
If  your  allies  are  your  slaves,  use  them 
as  such — command  4hem  to  receive  no 


other  than  your  people.  Hear,  Onon 
dio  ! — what  I  say  is  the  voice  of  all  the 
Five  Nations.  When  they  buried  the 
hatchet  in  the  middle  of  the  fort,  they 
planted  the  tree  of  peace  in  the  same 
place,  that  instead  of  a  retreat  for  sol 
diers,  it  might  be  a  meeting-place  for 
merchants.  Take  care  that  your  sol 
diers  do  not  choke  the  tree  of  peace, 
and  prevent  it  from  covering  your 
country  and  ours  with  its  branches.  I 
tell  you  that  our  warriors  shall  dance 
under  its  leaves,  and  never  dig  up  the 
hatchet  to  cut  it  down,  till  their  brother 
Onondio  or  Corlear  shall  invade  the 
country  which  the  Great  Spirit  has 
given  to  our  ancestors." 

The  Marquis  de  Denonville  succeeded 
De  la  Barre  in  1684,  and  brought  with 
him  some  five  or  six  hundred 
soldiers.     A  fort  was  built  at 
Niagara  to  cover  the  route  from  Canada 
through  Lake  Erie,  and  also  as  a  check 
upon  the  hostile   Iroquois,  a   measure 
which  helped  to  increase  the  jealousy 
and  ill  will  of  the  English.    An  expedi 
tion  was  undertaken  by  Denon- 

1687. 

ville  against  the  Senecas ;  but 
although  they  penetrated  and  ravaged 
the  country,  yet  the  Iroquois  in  turn 
threatening  invasion,  the  French  were 
glad  to  purchase  peace  by  giving 
up  their  fort  and  promising  to 
return  the  captives  they  had  treach 
erously  got  into  their  power.  A  short 
interval  only  of  peace  followed.  The 
Iroquois  advanced  on  Montreal, 
killed  many,  and  made  prisoners 
of  many  more,  and  spread  terror  even 
as  far  as  Quebec. 

On  the  whole,  Canada  could  not  be 
said  to  have  flourished.     Although  the 


ic§§. 


16  §9. 


OH.    XVI.J 


FRENCH  AND   ENGLISH  COLONIAL  SUCCESS. 


143 


French,  had  done  wonders  in  the  way 
of  exploration,  and  in  contending  with 
Indian  ferocity  and  valor,  greatly  be 
yond  anything  to  which  the  English 
had  been  exposed,  yet  the  climate  and 
soil  were  unfavorable,  the  government 
was  a  military  despotism,  the  people 
had  no  share  in  public  affairs,  and  the 
population  at  most  did  not  exceed 
twelve  thousand.  Acadie  was  even  still 
more  feeble,  the  total  of  its  inhabitants 
being  less  probably  than  three  thou 
sand.  Yet,  seeing  that  the  eastern  In 
dians,  both  those  of  the  peninsula  and 
those  of  the  main  land,  were  wholly 
under  French  influence,  it  added  ma 
terially  to  the  strength  of  the  French 
in  that  vicinity. 

The  contrast  between  New  France 
and  the  English  colonies  was  at  this 
date  quite  striking ;  for  the  latter  oc 
cupying  territory  more  favorably  situate 
along  the  coast,  and  every  year  devel 
oping  new  energies  and  stimulated  to 
new  enterprises,  were  steadily  advan 
cing  in  prosperity  and  ability  to  under 
stand  and  maintain  their  just  rights. 
The  French,  on  the  other  hand,  .though 
ever  brave  and  chivalrous,  had  not  in 
their  colonies  the  elements  of  strength 
and  permanency  which  were  character 


istic  of  their  rivals  in  the  New  World.* 
At  this  date,  according  to  Mr.  Ban 
croft,  the  twelve  oldest  States  of  our 
Union  "contained  not  very  many  be 
yond  two  hundred  thousand  inhabi 
tants,  of  whom  Massachusetts,  with 
Plymouth  and  Maine,  may  have  had 
forty-four  thousand;  New  Hampshire 
and  Rhode  Island,  with  Providence, 
each  six  thousand;  Connecticut,  from 
seventeen  to  twenty  thousand ;  that  is, 
in  all  New  England,  seventy-five  thou 
sand  souls;  New  York,  not  less  than 
twenty  thousand ;  New  Jersey,  half 
as  many  ;  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware, 
perhaps  twelve  thousand ;  Maryland 
twenty-five  thousand;  Virginia,  fifty 
thousand  or  more ;  and  the  two  Caro- 
linas,  which  then  included  the  soil  of 
Georgia,  probably  not  less  than  eight 
thousand  souls."f 

Such  was  the  condition  and  state  of 
affairs  when  William  III.  mounted  the 
English  throne,  and  the  American  colo 
nies  were  involved  in  the  war  that  soon 
raged  between  France  and  England. 

*  This  contrast  is  eloquently  set  forth  by  Mr.  Park- 
man,  "History  of  the  Conspiracy  of  PoiJux?  p.  41. 
etc. 

f  Bancroft's  '  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol. 
ii.,  p.  450. 


FROM 


DECLAKATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE, 


1689-1776. 


HISTORY 


OF  THB 


UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA. 


CHAPTER     I. 

1689—1697. 

NEW     ENGLAND      AND     NEW     YORK:      FIRST     INTERCOLONIAL      WAR. 

Accession  of  William  III.  —  Its  important  effects  —  War  with  France  —  Intercolonial  war  —  Seizure  of  Andros  at 
Boston  —  Course  pursued  by  Massachusetts,  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  New  York,  on  the  occasion  of  William's 
accession  —  "Protestant  Revolution"  in  Maryland  —  Jacob  Leisler  —  His  career  and  judicial  murder  —  Open 
ing  of  the  war  —  Attack  on  Dover  —  Frontenac  governor  of  Canada  —  Destruction  of  Schenectady  —  War  party 
sent  against  Salmon  Falls  —  Narrative  of  a  sufferer  —  Attempt  at  conquest  of  Canada  —  Entirely  unsuccessful — 
Effects — Paper  money  —  Domestic  tragedies  in  New  York  and  Massachusetts  —  New  Charter  of  Massachusetts 
—  Witchcraft  delusion  —  Development  and  Progress  —  Salem  the  principal  scene  —  Strange  history  —  Frontier 
warfare  —  Oyster  River,  Pemaquid  fort,  Haverhill  disasters  —  Brave  Mrs.  Dustin —  Last  year  of  the  war  — Peace 
of  Ryswick. 


1689. 


THE  accession  of  "William  III.  is  a 
marked  event  in  the  history  of  Eng 
land,  and  more  or  less  directly 
had  an  important  bearing  upon 
the  development  and  progress  of  the 
American  colonies.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  there  was  then  a  crisis  in 
the  affairs  of  England  which  had  to  be 
met;  a  state  of  things  which  required 
all  the  combined  wisdom  and  energy  of 
the  patriots  and  statesmen  of  that  day, 
to  save  the  country  from  the  tremen 
dous  evils  which  threatened  to  crush 
and  destroy  every  vestige  of  constitu 
tional  freedom.  It  was  then  to  be  de 


termined,  whether  despotism  together 
with  the  dynasty  of  the  ill-fated  Stuarts, 
or  the  liberty  of  law  and  order  in  the 
supremacy  of  the  legislature,  was  to  pre 
vail.  The  crisis  was  met,  and  the  ques 
tion  was  settled  for  all  future  time ;  and 
the  dethronement  of  James  II.  and 
the  election  of  the  Prince  of  Orange 
to  the  throne  declared  to  be  vacant, 
both  established  the  parliament  as  su 
preme  arid  overturned  for  ever  all  pre 
tence  on  the  part  of  the  sovereign  to 
irresponsible  exercise  of  royal  prero 
gative  and  power.  "  By  resolving  that 
James  II.  had  abdicated "  says  Mr. 


148 


FIRST  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


II. 


Bancroft,  "the  representatives  of  the 
English  people  assumed  to  sit  in  judg 
ment  on  its  kings.  By  declaring  the 
throne  vacant,  they  annihilated  the 
principle  of  legitimacy.  By  disfran 
chising  a  dynasty  for  professing  the 
Roman  faith,  they  not  only  exerted  the 
power  of  interpreting  the  original  con 
tract,  but  of  introducing  into  it  new 
conditions.  By  electing  a  king,  they 
made  themselves  his  constituents  ;  and 
the  parliament  of  England  became  the 
fountain  of  sovereignty  for  the  English 
world." 

But  although  the  accession  of  Wil 
liam  was  of  so  great  importance  to  the 
mother  country,  the  colonies  did  not 
share,  to  the  extent  which  they  hoped 
and  expected,  in  the  benefits  of  a  change 
of  rulers.  "  By  strengthening  the  parlia 
ment" — to  use  Mr.  Hildreth's  language 
— "  and  increasing  the  influence  of  the 
manufacturing  class,  the  English  Revo 
lution  exposed  the  American  plantations 
to  increased  danger  of  mercantile  and 
parliamentary  tyranny,  of  which,  in  the 
acts  of  trade,  they  already  had  a  fore 
taste — a  tyranny,  far  more  energetic, 
persevering,  grasping,  and  more  to  be 
dreaded  than  any  probable  exercise  of 
merely  regal  authority."  The  policy  of 
William  and  the  parliament  was  not 
favorable  to  the  best  interests  of  the  co 
lonies;  and  it  was  not  long  before  it 
was  discovered  that  the  being  rid  of  the 
despotism  of  royal  prerogative  afford 
ed  no  guarantee  against  the  despotism 
of  parliament.  William  with  very  high 
ideas  of  prerogative  in  his  own  case, 
does  not  seem  ever  to  have  abated  any 
of  the  pretensions  and  claims  of  his  pre 
decessors  on  the  throne  ;  and  although 


it  is  true  that  the  toleration  of  all  Pro 
testant  sects  became  an  established  line 
of  policy  as  well  in  the  colonies  as  at 
home,  it  is  equally  true  that  the  bitter 
ness  of  party  rancor  against  the  Roman 
Catholics  was  greatly  increased  by  the 
dethronement  of  James.  The  war  with 
France,  which  broke  out  soon  after  Wil 
liam's  accession,  roused  to  their  highest 
pitch  both  national  and  religious  differ 
ences  ;  and  the  colonies,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  became  involved  in  a  ruinous 
conflict  with  their  French  neighbors 
in  Canada,  entailing  upon  themselves 
very  heavy  expenses  and  debts,  and 
causing  a  fearful  sacrifice  of  human  life. 

Both  parties  were  at  the  first  eager 
for  the  strife.  New  England,  not  less 
than  the  French  colonists,  entertained 
schemes  of  conquest  and  advancement. 
The  latter  purposed  to  monopolize  the 
western  fur  trade,  secure  uninterrupted 
passage  through  Lake  Erie  to  the  Mis 
sissippi,  and  cut  off  the  English  from 
the  cod  fishery  on  the  banks  of  New 
foundland;  while  the  former  hoped, 
and  apparently  not  without  reason,  to 
be  able  to  deprive  the  French  of  all  the 
advantages  which  they  possessed,  and 
even  expel  them  entirely  from  the  coun 
try.  Both  parties,  too,  nationally  and 
religiously  enemies,  were  prepared  to 
engage  in  the  bloody  strife  with  un- 
pitying  hearts  and  unmistakable  fe 
rocity. 

Before  entering,  however,  upon  the 
details  of  the  intercolonial  wars,  we  ask 
the  reader's  attention  to  several  matters 
which  preceded  these  in  the  regular 
order  of  time. 

Early  in  April  of  this  year  (1689), 
news  of  the  landing  of  William  of 


Cn.  I.] 


EFFECTS   OF  WILLIAM'S   ACCESSION. 


149 


Orange  in  England  readied  Boston  by 
way  of  Virginia.  Outraged  by  the  high 
handed  measures  of  Andros,  the  news 
caused  great  excitement.  Andros,  af 
fecting  to  disbelieve  it,  undertook  to 
imprison  those  who  brought  the  infor 
mation.  But  the  spirit  of  the  people 
was  fully  roused.  On  the  18th  of  April, 
as  the  commander  of  the  Rose  frigate, 
which  the  governor  had  in  the  harbor, 
was  stepping  on  shore  he  was  seized  by 
the  crowd.  The  sheriff,  endeavoring 

'  O 

to  disperse  the  mob,  was  similarly 
treated.  The  whole  town  was  in  com 
motion.  The  militia  gathered  together 
and  formed  under  their  old  leaders  ;  the 
ship's  barge  was  intercepted,  as  it  came 
off  to  rescue  Andros,  who  had  fled  for 
safety  to  the  fort,  against  which  the 
guns  of  the  battery  were  turned  by  the 
people.  Andros,  obliged  to  submit,  was 
forthwith  conducted  to  prison.  Simon 
Bradstreet,  now  at  the  advanced  age 
of  eighty-seven,  who  had  already  hon 
orably  distinguished  himself  in  office, 
happening  to  appear  at  this  conjunc 
ture,  was  pronounced  governor  by  gen 
eral  acclamation.  This  sudden  move 
ment,  by  which  the  castle  and  frigate 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  insurgents, 
was  fully  sustained  by  the  popula 
tion  of  the  surrounding  country,  who 
rapidly  flocked  into  Boston  to  the  as 
sistance  of  their  brethren  in  the  city. 
The  news  flew  rapidly  to  Plymouth, 
Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  where 
similar  risings  took  place.  Connecticut 
brought  forth  her  Charter  from  its  hid 
ing  place,  and  Robert  Treat  was  cho 
sen  governor ;  and  in  Rhode  Island, 
though  some  difficulty  was  experienced 
in  finding  the  men  willing  to  assume 


1689. 


the  magistracy,  Henry  Bull,  an  ener 
getic  Quaker,  was  prevailed  upon  to 
accept  the  post  of  governor. 

In  Massachusetts  there  was  some 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  resuming  the  Charter.  The  major 
ity  of  the  people  seemed  to  wish  it, 
but  the  Council  of  Safety  did  not  like 
to  commit  themselves  to  the  measure. 
It  was  thought  best  therefore  to  wait 
a  while,  and  send  additional  agents  to 
England  in  behalf  of  the  colony.  Ash- 
urt,  Cooke,  and  Oates,  were  commis 
sioned  to  act  with  Increase  Mather  in 
England  for  Massachusetts. 

Although  the  news  of  William's  ac 
cession  had  reached  Virginia  first  of  all, 
the  Council  were  slow  to  act  upon  it ; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  wishes 

/  O 

of  the  people,  who  were  a  good 
deal  roused  by  apprehensions  of  a  po 
pish  dynasty,  the  Council  delayed  till 
near  the  end  of  May  before  the}7  pro 
claimed  William  and  Mary  "  Lord  and 
Lady  of  Virginia." 

In  Maryland,  too,  there  was  a  rising, 
directed  especially  against  the  Roman 
Catholic  rule.  A  rumor  was  put  in 
circulation  that  those  in  authority  had 
combined  with  the  Indians — with  whom 
a  treaty  had  been  renewed  in  March — 
to  massacre  all  the  Protestants.*  John 


*  "  The  history  of  the  Protestant  revolution  in  1689 
has  never  yet  been  fully  written.  But  there  is  evi 
dence  upon  the  records  of  the  English  government  to 
show  it  was  the  result  of  a  panic,  produced  by  one 
of  the  most  dishonorable  falsehoods  which  has  ever 
disgraced  any  religious  or  any  political  party — by  the 
story,  in  a  few  words,  that  the  Roman  Catholics  had 
formed  a  conspiracy  with  the  Indians,  to  massacre  the 
Protestants!" — See  Mr.  George  Lynn-Lachlan  Davis's 
"Day-Star  of  American  Freedom"  p.  87.  We  regret 
that  this  eloquent  and  high-toned  work,  vindicating 
the  claim  of  the  Roman  Catholic  founder  and  freemen 


150 


FIRST  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


[BE.  II, 


Coode  a  confederate  in  Fendal's  insur 
rection,  took  the  lead,  and  an  armed 
"  Association  for  the  Defence  of  the  Pro 
testant   Keligion"  was   formed. 

§9<  The  delays  on  the  part  of  the 
Council,  in  proclaiming  William  and 
Mary,  favored  the  designs  of  Coode, 
and  caused  general  dissatisfaction. 
Coode  and  his  confederates  called  a 
Convention,  which  met  in  August, 
and  proceeded  to  depose  Lord  Balti 
more  and  proclaim  the  new  king  and 
.queen  in  Maryland.  An  address  was 
also  transmitted  to  convey  their  con 
gratulations  on  the  accession  of  William 
and  Mary ;  and  for  some  three  years 
the  people  of  Maryland,  by  the  ill  ad 
vised  assent  of  William  to  the  insur 
rection,  were  subjected  to  the  tyran 
nous  exaction  of  those  who  had  seized 
upon  the  reins  of  government.  Truly, 
it  would  seem,  as  Chalmers  surmises, 
that  William  "  did  not  reflect,  because 
his  mind  was  occupied  only  with 
schemes  of  influence  and  conquest ;  that, 
in  order  to  gain  present  power,  he  gave 
his  assent  to  transactions,  which,  while 
they  deprived  an  individual  of  his  rights 
contrary  to  law,  engendered  a  spirit  of 
revolt,  that,  in  after  times,  would  shake 
the  throne  on  which  he  then  sat."  * 

New  York  was  also,  at  this  date,  the 
scene  of  great  political  excitement  and 
commotion.  The  ardent  spirit  of  Protes 
tantism  was  aroused  by  the  news  that 
William  of  Orange  was  now  king  of 

wf  Maryland  to  the  having  established  toleration,  in 
the  noblest  sense,  in  that  province,  was  not  published 
until  after  we  had  prepared  the  former  pages  of  our 
history,  wherein  we  should  have  been  glad  to  have  en 
joyed  Mr.  Davis's  assistance. 

*  "  Introduction  to  the  History  of  the  Revolt  of 
the  American  Colonies"  vol.  i.,  p.  205. 


England,  and  the  people  enthusiastic 
ally  rose  to  proclaim  his  authority. 
Jacob  Leisler,  a  merchant  of  New  Yoik, 
and  senior  captain  of  the  five  free  com 
panies,  under  Bayard  as  colonel,  was 
persuaded  by  the  people,  who  turnul- 
tuously  rushed  to  his  house,  to  take  the 
head  of  affairs,  for  it  was  rumored  that 
there  was  a  plot  on  foot,  and  a  scheme 
to  murder  all  who  favored  the  new 
king's  accession.  A  provisional  gov 
ernment  was  fixed  upon,  and  Leisler, 
charged  with  all  authority  till  orders 
should  come  from  the  king,  proceeded 
to  proclaim  their  majesties  by  sound  of 
trumpet.  The  "  loyal  and  noble  Captain 
Leisler"  next  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
king,  giving  an  account  of  his  proceed 
ings  and  the  reasons  moving  him  there 
to.  Bayard,  finding  his  authority  gone, 
and  Nicholson  the  lieutenant-governor 
being  in  the  same  predicament,  retired 
to  Albany,  where  they  held  out  against 
Leisler  and  his  party.  The  calamitous 
fall  and  ruin  of  Schenectady  led  to  the 
submission  of  the  malcontents  to  their 
hated  opponent,  and  they  called  on  him 
for  aid  and  support.  The  king  did  not 
answer  Leisler's  letter ;  but  appointed, 
in  1689,  Colonel  Henry  Sloughter  as 
governor  of  New  York.  Sloughter,  how 
ever,  did  not  arrive  till  March,  1691, 
when  he  was  induced  by  Ingoldsby; 
captain  of  the  troops  which  had 
reached  New  York  before  the 
new  governor,  to  arrest  Leisler  and  put 
him  upon  trial  before  his  bitter  ene 
mies.  By  an  insolent  mockery  of  jus 
tice,  Leisler  and  Milbourne  his  son-in- 
law  and  principal  associate,  were  con 
demned  to  death  as  rebels  and  traitors. 
Slousrhter  hesitated  to  order  the  execu- 


CH.  I.  j 

tion  of  a,  man  wlio  had  distinguished 
himself  by  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of  king 
William  and  the  Protestant  succession ; 
but  they  who  were  bent  upon  Leisler's 
death,  sought  and  obtained  the  signa 
ture  of  the  fatal  warrant  when  Sloughter 
was  in  his  cups  after  dinner.  Leisler's 
enemies  plied  the  licentious  and  needy 
Sloughter  with  wine.  "  The  carouse 
went  on ;  a  cold  storm  of  sleet  and 
rain,  such  as  often  makes  a  May  day 
miserable  in  our  climate,  raged  with 
out.  But,  though  those  charged  with 
the  fatal  missive  had  slipped  away 
from  the  revel,  and  conveyed  it,  as 
quietly  as  possible  to  the  sheriff,  yet 
the  soldiers  of  Ingoldsby,  who  were 
drawn  up  to  overawe  the  populace, 
gave  note  to  them  of  the  dreadful  act 
that  was  about  to  be  consummated. 
They  thronged  around  the  place  of  ex 
ecution,  which,  I  may  mention — for  the 
benefit  of  New  Yorkers — was  at  the 
lower  end  of  what  has  been  since  called 
the  Park,  where  the  spray  of  the  Foun 
tain  has  succeeded  the  blood-stain  of  the 
martvr.  Leisler  and  Milbourne  stood 

i/ 

there  upon  the  scaffold  together  ;  and 
there  too,  within  hearing  of  their  voices, 
stood  more  than  one  of  those  who  had 
brought  them  to  this  pass.  The  high 
spirit  of  Milbourne  could  hardly  brook 
the  insulting  presence  of  men  to  whom 
he  owed  this  fate  of  ignominy ;  and, 
turning  to  one  gentleman,  whom  he 
deemed  personally  most  hostile  to 
himself ;  he  exclaimed, '  Eobert  Living 
ston.  I  will  implead  thee  at  the  bar  of 
heaven  for  this  deed !'  "*  Leisler,  deeply 


*  See  C.  F.  Hoffman's  "  Administration  of  Jacob 
Lei&Ur"  Sparks's  American  Biography,  vol.  iii.,  p.  227. 


THE  DEATH  OF  JACOB   LEISLER. 


151 


affected  by  the  untimely  fate  of  his  son- 
in-law,  died  protesting  his  loyalty  and 
integrity.  Some  years  later,  the  bill  of 
attainder  was  reversed  and  the  estates 
restored  to  the  rightful  heirs  ;  and  it  is 
now  generally  conceded,  that  whatever 
of  error,  haste,  or  ignorance  Leisler  dis 
played,  he  himself  was  judicially  mur 
dered. 

The  king  of  England  presuming  that 
the  northern  colonies  were  more  than 
a  match  for  their  French  neighbors, 
rejected  at  once  a  proposition  on  the 
part  of  Louis  XIV.  for  a  neutrality  be 
tween  their  respective  colonies.  There 
was  no  alternative  consequently,  and 
the  war  broke  out  with  fury  on  both 
sides. 

Immediately  upon  the  declaration  of 
war  between  England  and  France  be- 
coming  known  in  America,  the  Baron 
Castin  found  it  an  easy  task  to  urge 
the  eastern  Indians  to  hostilities.  At 
the  close  of  the  war  with  Philip  of  Po- 
kanoket  some  thirteen  years  before,  a 
body  of  three  hundred  Indians  had 
been  treacherously  seized  and  sold  into 
slavery,  after  they  had  agreed  to  peace. 
This  transaction  took  place  at 
the  house  of  Major  Waldron,  at. 
Dover,  and  a  deep  scheme  was  now  laid 
by  the  Indians  to  avenge  it.  Suspicions 
of  some  sinister  proceeding  on  the  part 
of  the  Indians  had  been  thrown  out  to 
Waldron,  which  however  he  only  de 
rided,  merely  telling  those  who  sug 
gested  them  "to  go  and  plant  their 
pumpkins,  for  he  would  tell  them  when 
the  Indians  would  break  out."  On  the 
very  eve  of  the  attack,  being  told  with 
uneasiness  that  the  town  was  full  of 
them,  he  replied,  "  that  he  knew  the 


16§9. 


152 

Indians  very  well,   and  there  was  no 
danger  whatever."    According  to  the 
common  practice,  during  times  of  peace, 
the  Indians,  who  traded  with  the  inhab 
itants,  used   to  seek  for  and  obtain  a 
night's  lodging.     On  this  evening  two 
squaws  applied  for  leave  to  sleep  by 
the  hearth,  which  was  readily  granted 
at  Wald ron's  and  all  the  other  houses 
save  one.     When  the  household    was 
sunk  in  sleep,  they   arose,  opened  the 
doors,  and  giving  an  appointed  signal, 
the  Indians  quietly  stole  in,  set  a  guard 
at  the  door,  and  rushed  into  an  inner 
room  in  which  the  .major  slept.     The 
old  man,  now  aged  eighty,  aroused  by 
the  noise,  started  up,  and  seizing  his 
sword  bravely  drove  his  assailants  back 
through  one  or  two  apartments,  until 
stunned  by  a  blow  from  a  hatchet,  he 
was  secured  and  dragged  out,  and  seated 
in   an  arm  chair  upon  the  hall  table. 
"Judge  Indians  now!"  insultingly  ex 
claimed  his  captors  ;  and  then  each  man 
drawing   his   knife,   and  scoring   deep 
gashes  across  his  naked  breast,  exclaim 
ed — "Thus  I  cross  out  my  account." 
Cruelly  mangled,  and  spent  with  loss  of 
blood,  he  rolled  heavily  from  the  table, 
and  one  of  his  tormentors  held  his  own 
sword  under  him  as  he  fell  which  ter 
minated    his    bitter    agony.      Twenty 
others  were  killed  ;    twenty-nine  were 
carried  off  prisoners  ;   and  the  village 
was  burned.      This  was  in   the  latter 
part  of  June,   1689.     In   August  and 
September,  several  attacks  were  made 
on   different  points,   as  Pemaquid  and 
Casco,  which  latter  was   repulsed  by 
Church,  the  famous  partisan  in  King 
Philip's  war.     All  the  settlements  fur 
ther  east  were  broken  up. 


FIRST  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


[BK.  II. 


1600. 


About  the  middle  of  October,  Count 
Frontenac  arrived  in  Canada,  having 
been  reappointed  governor,  and  bring 
ing1  with  him  the  Indians  who  had  been 

o 

carried  to  France  as  prisoners,  and  also 
abundant  supplies  of  galleys  and  troops. 
Though  a  man  now  sixty-eight  years 
old,  Count  Frontenac  was  full  of  vigor 
and  energy,  and  he  determined  to 
invade  New  York  by  land  and  sea; 
and  accordingly  he  fitted  out  three 
war  parties  to  visit  upon  the  English 
the  same  misery  and  suffering  which. 
Canada  had  recently  experienced  at 
the  hands  of  the  Iroquois,  those  firm 
allies  of  the  Frenchman's  enemies. 

Schenectady  was  the  point  first  de 
voted  to  destruction.  An  expedition, 
consisting  of  a  hundred  and  ten  men, 
set  out  in  the  bitter  month 
of  January,  from  Cagnawaga, 
nearly  opposite  Montreal  on  the  St. 
Lawrence :  they  were  mostly  converted 
Mohawks,  under  the  command  of 
French  officers.  For  twenty-two  days 
they  toiled  through  the  heavy  snows, 

J  O  */ 

enduring  every  species  of  hardship, 
intent  only  on  blood,  until,  on  the  8th 
of  February,  they  reached  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Schenectady.  This  was 
a  small  Dutch  village  on  the  Mohawk, 
consisting  of  some  forty  houses,  and 
though  protected  by  a  palisade  the 
gates  were  unguarded,  and  at  midnight 
the  people  slept  profoundly.  Distance 
from  the  French  frontier  and  the 
severity  of  the  winter  had  rendered 
them,  as  they  thought,  secure  from 
attack;  but  they  were  most  fearfully 
roused  to  a  sense  of  their  fatal  neglect. 
The  savage  war-whoop  thrilled  every 
heart.  There  was  no  time  to  think  of 


CH.  L] 


HORRORS  OF  EARLY  WARFARE. 


153 


concerted  resistance.  The  French  and 
Indians  had  stolen  into  the  town  in 
several  bodies,  the. door  of  every  dwell 
ing  was  instantly  beset  and  burst  open, 
and  amidst  the  shrieks  of  women  and 
children  every  atrocity  was  perpetrated 
that  the  vengeful  cruelty  of  the  Indian 
savage  could  suggest.  Men,  women, 
and  children  fell  under  the  tomahawk 
in  a  promiscuous  massacre ;  sixty  were 
killed  on  the  spot;  twenty-seven  were 
taken  prisoners  ;  the  village  was  set  on 
fire ;  and  by  the  flames  of  their  own 
homes,  the  remnant,  a  small  body  of 
miserable  half-naked  fugitives,  hurried 
away,  in  the  midst  of  a  driving 
snow-storm,  towards  Albany,  spreading 
terror  and  confusion  among  the  people 
by  their  account  of  the  savage  fury 
which  had  fallen  upon  their  ruined 
homes. 

The  second  war  party  sent  out  by 
Ffontenac  consisted  of  only  fifty-two 
persons.  They  set  out  from  Three 
Elvers,  a  village  about  half  way  from 
Montreal  to  Quebec,  and  made  their 
way  by  the  St.  Francis,  and  the  val 
ley  of  the  upper  Connecticut  to  Salmon 
Falls,  a  village  on  the  main  branch  of  the 
Piscataqua.  Falling  suddenly  upon  it 
(March  27th)  they  killed  most  of  the 
male  inhabitants,  burned  their  houses, 
and  carried  off  fifty-four  prisoners, 
chiefly  women  and  children.  These 
they  drove  before  them  into  the  wilder 
ness,  intending  to  sell  them  as  slaves  in 
Canada.  The  reader  will  understand 
something  of  the  horrors  of  early  war 
fare  by  the  following  extract  from  the 
narrative  of  a  captive  sufferer  : — 

"  The  Indians,  when  they  had  flogged 
me  away  along  with  them,  took  my 

VOL.  I.  —22 


oldest  boy,  a  lad  of  about  five  years  of 
age,  along  with  them,  for  he  was  still 
at  the  door  by  my  side.  My  middle 
little  boy,  who  was  about  three  years 
of  age,  had  by  this  time  obtained  a 
situation  by  the  fire  in  the  house,  and 
was  crying  bitterly  to  me  not  to  go, 
and  making  bitter  complaints  of  the 
depredations  of  the  savages. 

"  But  these  monsters  were  not  willing 
to  let  the  child  remain  behind  them ; 
they  took  him  by  the  hand  to  drag  him 
along  with  them,  but  he  was  so  very 
unwilling  to  go,  and  made  such  a  noise 
by  crying,  that  they  took  him  up  by 
the  feet,  and  dashed  his  brains  out 
against  the  threshold  of  the  door. 
They  then  scalped  and  stabbed  him, 
and  left  him  for  dead.  When  I  wit 
nessed  this  inhuman  butchery  of  my 
own  child,  I  gave  a  most  indescribable 
and  terrific  scream,  and  felt  a  dimness 
come  over  my  eyes  next  to  blindness, 
and  my  senses  were  nearly  gone.  The 
savage  then  gave  me  a  blow  across  my 
head  and  face,  and  brought  me  to  my 
sight  and  recollection  again.  During 
the  whole  of  this  agonizing  scene,  I 
kept  my  infant  in  my  arms. 

"  As  soon  as  their  murder  was  effect 
ed,  they  marched  me  along  to  the  top 
of  the  bank.  Here  I  beheld  another 
hard  scene,  for  as  soon  as  we  had 
landed,  my  little  boy,  who  was  still 
mourning  and  lamenting  about  his 
little  brother,  and  who  complained  that 
he  was  injured  by  the  fall  in  descend 
ing  the  bank,  loas  murdered. 

"One  of  the  Indians  ordered  me 
along,  probably  that  I  should  not  see 
the  horrid  deed  about  to  be  per 
petrated.  The  other  then  took  his 


154 


FIRST  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


[BK.  II. 


tomahawk  from  his  side,  and  with  this 
instrument  of  death  killed  and  scalped 
him.  When  I  beheld  this  second  scene 
of  inhuman  butchery,  I  fell  to  the 
ground  senseless,  with  my  infant  in  my 
arms,  it  being  under,  and  its  little  hands 
in  the  hair  of  my  head.  How  long  I 
remained  in  this  state  of  insensibility 
I  know  not. 

u  The  first  thing  I  remember  was  my 
raising  my  head  from  the  ground,  and 
my  feeling  myself  exceedingly  over 
come  with  sleep.  I  cast  my  eyes 
around,  and  saw  the  scalp  of  my  dear 
little  boy,  fresh  bleeding  from  his  head, 
in  the  hand  of  one  of  the  savages,  and 
sunk  down  to  the  earth  again,  upon  my 
infant  child.  The  first  thing  I  remem 
ber,  after  witnessing  this  spectacle  of 
woe,  was  the  severe  blows  I  was  receiv 
ing  from  the  hands  of  the  savages, 
though  at  this  time  I  was  unconscious 
of  the  injury  I  was  sustaining.  After 
a  severe  castigation,  they  assisted  me 
in  getting  up,  and  supported  me  when 
up. 

"  In  the  morning  one  of  them  left  us, 
to  watch  the  trail  or  path  we  had  come, 
to  see  if  any  white  people  were  pursu 
ing  us.  During  the  absence  of  the 
Indian  who  was  the  one  that  claimed 
me,  the  other,  who  remained  with  me, 
and  who  was  the  murderer  of  my  last 
boy,  took  from  his  bosom  his  scalp  and 
prepared  a  hoop,  and  stretched  the 
scalp  upon  it.  Those  mothers  who 
have  not  seen  the  like  done  by  one  of 
the  scalps  of  their  own  children — and 
few,  if  any,  ever  had  so  much  misery 
to  endure — will  be  able  to  form  but 
faint  ideas  of  the  feelings  which  then 
harrowed  up  my  soul !" 


1690,, 


While  returning  from  this  expedi 
tion,  they  fell  in  with  the  third  war 
party  from  Quebec,  and  joining  forces 
an  attack  was  made  on  Casco.  A  part 
of  the  garrison  having  been  destroyed, 
the  remainder  surrendered  as  prisoners 
of  war. 

The  terror  produced  by  these  attacks 
on  the  colonies  not  only  helped  to  con 
firm  the  rumors  and  accounts  of  the 
implacable  hatred  of  the  French  Ro 
man  Catholics  against  all  whom  they 
esteemed  as  heretics,  but  also  roused 
up  a  determined  spirit  of  vengeance. 
Accordingly  delegates  from  Massachu 
setts,  Connecticut,  and  New  York,  met 
in  New  York,  in  May,  1690  ;  and,  fol 
lowing  Leisler's  suggestion,  a  plan  for 
the  conquest  of  Canada  was  re 
solved  upon.  A  fleet  and  army 
were  to  sail  from  Boston  to  attack  Que 
bec,  and  nine  hundred  men  were  to  be 
raised  in  Connecticut  and  New  York, 
to  march  by  land  against  Montreal. 

Sir  William  Phipps,  a  man  of  little 
competency  but  considerable  previous 
success,  having  visited  and  plundered 
Acadie  with  a  small  fleet  and  some 
seven  or  eight  hundred  men,  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  expedition  by  sea. 
It  consisted  of  thirty-two  vessels  and 
two  thousand  men,  the  larger  part  ot 
which  were  pressed  into  the  service. 
Three  ships  sent  by  Leisler  from  New 
York  joined  this  enterprise.  The  land 
forces  were  commanded  by  Winthrop, 
son  of  the  late  governor  of  Connecticut, 
Milbourne  acting  as  commissary. 

The  result  of  both  expeditions  was 
singularly  mortifying.  Schuyler  and 
the  Iroquois  who  had  pressed  forward 
to  Montreal  were  repulsed  by  the  ef- 


CH.  I.] 


FAILURE  OF  THE  ATTACK   ON   QUEBEC. 


155 


1690. 


forts  of  Frontenac,  and  tlie  rest  of  the 
forces  advanced  but  little  beyond  Lake 
George,  where  they  were  stopped  by 
the  breaking  out  of  the  small-pox  and 
scarcity  of  provisions.  Crimination  and 
recrimination  followed  the  bootless  er 
rand  of  the  land  part  of  the  at 
tempted  invasion ;  and  Leisler 
was  so  outraged  by  their  failure  that  he 
even  arrested  Winthrop  at  Albany. 
News  having  been  brought  to  Fron- 

o  o 

tenac  by  an  Indian  runner  from  Pis- 
cataqua  of  the  meditated  attack  upon 
Quebec,  the  energetic  old  soldier  reach 
ed  that  stronghold  just  three  days 
before  the  fleet,  under  Phipps,  made 
its  appearance  before  the  walls.  With 
out  pilots  or  charts,  it  had  been  nine 
weeks  making  its  way  up  the  St.  Law 
rence.  Phipps  had  calculated  on  sur 
prising  the  place,  and  found  it,  almost 
impregnable  by  nature,  already  placed 
'in  a  posture  of  defence  by  the  vigor 
and  activity  of  the  veteran  Frenchman. 
Chagrined  as  he  was,  he  determined  to 
put  a  bold  front  upon  the  matter,  and 
accordingly  summoned  Frontenac  to 
surrender  in  the  name  of  King  William 
of  England,  demanding  his  positive 
answer  within  an  hour.  The  British 
officer  who  bore  the  summons  was 
ushered  blindfold  into  the  presence  of 
Frontenac  and  his  associates  in  the 
council-room  of  the  castle  of  Quebec. 
kf  Head  your  message,"  said  Frontenac. 
Having  obeyed,  the  Englishman  laid  his 
watch  on  the  table  with  these  words — 
"  It  is  now  ten :  I  wait  your  answer  for 
an  hour."  Enraged  at  his  presumption, 
the  old  soldier  answered,  "  I  do  not  ac 
knowledge  King  William,  and  I  well 
know  that  the  Prince  of  Orange  is  an 


usurper,  who  has  violated  the  most  sa 
cred  rights  of  blood  and  religion."  The 
British  officer  requested  that  this  answer 
should  be'  put  in  writing.  "I  will  an 
swer  your  master  at  the  cannon's  mouth," 
replied  the  exasperated  Frenchman, 
"  that  he  may  learn  that  a  man  of  my 
rank  is  not  to  be  summoned  in  this  man 
ner."  Phipps  finding  that  nothing  could 
be  accomplished,  and  that  winter  was 
now  approaching,  abandoned  the  enter 
prise  with  shame  and  disappointment ; 
after  losing  several  of  his  ships  among 
the  dangerous  shoals  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
he  arrived  at  Boston  with  his  damaged 
fleet.  On  his  arrival,  in  December,  the 
treasury  was  empty,  and  as  the  troops 
threatened  a  riot,  the  colonial  govern 
ment  found  it  necessary  to  meet  the 
emergency  by  issuing  the  first  paper 
money  ever  used  in  the  English  colonies. 
(The  total  amount  issued  was  about 
$130,000.)  Frontenac  wrote  home  to 
France  in  triumph,  and  to  commemo 
rate  his  brave  defence  of  Canada,  the 
king  ordered  a  medal  to  be  struck  with 
this  inscription :  "  Francia  in  novo 
orle  victrix :  Kebeca,  Liberata. — A.  D. 
M.D.C.X.C,"  while  a  church  was  built  in 
the  lower  town,  and  dedicated  to 
"Notre  Dame  de  la  Victoire."  Not 
lon^  after  a  French  fleet  restored  Aca- 

O 

die  to  its  original  possessors. 

It  would  seem  as  if  this  desolating 
struggle  were  of  itself  calamity  enough 
for  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  and 
yet  both  these  colonies  were  witnesses 
of  tragic  scenes  and  events,  even  more 

O  ' 

deplorable  than  the  sanguinary  ravages 
of  combined  French  and  Indian  ferocity. 
The  tragic  end  of  Leisler's  career  we 
havo  already  narrated,  when  there  was 


150 


FIRST  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


1692. 


poured  out  the  blood  of  the  first  politi 
cal  martyr  on  the  soil  of  New  York. 
Massachusetts,  worn  down  by  her  pre 
vious  military  efforts,  was  exposed  to 
frequent  incursions.  Sir  Wil 
liam  Phipps,  in  1692,  returned 
from  England,  where  he  had  gone  to 
solicit  an  expedition  against  Quebec, 
with  the  new  charter  of  Massachusetts 
and  his  commission  as  governor.  In 
some  respects  the  charter  was  gratify 
ing,  and  in  others  not  at  all  so.  The 
extent  of  the  province  was  very  con 
siderably  increased  ;  the  governor  was 
to  be  appointed  by  the  crown  with  a 
veto  power  on  the  acts  of  the  General 
Court;  to  the  king  was  reserved  the 
power  of  annulling  any  law  within 
three  years  after  its  passage  :  and 
toleration  was  secured  to  all  except 
papists,  thus  giving  a  death-blow  to  the 
theocratic  absolutism  which  had  so 
long  prevailed.  Plymouth  was  joined 
to  Massachusetts,  and  New  Hampshire 
separated  from  it,  in  both  cases  con 
trary  to  their  wishes.  Phipps  found 
on  his  arrival  not  only  many  and  severe 
trials  awaiting  him,  in  consequence  of 
the  continued  inroads  from  Canada  and 
the  heavy  expenses  of  the  war,  but 
alas,  other  and  more  terrible  trials,  the 
very  account  of  which  appears  to  be 
almost  incredible. 

A  belief  in  witchcraft  was  at  this 
date  very  prevalent  in  England,  and  it 
was  adjudged  a  capital  offence,  particu 
larly  by  a  statute  of  James  I.,  who  had 
himself  written  a  treatise  on  the  art  of 
detecting  witches.  During  the  Long 
Parliament,  a  vast  number  of  persons 
fell  victims  to  the  popular  delusion. 
Shortly  after  the  Eestoration,  Sir  Mat- 


16§§. 


thew  Hale,  revered  no  less  in  the  colo. 
nies  than  the  mother  country  for  piety 
and  wisdom,  had  adjudged  to  death 
two  poor  old  women  in  Suffolk,  for  this 
supposed  crime.  Witch  stories  and 
printed  narratives  were  widely  current. 
It  need  not  excite  surprise,  then,  that 
a  people  like  that  of  New  England, 
whose  temperament  was  naturally  seri 
ous,  to  whom  every  incident  of  life  was 
looked  upon  as  a  special  providence, 
and  who  were  filled  with  a  large 
measure  of  faith  in  spiritual  influences 
and  manifestations,  should  have  been 
ready  to  embrace  a  delusion  of  this 
kind. 

Notwithstanding  the  general  impres 
sion  in  favor  of  the  reality  of  witch 
craft,  it  had  been  many  years  now  since 
any  execution  had  taken  place 
for  this  offence.  In  1688,  how 
ever,  while  Andros  was  still  governor, 
four  children  of  pious  parents  in  Boston 
suddenly  began  to  display  every  appear 
ance  of  having  been  bewitched.  The 
eldest,  a  girl  of  thirteen,  had  charged 
an  Irish  servant  girl  with  stealing,  a 
charge  which  was  bitterly  resented  by 
the  girl's  mother.  Soon  after,  to  revenge 
herself,  as  it  would  seem,  upon  the  old 
Irishwoman,  the  girl  and  three  young 
er  children  took  occasion  to  bark  like 
dogs,  or  purr  like  cats,  to  scream  and 
shout,  or  appear  to  be  deaf,  blind,  or 
dumb.  Cotton  Mather,  a  man  of  mul 
titudinous  learning,  but  very  vain, 
credulous,  and  fanatically  inclined,  in 
company  with  other  ministers,  kept  a 
day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  and  suc 
ceeded  in  relieving  the  youngest  child. 
The  others  persevered  and  accused  the 
old  woman  of  bewitching  them.  She 


CH.  1.J 


THE  SALEM  WITCHCRAFT  DELUSION. 


157 


was  apprehended  and  put  on  trial,  and 
though  it  seems  almost  certain  that  she 
was  more  than  half  crazy  or  silly,  yet 
the  physicians  having  certified  her 
sanity  she  was  condemned  and  executed. 
Cotton  Mather  took  the  eldest  girl 
home  to  his  house,  where  she  continued 
to  act  in  the  same  extraordinary  man 
ner.  The  credulous  divine  set  himself 
seriously  to  study  this  subject,  and  then 
put  forth  a  sermon  and  narrative  under 
the  title  of  "Memorable  Providences 
relating  to  Witchcrafts  and  Posses 
sions."  "  There  are  multitudes  of  Sad- 
ducees,  in  our  days,"  says  the  recom 
mendatory  preface,  signed  by  the 
other  four  ministers  of  Boston,  "  and 
we  shall  come,  in  the  opinion  of  these 
mighty  acute  philosophers,  to  credit 
nothing  but  what  we  can  see  and  feel. 
How  much  this  fond  opinion  hath  got 
ten  ground  in  this  debauched  age  is 
awfully  observable.  God  is  therefore 
pleased,  besides  his  witness  borne  to 
this  truth  in  sacred  writ,  to  suffer  devils 
to  do  such  things  in  the  world,  as  shall 
Btop  the  mouths  of  gainsayers  and  ex 
tort  a  confession  from  them."  The 
book  was  republished  in  England  and 
Richard  Baxter  even  was  led  to  preface 
it  and  give  in  his  adhesion  to  the  truth 
of  these  wonderful  stories.  The  girl  who 
had  given  rise  to  all  this  does  not  seem 
to  have  attracted  attention  for  any 
length  of  time,  and,  so  for  as  appears, 
became  soon  after  very  much  like  other 
perverse  and  troublesome  children  of 
her  age. 

But  the  matter  was  by  no  means  to 
end  here.  The  seed  had  been  sown 
and  the  fruit  was  not  long  in  coming  to 
maturity.  Nearly  four  years  after  the 


case  noted  above,  three  young  girls  in 
the  family  of  Mr.  Parris,  minis- 

1692, 

ter  of  Salem — now  Danvers — 
began  to  act  in  a  way  which,  the  doc 
tors  declared,  showed  that  they  were 
bewitched.  Tituba,  an  old  Indian  ser 
vant,  who  had  used  some  superstitious 
rites  to  discover  the  witch,  was  herself 
accused  by  the  children,  and  being  well 
scourged  by  her  master,  confessed  her 
self  the  guilty  agent.  A  fast  day  was 
appointed  by  the  neighboring  minis 
ters,  among  whom  appeared  Cotton 
Mather,  glorying  in  the  confirmation 
of  his  previous  statements.  The  ex 
citement  rapidly  spread — the  girls  ac 
cused  others — the  ministers  implicitly 
received  their  statements.  The  divisions 
among  the  people  of  Parris's  congrega 
tion,  if  indeed  they  did  not  prompt  to 
accusations  wilfully  false,  at  least  facili 
tated  the  belief  of  them.  Parris  selected 
for  his  Sunday's  text  the  words,  "  Have 
I  not  chosen  you  twelve,  and  one  of 
you  is  a  devil?"  At  this  a  sister  of 
one  of  the  accused,  being  offended,  rose 
up  and  left  the  place,  and  was  herself 
immediately  denounced  and  sent  to 
prison  as  an  accomplice. 

Matters  began  to  look  very  serious. 
So  much  importance  was  attached  to 
what  had  taken  place,  that  in  April 
the  deputy  governor — this  was  before 
Phipps's  arrival — proceeded  to  Salem, 
and  with  five  other  magistrates  held  a 
court  in  the  meeting-house.  Parris, 
acting  as  both  clerk  and  accuser,  was 

O  ' 

very  diligent  in  hunting  out  witches 
and  su^estino-  fresh  accusations.  The 

OO  O 

afflicted  were  placed  on  one  hand,  and 
the  accused  on  the  other,  the  latter 
being  held  by  the  arras  lest  they  should 


158 


FIRST  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


[Bit.  II 


inflict  torment  on  the  former,  who 
declared  themselves  haunted  by  their 
spectres,  and  solicited  to  subscribe  a 
covenant  with  the  devil,  and  on  their 
refusal  pricked  and  injured.  The  hus 
band  of  Elizabeth  Procter,  one  of  the 
accused,  having  boldly  accompanied  her 
into  court,  the  possessed  cried  out  upon 
him  also.  "  There  is  Goodman  Procter 
going  to  take  up  Mrs.  Pope's  feet!" 
cries  one  of  them,  and  "  her  feet  are 
immediately  taken  up."  "  He  is  going 
to  Mrs.  Pope  !"  cries  another,  and 
"  straightway  Mrs.  Pope  falls  into  fits." 
One  Bishop,  a  farmer,  had  brought 
round  a  possessed  servant  by  the  appli 
cation  of  a  horsewhip,  and  had  rashly 
hinted  that  he  could  with  the  like 
remedy  cure  the  whole  company  of  the 
afflicted.  For  this  scoffing,  as  it  was 
denounced,  he  soon  found  himself  in 
prison.  Between  fanaticism  and  terror 
the  minds  of  the  accused  appear  to 
have  become  unhinged ;  many,  stag 
gered  by  the  results  ascribed  to  their 
agency,  for  a  while  believed  themselves, 
it  would  seem,  to  be  what  they  were 
called ;  and  others,  finding  no  safety 
but  in  confession,  gave  fraudulent  and 
circumstantial  narratives  of  interviews 
with  the  devil,  and  of  riding  through 
the  air  on  a  broomstick;  and  these 
confessions,  reacting  upon  minds  al 
ready  fully  persuaded  of  the  reality  of 
the  crime,  tended  to  fortify  them  still 
further  in  their  delusion,  and  to  give 
birth  to  a  still  widening  circle  of  accu 
sations  and  confessions.  By  the  time 
that  Governor  Phipps  arrived,  there 
were  nearly  a  hundred  persons  already 
in  prison,  and  the  excitement  was  still 
rapidly  on  the  increase. 


The  new  governor,  who  was  very 
considerably  under  the  influence  of 
Increase  Mather  and  his  son  Cotton 
Mather,  proceeded  vigorously  in  the 
work  which  he  found  ready  to  his 
hands.  He  put  the  prisoners  in  irons, 
and  organized  a  special  court  for  the 
trial  of  cases,  with  Stoughton,  the  lieu 
tenant  governor  as  president.  In  the 
beginning  of  June,  the  court  assembled, 
and  in  a  few  days  ordered  for  hanging 
an  old  woman,  convicted  on  evidence 
such  as  we  have  noted  above,  evidence 
— if  the  word  be  not  prostituted  by  this 
use  of  it — which  to  people  in  the  pos 
session  of  their  senses,  seems  to  be  the 
perfection  of  nonsense  and  absurdity. 
At  a  second  session  of  the  court,  June 
30th,  five  women  were  tried  and  con 
victed.  One  of  these,  Rebecca  Nurse,  a 
woman  of  excellent  character,  was  ac 
quitted  at  first,  but  at  the  outcry  of  the 
accuser,  was  condemned  and  hung  with 
the  rest.  Some  few  dared  to  resist  and 
hurl  defiance  at  their  accusers.  "  You 
are  a  witch,  you  know  you  are  !"  said 
minister  Noyes  to  Sarah  Good.  "You 
are  a  liar !"  was  the  indignant  retort ; 
"  and  if  you  take  my  life  God  will  give 
you  blood  to  drink!"  But  most  of 
those  accused  made  confession  or  set 
afloat  new  accusations. 

At  the  third  session  of  the  court, 
early  in  August,  six  prisoners  were 
tried  and  convicted,  the  husband  of 
Elizabeth  Procter  and  John  Willard 
beinjr  of  the  number.  The  conduct  of 

~ 

Willard  and  Procter,  at  the  time  of 
execution,  was  well  calculated  to  arouse 
a  maddened  and  deluded  community 
to  reflection.  The  case  of  Burroughs 
is  very  remarkable.  He  was  himself  a 


Cu.  I.] 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WITCHCRAFT  DELUSION. 


159 


minister,  but  had  for  some  reason  be 
come  unpopular  both  with  his  flock  and 
his  fellow-ministers,  whose  convictions 
and  self-conceit  he  had  wounded,  by 
declaring  his  entire  disbelief  in  the 
possibility  of  the  crime  for  which  they 
were  putting  so  many  to  death.  Among 
other  things,  he  was  accused  of  display 
ing  preternatural  strength — of  course 
through  the  assistance  of  the  devil.  He 

o 

staggered,  however,  the  more  reason 
able  portion  of  the  crowd  present  at 
his  execution,  by  solemnly  and  fervently 
repeating  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  it 
was  supposed  no  wizard  could  do.  The 
tears  of  the  spectators  began  to  flow,' 
and  they  gave  signs  of  rising  to  stop 
the  execution,  but  the  dangerous  sym 
pathy  was  arrested  by  Cotton  Mather, 
who,  riding  to  and  fro,  carefully  re 
minded  them  that  Burroughs  was  not 
an  "ordained"  minister,  and  that  to 
deceive  the  unwary,  Satan  often  put  on 
the  appearance  of  an  angel  of  light. 

At  the  next  two  sessions  of  the  court, 
in  September,  fourteen  women  and  one 
man  were  sentenced  to  death.  One  old 
man  of  eighty  refused  to  plead,  and  by 
that  horrible  decree  of  the  common 
law,  was  pressed  to  death.  Although 
it  was  evident  that  confession  was  the 
only  safety  in  most  of  cases,  some  few 
had  courage  to  retract  their  confessions : 
some  eicrht  of  these  were  sent  to  execu- 

O 

tion.  Twenty  persons  had  already 
been  put  to  death ;  eight  more  were 
under  sentence ;  the  jails  were  full  of 
prisoners ;  and  new  accusations  were 
made  every  day.  In  such  a  state  of 
things  the  court  adjourned  to  the  first 
Monday  in  November. 

A  reaction,  however,  ere  long  took 


place.  The  accusations  began  to  assume 
too  serious  and  sweeping  a  shape  to 
permit  them  much  longer  to  be  enter 
tained,  since  even  the  ministers  and 
those  in  highest  place  in  state  and 
church  were  marked  out  as  guilty  of 
this  crime.  Many  who  had  confessed 
had  courage  to  recant.  Having  been,  as 
they  said,  suddenly  seized  as  prisoners, 
and  "  by  reason  of  the  sudden  surprisal 
amazed  and  affrighted  out  of  their 
reason,  and  exhorted  by  their  nearest 
relatives  to  confess,  as  the  only  means 
of  saving  their  lives,  they  were  thus 
persuaded  into  compliance.  And  in 
deed  the  confession  was  no  other  than 
what  was  suggested  to  them  by  some 
gentlemen,  who,  telling  them  that  they 
were  witches  and  that  they  knew  they 
were  so,  made  them  think  it  was  so] 
and  their  understandings,  their  reason, 
their  faculties,  almost  gone,  they  were 
incapable  of  judging  of  their  condition ; 
and  being  moreover  prevented  by  hard 
measures  from  making  their  defence, 
they  confessed  to  any  thing  and  every 
thing  required  of  them."  The  scales 
began  to  fall  from  the  eyes  of  a  deluded 
people.  Remonstrances  now  poured  in 
against  condemning  persons  of  exem 
plary  lives  upon  the  idle  accusations  of 
children ;  the  evident  partiality  of  the 
judges,  their  cruel  methods  of  compell 
ing  confessions,  their  total  disregard  of 
recantations  however  sincere,  at  length 
appeared  in  their  true  light.  On  the 
opening  of  the  next  court,  in  January, 
1693,  the  grand  jury  dismissed 
the  greater  part  of  the  cases, 
and  those  who  had  already  been  sen 
tenced  to  death  were  reprieved,  and 
ultimatelv  released.  Mather  was  as- 


1693. 


1GO 


FIRST  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


n. 


tonished  and  confounded  at  this  so  un 
looked-for  result,  and,  although  he  ad 
mitted  that  uthe  most  critical  and 
exquisite  caution"  was  required  in  dis 
criminating  on  this  subject,  inasmuch 
as  the  devil  might  assume  the  appear 
ance  of  an  innocent  person ;  yet  he 
stoutly  contended  for  the  reality  of  the 
crime,  and  the  justice  which  had  been 
dealt  both  to  those  who  were  really 
guilty,  and  also  those  who,  by  confess 
ing  falsely,  had  only  got  what  they 
deserved.  He  strove  hard  to  discover 
fresh  cases,  but  received  a  mortifying 
check  from  the  efforts  of  one  Robert 
Calef,  a  citizen  of  Boston,  "  a  coal  sent 
from  hell  to  blacken  him,  a  malignant, 
calumnious,  and  reproachful  man," 
whose  stubborn  common  sense  per 
sisted  in  denying  the  existence  of  the 
crime,  and  who  especially  provoked 
Cotton  Mather's  ire  by  exposing  the 
imposture  of  a  girl  visited  by  the 
Mathers  as  an  "  afflicted"  one,  and  rea 
dily  imposing  upon  the  learned  but 
credulous  ministers.  Some  two  years 
after,  a  circular  was  sent  out  inviting 
reports  of  apparitions  and  the  like ; 
but,  as  Cotton  Mather  laments,  there 
was  hardly,  in  ten  years,  half  that 
number  of  responses  to  his  application. 
Thus  this  fearful  scourge  was  remov 
ed,  and  heresy  and  blasphemy,  together 
with  witchcraft,  ceased  to  appear  as 
capital  crimes  on  the  statute  book  of 
Massachusetts.  No  more  lives  were 
sacrificed,  and  although  the  Mathers, 
Stoughton,  and  others,*  do  not  appear 

"  The  inexorable  indignation  of  the  people  of 
Salem  village,  drove  Parris  from  the  place ;  Noyes 
regained  favor  only  by  a  full  confession,  asking  for 
giveness  always,  and  consecrati-r.g  the  remainder  of 


to  have  changed  their  views  as  to  the 
work  in  which  they  had  been  engaged, 
and  though  some  eminent  European 
opinions  helped  to  confirm  them  in 
their  cherished  sentiments  on  this  sub 
ject,  yet  a  number  of  the  prominent 
actors  did  express  deep  contrition :  no 
more  blood  was  shed ;  no  more  hor 
rible  cruelty  was  practised  on  accusa 
tions  of  witchcraft.  "  Thus  terminated," 
says  Grahame,  "  a  scene  of  fury  and  de 
lusion  that  justly  excited  the  astonish 
ment  of  the  civilized  world,  and  ex 
hibited  a  fearful  picture  of  the  weakness 
of  human  nature  in  the  sudden  trans 
formation  of  a  people  renowned  over  all 
the  earth  for  piety  and  virtue  into  the 
slaves  or  associates,  the  terrified  dupes 
or  helpless  prey,  of  a  band  of  ferocious 
lunatics  and  assassins."* 

The  frontier  warfare,  meanwhile,  con 
tinued  with  unsparing  severity  on  both 
sides.  Indian  cunning,  treacherv,  and 

O  I  *j   * 

cruelty  were  all  urged  on  and  directed 
by  French  science  and  skill.  "To  these 
causes  of  suffering,"  says  Dr.  D wight, 
in  an  interesting  passage  in  his  Travels, 
"  were  superadded  the  power  of  all  such 
motives  as  the  ingenuity  of  the  French 
could  invent,  their  wealth  furnish,  or 

his  life  to  deeds  of  mercy.  Sewall,  one  of  the  judges, 
by  the  frankness  and  sincerity  of  his  undisguised  con 
fession,  recovered  public  esteem.  Stoughton  and 
Cotton  Mather  never  repented.  The  former  lived 
proud,  unsatisfied,  and  unbeloved  ;  the  latter  at 
tempted  to  persuade  others  and  himself,  that  he  had 
not  been  specially  active  in  the  tragedy.  But  the 
public  mind  would  not  be  deceived.  His  diary  proves 
that  he  did  not  wholly  escape  the  rising  impeachment 
from  the  monitor  within  ;  and  Cotton  Mather,  who 
had  sought  the  foundation  of  faith  in  tales  of  wonders, 
himself  '  had  temptations  to  atheism,  and  to  the  aban 
donment  of  all  religion  as  a  mere  delusion.'" — Ban 
croft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol  Hi.,  p.  98. 
*  "  History  of  the  Colonies,'"  vol.  i.,  p.  281, 


Cir.  I.] 


BRAVE  MRS.   DUSTIN. 


their  bigotry  adopt.  Here  all  the  im 
plements  of  war  and  the  means  of  sus 
tenance  were  supplied;  the  expedition 
was  planned ;  the  price  was  bidden  for 
scalps ;  the  aid  of  European  officers 
and  soldiers  was  conjoined ;  the  devas 
tation  and  slaughter  were  sanctioned 
by  the  ministers  of  religion  ;  and  the 
blood-hounds,  while  their  fangs  were 
yet  dropping  blood,  were  caressed  and 
cherished  by  men  regarded  by  them  as 
superior  beings.  The  intervals  between 
formal  attacks  were  usually  seasons  of 
desultory  mischief,  plunder,  and  butch 
ery;  and  always  of  suspense  and  dread. 
The  solitary  family  was  carried  into 
captivity ;  the  lonely  house  burnt  to 
the  ground ;  and  the  traveller  waylaid 
and  shot  in  the  forest.  It  ourrht,  how- 

O         / 

ever,  to  be  observed,  to  the  immortal 
honor  of  these  people,  distinguished  as 
they  are  by  so  many  traits  of  brutal 
ferocity,  that  history  records  no  instance 
in  which  the  purity  of  a  female  captive 
was  violated  by  them,  or  even  threat 
ened.'7  The  veteran  Colonel  Church 
was  engaged  in  retaliatory  expeditions, 
in  which  indiscriminate  slaughter  was 

o 

practised  with  as  little  compunction  as 
by  the  French  and  Indians.  In  1694, 
the  settlement  at  Oyster  Kiver 
in  New  Hampshire — the  present 
town  of  Durham — was  attacked,  and 
nearly  a  hundred  persons  killed  or  made 
captives  of.  Two  years  subsequently, 
in  1696,  DTberville,  a  distin 
guished  Canadian  naval  officer, 
arrived  from  France  with  two  ships  and 
some  troops,  and  having  been  joined  by 
the  party  under  command  of  Villebou 
and  the  Baron  St.  Castin,  in  August, 
1 696,  laid  siege  to  and  took  the  fort  at 

VOL.  I.— 23 


1 09-1. 


1696. 


1697. 


Pemaquid.  The  loss  of  the  fort  <_ 
the  breaking  up  of  all  the  old  settle 
ments  in  the  neighborhood.  D'lber- 
ville,  in  the  spring  of  1697,  sailed  for 
Hudson's  Bay,  recovered  a  fort  from 
the  English,  and  captured  two  English 
vessels.  In  March,  1697,  the  savages 
fell  upon  Haverhill,  in  Massachusetts, 
and  killed  or  carried  into  captivity 
some  forty  persons.  The  heroism  of 
Mrs.  Dustin  is  honorably  commemo 
rated  in  our  early  history.  Only  a 
week  before,  she  had  become  a  mother. 
The  nurse,  trying  to  escape  with 
the  new-born  infant,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  savages,  who,  rushing  into 
the  house,  bade  the  mother  arise  in 
stantly,  while  they  plundered  the  house 
and  afterwards  set  it  on  fire.  They 
then  hurried  her  away  before  them,  to 
gether  with  a  number  of  other  captives, 
but  ere  they  had  gone  many  steps, 
dashed  out  the  brains  of  the  infant 
against  a  tree.  The  mother's  heart 
would  have  sunk,  but  she  thought  of 
her  surviving  children,  and  summoned 
up  strength  to  march  before  the  savages 
towards  the  Canadian  frontier.  She 
saw  her  companions,  as  they  sunk  one 
by  one  with  exhaustion,  brained  by  the 
tomahawk  of  the  savages,  and  their 
scalps  taken  as  trophies  to  the  Christian 
governor  of  Canada.  After  sojourning, 
in  pray  erf ul  ness  and  anguish  of  spirit, 
with  the  Indian  family  to  which  she 
was  allotted,  she  pursued  with  them 
her  onward  course  towards  an  Indian 
rendezvous,  where,  as  she  was  told,  she 
would  have  to  run  the  gauntlet  through 
a  row  of  savage  tormentors.  A  des 
perate  resolution  took  possession  of  her 
mind  •  might  she  not  lawfully  slay  the 


162 


FIRST  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


II 


murderers  of  her  babe,  effect  thus  her 
own  deliverance,  and  rejoin  her  hus 
band  and  children,  if  haply  they  were 
yet  alive  ?  One  night,  when  now  more 
than  a  hundred  miles  from  Haverhill, 
having  prevailed  upon  the  nurse  and  a 
boy,  also  a  prisoner,  to  join  her,  this 
brave  woman  arose,  and  with  only  such 
help  as  this,  dispatched  all  the  Indians 
with  their  own  hatchets,  except  two  of 
the  youngest,  took  their  scalps,  and  re 
traced  the  long  journey  through  the 
woods  back  to  Haverhill. 

Through  such  trying  scenes  as  these, 
were  the  mothers  of  our  people  called 
upon  to  pass. 

Frontenac  still  continued  his  strug 
gle  with  the  Iroquois.  Although  now 
seventy-four  years  old,  he  personally  con 
ducted  an  expedition,  and  carried  the 
wars  into  the  territory  of  the  Ononda- 
gas  and  Oneidas,  cutting  up  their  corn, 
and  burning  their  villages.  It  was  a 
melancholy  spectacle  to  see  a  man  of 
noble  descent,  and  of  heroic  spirit, 
himself  near  the  end  of  life,  giving  his 
sanction  to  torture  an  Indian  prisoner, 
a  hundred  years  old,  with  all  the  re 
finements  of  savage  cruelty !  "  A  most 
singular  spectacle  indeed  it  was,"  says 
Charlevoix  "to  see  upwards  of  four 


hundred  tormentors  raging  about  a  de 
crepit  old  man,  from  whom,  by  all  their 
tortures,  they  could  not  extract  a  single 
groan,  and  who,  as  long  as  he  lived,  did 
not  cease  to  reproach  them  with  being 
slaves  of  the  French,  of  whom  he  af 
fected  to  speak  with  the  utmost  dis 
dain.  On  receiving  at  last  his  death- 
stroke,  he  exclaimed,  'Why  shorten 
my  life  ?  better  improve  this  opportu 
nity  of  learning  how  to  die  like  a  man !' " 
The  last  year  of  the  war  was  very 
trying.  A  severe  winter  and  very 
great  scarcity  of  provisions  were  ag 
gravated  by  a  constant  apprehension 
of  attack  on  Boston  by  a  French  fleet ; 

but   happily  no  result  came  of 

.  . 
this    expedition ;    and    towards 

the  close  of  169Y,  the  peace  of  Rys- 
wick  was  proclaimed,  and  the  first  in 
tercolonial  war  was  brought  to  an  end. 
Each  party,  by  the  terms  of  the  treaty, 
retained  the  territories  possessed  before 
the  war,  thus  leaving  the  colonial  de 
pendencies  of  both  nations  in  much  the 
same  position  as  they  were  antecedent 
to  the  severe  struggle,  save  that  a  spirit 
of  deadly  hatred  had  been  engendered, 
which  was  ready  to  break  out  intc 
active  cruelty  at  any  favorable  me 
merit 


CH.  II.] 


COMMERCIAL  POLICY  TOWARDS  AMERICA. 


163 


CHAPTER    II. 

1696—1748, 

NEW    ENGLAND:     SECOND    AND    TIIIKD    INTERCOI  ONIAL    WAES. 

Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations — Enforcement  of  acts  —  Lord  Bellamont  governor  of  Massachusetts  —  His  address 
and  popularity  —  Piracy  —  Bellamont's  death  —  Dudley  his  successor  —  Dispute  about  the  salary  of  the 
governor  —  Second  intercolonial  war  —  Preparations  —  Indians  under  De  Rouville —  Deerfield  and  Haverhiil 
massacres  —  Expedition  against  Canada — Unsuccessful  —  Annapolis  taken — Expedition  under  Walker — Com 
bined  attack  projected  —  Failure  and  loss  —  Feelings  of  the  colonists  —  Results  of  the  peace  of  Utrecht  — 
Parties  on  the  subject  of  currency  and  commerce  —  Public  bank  in  majority  —  Colonel  Shute  governor  —  Dis 
putes —  Piracy  suppressed  —  Small  pox  and  inoculation  —  Burnet  governor — Dispute  about  the  salary  — 
Appeal  to  the  king  —  Language  of  the  Board  of  Trade — Belcher  successor  of  Burnet  —  Colonists  victorious  in 
the  salary  dispute  —  Troubles  on  the  frontier  —  Rasles  and  Norridgewock  Indians — Lovewell — Retaliation  — 
The  New  England  Courant  —  Franklin  —  Belcher  displaced  —  Shirley  appointed  governor  —  A  popular  magis 
trate  —  Boundary  disputes  with  New  Hampshire,  Maine,  and  Rhode  Island  settled  —  Third  intercolonial  war  — 
Capture  of  Louisburg  —  Spirit  of  the  Bostonians  —  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 


JUST  before  the  peace  of  Ryswick, 

on  the  complaint  of  English  merchants 

that  the  acts  of  trade  had  been  violated 

by  the  colonists,  there  was  es- 

-m  f*f\f*  ** 

tablished  the  BOARD  OF  TRADE 
AND  PLANTATIONS.  "  This  was  a  perma 
nent  commission,  consisting  of  a  presi 
dent  and  seven  members,  known  as 
'Lords  of  Trade,'  who  succeeded  to 
the  authority  and  oversight  hitherto 
exercised  by  plantation  committees  of 
the  Privy  Council.  Subsequently  the 
powers  of  this  Board  were  somewhat 
curtailed,  but  down  to  the  period  of 
the  American  Revolution  it  continued 
to  exercise  a  general  oversight  of  the 
colonies,  watching  the  Assemblies  with 
a  jealous  eye,  struggling  hard  to  up 
hold  the  prerogatives  of  the  king  and 
the  authority  of  parliament,  laboring 
to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  royal 
governors,  and  systematically  to  carry 
out  the  policy  of  rendering  America 
completely  subservient  to  the  narrow 


views  which  then  prevailed  of  the 
commercial  interests  of  the  mother 
country."*  Accordingly  the  acts  of 
trade  were  urged  anew,  and  the  hands 
of  all  revenue  officers  in  the  colonies 
strengthened :  vice  admiralty  courts 
were  also  established,  with  the  right  of 
appeal  to  the  king  in  council. 

Lord  Bellamout,  an  Irish  nobleman 
of  agreeable  manners  and  polished  de 
meanor,  was  appointed  to  tjie  gover 
norship  of  Massachusetts,  the  duties  of 
which  office,  after  the  death  of  Phipps 
in  1695,  had  been  discharged  by 
Stoughton,  lieutenant  governor.  Lord 
Bellamont  having  left  New  York,  ar 
rived  in  Boston  in  May,  1699, 

1699. 

and  by  his   address   soon   suc 
ceeded  in  gaining  the  good  will  of  all 
parties.      In  imitation  of  the  practice 
of  the  Irish  lord  lieutenant,  Bellamont 


*  Hildreth' 
ii.,  p.  197. 


"History  of  the   United  States?  voL 


164 


SECOND  AND  THIRD  INTERCOLONIAL  WARS. 


[En,  II 


opened  the  General  Court  with  formal 
speeches,  copies  of  which  were  delivered 
to  the  two  Houses  and  afterward  printed. 
We  give  an  extract  or  two,  as  illustra 
ting  the  style  and  manner  of  proceed 
ing,  as  well  as  the  sentiments  of  the 
new  governor.  His  first  speech,  a  very 
long  one  by  the  by,  concluded  in  these 
terms :  "  I  should  be  wanting  to  you 
and  myself  too,  if  I  did  not  put  you  in 
mind  of  the  indispensable  duty  and 
respect  we  owe  the  king,  for  being  the 
glorious  instrument  of  our  deliverance 
from  the  odious  fetters  and  chains  of 
popery  and  tyranny,  which  have  almost 
overwhelmed  our  consciences  and  sub 
verted  all  our  civil  rights.  There  is 
something  that  is  godlike  in  what  the 
king  hath  done  for  us.  The  works  of 
redemption  and  preservation  come  next 
to  that  of  creation.  I  would  not  be 
misunderstood,  so  as  to  be  thought  to 
rob  God  of  the  glory  of  that  stupen 
dous  act  of  his  providence,  in  bringing 
to  pass  the  late  happy  and  wonderful 
revolution  in  England.  His  blessed 
work  it  was,  without  doubt,  and  He  was 
pleased  to  make  King  William,  imme 
diately,  the  author  and  instrument  of 
it.  Ever  since  the  year  1602,  England 
has  had  a  succession  of  kings,  who  have 
been  aliens  in  this  respect,  that  they 
have  not  fought  our  battles  nor  been 
in  our  interests,  but  have  been,  in  an 
unnatural  manner  plotting  and  contriv 
ing  to  undermine  and  subvert  our  re 
ligion,  laws,  and  liberties,  till  God  was 
pleased,  by  His  infinite  power  and 
mercy  and  goodness,  to  give  us  a  true 
English  king  in  the  person  of  his 
present  majesty,  who  has,  upon  all  oc 
casions,  hazarded  his  royal  peison  in 


the  fronts  of  our  battles,  and  where 
there  was  most  danger  ;  he  has  restored 
to  our  nation  the  almost  lost  character 
of  bravery  and  valor ;  and,  what  is 
most  valuable  of  all,  his  majesty  is 
entirely  in  the  interest  of  his  people. 
It  is  therefore  our  duty  and  interest  to 
pray  to  God,  in  the  most  fervent  man 
ner,  that  He  would  bless  our  great  King 
William  with  a  long  and  prosperous 
reign  over  us,  to  which  I  am  persuaded, 
you  that  are  present  and  all  good  peo 
ple  will  heartily  say,  Amen."  His  last 
speech  has  more  in  the  same  strain : 
"The  parting  with  Canada  to  the 
French,  and  the  eastern  country  called 
Acadia  or  Nova  Scotia,  with  the  noble 
fishery  on  that  coast,  were  most  exe 
crable  treacheries  to  England,  and  in 
tended,  without  doubt,  to  serve  the 
ends  of  popery.  It  is  too  well  known 
what  interest  that  king  favored  who 
parted  with  Nova  Scotia,  and  of  what 
religion  he  died." 

The  noted  pirates  or  buccaneers 
having  been  deprived  of  French  and 
English  support,  by  the  remonstrances 
of  Spain,  were  compelled  in  a  great 
measure  to  give  up  their  lawless  mode 
of  life.  Some  of  them  settled  at  the 
west  end  of  Hayti ;  others  stuck  to  the 
old  trade,  and  in  various  places  they 
were  received  and  even  winked  at  by 
the  colonial  authorities.  A  company 
was  formed,  King  William  him 
self  taking  shares,  to  cruise  for 
recapturing  the  rich  prizes  which  the 
pirates  had  made.  Curiously  enough 
as  it  seems  to  us  now,  the  famous  Cap 
tain  Kidd,  was  put  in  command  of  a 
ship  fitted  out  for  this  purpose.  Kidd, 
at  that  time,  bore  a  good  character ; 


1697. 


CH.  II.] 


DUDLEY  SUCCESSOR  OF   BELLAMONT. 


105 


1700. 


but  the  temptation  appears  to  have 
been  too  great,  and  so  he  turned  pirate 
himself.  As  it  was  an  object  to  seize 
on  Kidd,  Lord  Bellamont  was  charged 
with  the  duty  of  accomplish- 

169§.  .  . 

ing  it  if  he  could  find  him.  His 
own  reputation  and  that  of  several  of 
his  friends  depended  upon  his  seizure, 
that  being  the  only  effectual  way  of 
removing  the  jealousies  and  sharp  sur 
mises,  not  only  against  several  of  the 
ministry  but  even  the  king  himself. 
Kidd  having  buried  his  treasures  on 
the  east  end  of  Long  Island, 
burned  his  ship,  and  was  daring 
enough  to  appear  openly  in  Boston. 
He  was  arrested,  sent  to  England  for 
trial,  where,  with  Bradish  and  others, 
lie  was  executed. 

Bellamont  by  his  prudent  course  suc 
ceeded  in  obtaining  a  vote  for  a  more 
liberal  salary  than  any  of  his  predeces 
sors  or  successors,  for  the  General  Court 
voted  him  about  $9,000  for  the  four 
teen  months  he  was  with  them.  But  he 
was  not  able  to  prevail  npon  them  to 
rebuild  the  fort  at  Pemaquid,  or  pass 
ordinances  enforcing  the  acts  of  trade. 
A  like  unwillingness  to  be  shackled  in 
their  commercial  interests  operated  in 
Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut,  and 
caused  Bellamont  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  and  vexation.  In  1701, 
while  in  New  York  and  engaged 
in  pretty  sharp  controversy  growing 
out  of  the  navigation  act,  Lord  Bella 
mont  suddenly  died. 

Joseph  Dudley,  an  ambitious,  but 
by  no  means  a  popular  man,  obtained 
the  appointment  of  governor  from  the 
king.  Having  received  his  commission 
from  Queen  Anne,  who  succeeded  Wil- 


I7O1. 


liam  on  the  throne,  Dudley  reached 
Boston  in  1702.  In  his  first  speech  to 

the  Council  and  Assembly,  he  in- 

f          1*1         ^  1702< 

formed  them  that  he  was  com 
manded  by  her  majesty  to  observe  to 
them,  "  that  there  is  no  other  province 
or  government  belonging  to  the  crown 
of  England,  except  this,  where  there  is 
not  provided  a  fit  and  convenient  house 
for  the  reception  of  the  governor,  and 
a  settled  stated  salary  for  the  governor, 
lieutenant  governor,  secretary,  judges, 
and  all  other  officers ;  which,  therefore, 
is  recommended  to  you.  And  since  this 
province  is  so  particularly  favored  by 
the  crown,  in  more  instances  than  one, 
their  more  ready  obedience  is  justly 
expected  in  this  and  all  other  occa 
sions."  The  House,  in  their  answer  the 
next  day,  observed,  "As  for  those 
points  which,  in  obedience  to  her  ma 
jesty's  command,  your  excellency  has 
laid  before  this  House,  we  shall  proceed 
with  all  convenient  speed  to  the  con 
sideration  of  them."  Having  resolved 
that  the  sum  of  £500  be  at  this  time 
presented  out  of  the  public  treasury  to 
the  governor,  the  House,  in  their  answer 
to  some  parts  of  his  speech,  observed, 
"As  to  settling  a  salary  for  the  gover 
nor,  it  is  altogether  new  to  us  ;  nor  can 

i  O  7 

we  think  it  agreeable  to  our  present  con 
stitution,  but  we  shall  be  ready  to  do 
according  to  our  ability,  what  may  be 
proper  on  our  part  for  the  support  of 
the  government."  The  sturdy  Bos- 
tonians  had  no  intention  of  saddling 
themselves  with  any  such  burdens  as 
these.  Dudley  could  not  bring  them 
to  the  point,  and  indeed  from  this  time 
it  became  a  fruitful  source  of  conten 
tion  between  the  governor  and  the 


166 


SECOND   AND  THIRD  INTERCOLONIAL    WARS. 


[Bx.  IL 


1701. 


colonists  as  to  their  respective  rights 
and  privileges. 

The  disputes  between  France  and 
England  relative  to  the  "Spanish  suc 
cession"  brought  on  a  second  inter- 

O 

colonial  war,  and  involved  the  colonists 
not  only  with  the  French  in  the 
north,  but  with  the  Spaniards, 
also,  in  Florida.  Active  preparations 
were  made  in  Canada,  in  1702,  for  re 
newing  the  contest,  and  the  settle 
ments  in  Maine  were  furiously  attack 
ed.  The  colonists  had  already  pro 
voked  hostilities  by  plunder- 

1703. 

ing  the  half-breed  son  of  Baron 
Castin,  on  the  Penobscot.  The  eastern 
Indians,  wholly  under  French  influence, 
were  easily  roused  to  seek  revenge. 
Accordingly  a  body  of  two  hundred 
Canadians  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  In 
dians,  under  the  command  of  Hertelle 
de  Rouville,  in  March,  1704,  de 
scended  the  Connecticut  and 
stole  -upon  the  village  of  Deerfield,  in 
the  dead  of  a  wintry  night,  while  the 
sentinels  were  all  asleep,  and  the  snow 
drifts  piled  high  rendered  it  an  easy 
thing  to  scale  the  palisade.  The  vil 
lage  was  burned,  nearly  fifty  of  the 
inhabitants  murdered,  and  a  hundred 
more  driven  through  the  snow-covered 
forests  to  Canada,  a  distance  of  about 
three  hundred  miles.  As  the  women 
and  children  sunk  with  fatigue,  their 
sufferings  were  ended  by  the  toma 
hawk.  In  reprisal  for  these  atrocities 
the  English  offered  a  premium  of — on 
an  average— $100  for  the  scalps  of  the 
Indians,  and  the  whole  frontier  was  a 
scene  of  bloody  and  barbarous  recrimi 
nation.  So  difficult,  however,  was  it 
to  succeed  in  taking  an  Indian  that  it 


1701. 


170§. 


was  calculated  that  every  Indian  scalp 
brought  in  during  this  war  cost  the 
colony  over  $3,000. 

This  same  De  Rouville,  in  1708,  set 
forth  on  another  predatory  expedition, 
with  the  view  of  surprising  Portsmouth, 
but  not  being  able  to  obtain  some  ex 
pected  reinforcements,  fell  again  upon 
the  little  village  of  Haverhill.  With 
that  astonishing  bigotry  and  fanaticism 
of  the  day,  thinking  that  they  were 
doing  God  service,  they  went  through 
their  devotions,  then  entered  the 
village  a  little  before  sunrise, 
and  began  the  wonted  work  of  destruc 
tion.  Fifty  of  the  inhabitants  were 
killed  by  the  hatchet,  or  burned  in  the 
flames  of  their  own  homesteads.  The 
first  panic  having  subsided,  a  bold  de 
fence  was  made.  Davis,  an  intrepid 
man,  concealed  himself  behind  a  barn, 
and  by  beating  violently  on  it,  and 
calling  out  to  his  imaginary  succors, 
"  Come  on !  Come  on !"  as  if  already 
on  the  spot,  succeeded  in  alarming  the 
invaders.  Here  occurred  another  re 
markable  instance  of  female  energy  and 

Ot/ 

heroism,  called  forth  by  the  terrible 
emergencies  of  the  period.  One  Swan, 
and  his  wife,  seeing  two  Indians  ap 
proach  their  dwelling,  to  save  them 
selves  and  children,  planted  themselves 
against  the  narrow  doorway,  and  main 
tained  it  with  desperate  energy  against 
them,  till  their  strength  began  to  fail. 
The  husband,  unable  to  bear  the  pres 
sure,  cried  to  his  wife  that  it  was  useless 
any  longer  to  resist,  but  she,  seeing  but 
one  of  the  half-naked  Indians  was  al 
ready  forcing  himself  into  the  doorway, 
seized  a  sharp-pointed  spit,  drove  it  with 
her  whole  strength  into  his  body,  and 


Cn.  II.] 


EXPEDITION  AGAINST  QUEBEC. 


167 


1707. 


170§. 


thus  compelled  himself  and  his  fellow 
savage  to  retreat.  The  alarm  being 
given,  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that 
the  invaders  contrived  to  effect  their 
escape  from  the  scene  of  their  barba 
rous  assault. 

Dudley  having  obtained  information 
of  the  weakness  of  Canada,  prevailed 
upon  Rhode  Island  and  New  Hamp 
shire  to  join  in  an  enterprise 
against  the  French.  The  expe 
dition  consisted  of  a  thousand  men,  and 
was  directed  against  Port  Royal ;  but 
they  were  not  able  to  reduce  the  fort. 
Having  burned  and  ravaged  in  every 
direction,  and  having  failed  in  a  second 
attack  on  the  citadel,  they  were  com 
pelled  to  abandon  the  enterprise.  An 
earnest  petition  was  made  at  this 
time  (1708)  to  Queen  Anne,  to 
terminate  this  "consuming  war"  of 
little  less  than  twenty  years'  duration, 
by  the  final  conquest  of  all  the  French 
possessions.  All  the  northern  States 
joined  in  raising  and  equipping  troops, 
and  agents  were  sent  over  to  urge  the 
cooperation  of  the  English  Govern 
ment.  Their  application  was  success 
ful,  and  two  English  ships  of  war,  with 
five  hundred  marines  on  board,  ap 
peared  in  the  harbor  of  Boston. 
With  a  considerable  force  raised 
by  the  colonists,  they  proceeded,  under 
the  command  of  Nicholson,  to  invest 
Port  Royal,  which  was  in  no  condition 
to  offer  a  protracted  resistance.  The 
French  were  obliged  to  capitulate,  and 
the  conquered  fortress,  in  honor  of  the 
English  queen,  received  the  name  of 
Annapolis,  which  it  has  ever  since  re 
tained.  With  the  exception  of  the 
inhabitants  within  a  circuit  of  three 


1710. 


1711. 


1711. 


miles,  all  others  were  exposed  to  plun 
der  and  ill  usage  at  the  caprice  of  the 
captors ;  and  the  proposition  was  even 
made  to  drive  them  from  their  homes 
"  unless  they  would  turn  Protestants." 
Nicholson,  who  had  gone  to  Eng 
land,  returned  again  in  June, 
17 11,  and  brought  with  him 
the  important  information  that  a  large 
armament  was  under  way  for  the  sub 
jugation  of  Canada.  A  few  weeks 
afterwards  a  fleet  of  fifteen  ships  of 
war,  commanded  by  Sir  Hovendeu 
Walker,  with  forty  transports,  and  five 
regiments  of  veterans  of  Maiiborou^h's 

o  o 

troops,  arrived  at  Boston.  Delayed 
rather  vexatiously,  it  was  not  till  the 
last  of  July  that  the  expedition,  with 
seven  thousand  men  on  board, 
sailed  against  Quebec.  Nichol 
son  repaired  to  Albany,  to  take  the  com 
mand  of  a  large  body  of  troops  that 
were  to  proceed  by  land  to  attack  Mon 
treal.  When  the  fleet  had  advanced  ten 
leagues  up  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  the 
weather  became  tempestuous  and  foggy. 
A  difference  of  opinion  arose  concerning 
the  course  to  be  pursued  ;  the  English 
pilots  recommending  one  course,  and 
the  colonial  another.  The  admiral, 
like  most  English  officers,  preferred 
the  advice  of  his  own  to  that  of  the 
colonial  pilots.  Pursuing  the  course 
they  recommended  during  the  night, 
eight  transports  were  driven  upon  {he 
rocks  and  dashed  to  pieces.  From 
every  quarter  cries  of  distress  arose, 
conveying  through  the  darkness,  to 
those  who  were  yet  afloat,  intelligence 
of  the  fate  of  their  comrades,  and  of 
their  own  danger.  The  shrieks  of  the 
drowning  pleaded  powerfully  for  assist- 


168 


SECOND   AND  THIRD   INTERCOLONIAL  WARS. 


[BK.  II. 


ance,  but  none  could  be  afforded  until 
the  morning  dawned,  when  six  or  seven 

O  / 

hundred,  found  floating  on  the  scat 
tered  wrecks,  were  rescued  from  death, 
nearly  a  thousand  having  sunk  to  rise 
no  more.  Chagrined  by  this  terrible 
disaster,  the  admiral  sailed  away  as  fast 
as  possible  for  England,  where  he  ar 
rived  in  the  month  of  October.  The 
New  England  troops  returned  to  their 
homes,  and  Nicholson,  having  learned 
the  fate  of  the  fleet,  led  back  his  troops 
to  Albany.  The  indignation  of  the 
colonists  knew  no  bounds,  and  they  un 
sparingly  denounced  those  who  had 
caused  the  failure  of  the  expedition, 
and  involved  them  in  this  heavy  and 
disgraceful  expense  and  loss. 

The  treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  1 713,  put  an 
end  to  the  second  intercolonial  war. 
So  far  as  America  was  concerned 
the  colonists  obtained  consid 
erable  advantages,  inasmuch  as  there 
was  yielded  to  them  the  entire  posses 
sion  of  Hudson's  Bay  and  the  fur  trade, 
the  whole  of  Newfoundland,  the  French 
having  certain  privileges  in  the  fisheries, 
and  the  territory  of  Acadie,  which  re 
ceived  the  name  of  NOVA  SCOTIA. 

The  affairs  of  the  war  had  so  en 
gaged  public  attention,  that  we  hear 
little  of  party  disputes  for  five  or 
six  years  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  were 
delivered  from  enemies  without,  a  con 
tention  began  within,  the  effects  of 
which  were  felt  for  many  years  to 
gether.  The  paper  bills  of  credit  were 
the  cause  of  this  contention :  so  many 
of  which  had  been  issued  for  the 
charges  of  the  war — particularly  the 
large  sum  of  £40,000,  issued  for  the 
Canada  expedition —that  they  were 


17 13. 


become  the  instrument  and  measure  of 
commerce,  and  silver  and  gold  were 
hardly  at  all  to  be  obtained.  The  price 
of  every  thing  bo-ight  or  sold  conse 
quently,  was  no  longer  compared  with 
gold  or  silver,  but  with  the  paper 
bills,  or  rather  with  mere  idoal  pounds, 
shillings,  and  pence.  The  rise  of  ex 
change  with  England  and  all  other 
countries,  was  not  attributed  to  the 
true  cause,  the  want  of  a  fixed  staple 
medium,  but  to  the  general  bad  state 
of  the  trade ;  and  it  was  thought  by 
many  that  increasing  the  paper  bills 
would  enliven  and  increase  trade. 

Three  parties  grew  out  of  the  differ 
ence  of  views  on  this  question.  One 
was  very  small,  and  advocated  the 
drawing  in  the  paper  bills  and  depend 
ing  upon  silver  and  gold  currency. 
Mr.  Hutchinson,  one  of  the  members 
for  Boston,  was  among  the  most  active 
of  this  party.  He  was  an  enemy,  all 
his  life,  to  a  depreciating  currency, 
upon  a  principle  very  ancient,  but  too 
seldom  practised  upon — nil  utile  quod 
non  honestum :  "  nothing  is  advanta 
geous  which  is  not  honest." 

Another  party  was  very  numerous. 
These  projected  issuing  bills  of  credit, 
which  all  the  members  of  the  company 
promised  to  receive  as  money,  but  at 
no  certain  value  compared  with  silver 
and  gold ;  and  real  estates,  to  a  suf 
ficient  value,  were  to  be  bound  as  a 
security  that  the  company  should  per 
form  their  engagements.  They  solicited 
the  sanction  of  the  General  Court,  and 
an  act  of  government  to  incorporate 
them.  This  party  consisted,  for  the 
most  part,  of  persons  in  difficult  or  in 
volved  circumstances  in  trade,  or  such 


Cn.  II.] 


SUPPRESSION   OF  PIRACY. 


1G9 


fis  were  possessed  of  real  estates,  but 
had  little  or  no  ready  money  at  com 
mand,  or  men  of  no  substance  at  all ; 
and  we  may  well  enough  suppose  the 
party  to  be  very  numerous. 

A  third  party,  though  opposed  to 
the  plan  just  stated,  yet  were  no  ene 
mies  to  bills  of  credit.  They  were  in 
favor  of  a  loan  of  bills  from  the  govern 
ment  to  any  of  the  inhabitants  who 
would  mortgage  their  estates  as  a  secu 
rity  for  the  repayment  of  the  bills  with 
interest,  in  a  term  of  years,  the  interest 
to  be  paid  annually,  and  applied  to  the 
support  of  government.  The  principal 
men  of  the  Council  were  in  favor  of  it, 
and  it  being  thought  by  the  first  par 
ty  the  less  of  the  two  evils,  they  fell 
in  with  the  scheme,  and,  after  that, 
the  question  was  between  a  public  or 
a  private  bank.  The  legislature  was 
nearly  equally  divided,  but  rather  fa 
vored  a  private  bank,  from  the  great 
influence  of  the  Boston  members  in  the 
House,  and  a  great  number  of  persons 
of  the  town,  out  of  it.  The  controversy 
spread  widely,  and  divided  towns, 
parishes,  and  private  families. 

In  1*714,  after  an  exhausting  struggle, 
the  public  bank  gained  the  majority, 
"and  £50,000  in  provincial  bills 
of  credit  were  issued  on  that 
scheme,  and  distributed  among  the 
counties  in  the  ratio  of  their  taxes,  to  be 
put  into  the  hands  of  trustees,  and  lent 
out  in  sums  from  £50,  to  £500,  on 
mortgages,  reimbursable  in  five  annual 
installments." 

Queen  Anne's  death,  August  1,  1*714, 
led  to  a  change  in  the  governorship. 
A  certain  Colonel  Burgess  was  appoint 
ed,  but  being  in  rather  needy  circum- 

VOL.  I.— 24 


1714. 


1716. 


stances  he  was  bought  off  for  about 
$5,000,  and  Colonel  Shute,  who  had 
served  under  Marlborough,  was  made 
governor.  Shute  arrived  in  Massachu 
setts  in  October  1716,  and  im 
mediately  took  the  side  of  the 
party  in  favor  of  the  public  bank.  Of 
course  the  other  party  opposed  his 
measures,  Elisha  Cooke  acting  as  their 
leader.  Cooke  was  elected  speaker  by 
the  House  in  1*720;  but  the  governor 
vetoed  the  choice  and  dissolved  the 
Court.  Embittered  feeling  on  both 
sides  was  the  consequence  ;  and  Shute, 
disgusted  with  his  post,  suddenly  left 
the  province  in  1*722,  Dummer,  the 
lieutenant  governor,  taking  the  guid 
ance  of  affairs  for  the  next  six  years. 

Piracy  having  again  become  trouble 
some  in  the  American  waters,  it  was 
determined  to  make  a  vigorous  effort 
effectually  to  suppress  it.  Bellamy,  one 
of  the  most  noted  of  the  pirates,  was 
wrecked  on  Cape  Cod,  where  he 
perished  with  a  hundred  of  his  men. 
A  few  who  escaped  were  seized  and 
hung  at  Boston.  The  famous  "  Black- 
beard,"  or  John  Theach,  who 

.  1717. 

used  to  lurk  about  Pamlico 
River,  was  taken  after  a  desperate  re 
sistance  ;  and  Steed  Bonnet,  the  chief 
of  a  band  of  pirates  who  sought  refuge 
on  the  coast  about  Cape  Fear,  was 
taken,  and  with  forty  or  more 
of  his  men,  was  executed.  In 
1*723,  a  commission  of  admiralty  in 
session  at  Newport  condemned  to  death 
nearly  thirty  more  of  these  lawless 
depredators.  Thus,  by  the  vigor  of  the 
colonists,  piracy  soon  lost  its  terror  to 
those  honestly  engaged  in  the  pursuits 
of  commerce. 


171§. 


170 


SECOND  AND  THIRD  INTERCOLONIAL  WARS. 


R.  II. 


Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1721, 

the    small-pox  broke   out   in    Boston 

and  caused  wide  spread  alarm. 

1721  i          •     n  r* 

Through  the  influence  01  Cot 
ton  Mather,  Dr.  Boylston  of  that  city 
was  prevailed  upon  to  try  the  process 
of  inoculation.  It  was  violently  op 
posed,  and  every  species  of  abuse  was 
resorted  to  in  order  to  put  a  stop  to 
the  new  practice.  The  Mathers  took 
a  noble  stand  against  the  ignorant 
prejudice  of  the  community,  and  the 
success  of  inoculation  ere  long  silenced 
opposition.  It  was  at  this  very  date 
that  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague 
introduced  the  same  practice  into  Eng 
land,  having  learned  its  value  among 
the  Turks. 

William  Burnet,  an  amiable  and  cor 
rect  man,  came  from  New  York  in  July, 
1728,  as  the  successor  of  Shute 
in  the  chief  magistracy.  In 
his  opening  speech  he  informed  the 
House  that  he  was  directed  to  insist 
upon  their  fixing  a  permanent  salary 
for  the  governor.  This  renewed  the 
old  contest.  The  House  was  not  at  all 
unwilling  to  vote  money,  but  they 
were  resolute  on  the  point  of  yielding 
a  fixed  salary.  They  appropriated 
£1,700,  of  which  £1,400  was  for  sal 
ary,  and  £300  for  the  expenses  of  the 
governor's  journey.  Burnet  accepted 
the  latter,  but  declared  positively  that 
he  could  not,  and  would  not,  accept 
the  grant  on  account  of  salary.  Per 
sisting  in  their  refusal  to  accede  to  his 
demands,  the  governor,  on  the  24th  of 
October,  adjourned  the  Assembly  to 
the  31st,  to  meet  at  Salem,  "  where 
prejudices  had  not  taken  root,  and 
where  of  consequence  his  majesty's  ser- 


vice  would  in  all  probability  be  better 
answered"  than  in  the  town  of  Boston. 
With  a  dry  sort  of  humor,  which  helps 
to  relieve  such  contentions  as  these 
of  their  tediousness,  Burnet  remarked, 
that  very  possibly  there  might  be  a 
charm  in  the  names  of  places  ;  and  that 
really,  with  gentlemen  of  their  stamp,  he 
was  at  a  loss  whether  to  carry  them  to 
Salem  or  to  Concord.  As  there  seemed 
to  be  a  fixed  determination  on  the  part 
of  the  governor,  despite  their  remon 
strances,  to  keep  them  in  session  until 
they  yielded,  the  House  resolved  to  pre 
sent  a  memorial  to  the  king,  setting 
forth  the  reasons  of  their  conduct  in 
relation  to  the  salary.  They  informed 
his  majesty,  that  "  it  is,  and  has  been 
very  well  known  in  this,  as  well  as 
other  nations  and  ages,  that  governors, 
at  a  distance  from  the  prince,  or  seat 
of  government,  have  great  opportuni 
ties,  and  sometimes  too  prevailing  in 
clinations,  to  oppress  the  people ;  and 
it  is  almost  impossible  for  the  prince, 
who  is  the  most  careful  father  of  his 
subjects,  to  have  such  matters  set  in  a 
true  light."  This  address  was  referred 
to  the  Board  of  Trade,  before  whom 
there  was  a  hearing  in  behalf  of  the 
crown,  as  well  as  on  the  part  of  the 
House.  The  Board  condemned  the  con 
duct  of  the  latter,  in  refusing  to  com 
ply  with  the  royal  instructions ;  and 
in  the  conclusion  of  the  report  to  the 
king  and  council,  manifested  an  ex 
treme  jealousy  of  the  growing  power 
and  wealth  of  Massachusetts,  and  of 
the  possible,  or  even  probable,  deter 
mination  of  its  inhabitants  to  become 
independent  of  the  crown.  "  The  in 
habitants,"  say  the  Board,  "  far  from 


CH.  II.] 


DISPUTES  ABOUT  THE  GOVERNOR'S  SALARY. 


171 


making  suitable  returns  to  his  majesty 
for  the  extraordinary  privileges  they 
enjoy,  are  daily  endeavoring  to  wrest 
the  small  remains  of  power  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  crown,  and  to  become 
independent  of  the  mother  kingdom. 
The  nature  of  the  soil  and  products  are 
much  the  same  with  those  of  Great 
Britain,  the  inhabitants  upwards  of 
ninety -four  thousand,  and  their  militia, 
consisting  of  sixteen  regiments  of  foot 
and  fifteen  troops  of  horse,  in  the  year 
1718,  fifteen  thousand  men  ;  and  by  a 
medium  taken  from  the  naval  officers' 
accounts  for  three  years,  from  the  24th 
of  June,  1714,  to  the  24th  of  June, 
1717,  for  the  ports  of  Boston  and  Sa 
lem  only,  it  appears  that  the  trade  of 
this  country  employs  continually  no 
less  than  three  thousand  four  hundred 
and  ninety-three  sailors,  and  four  hun 
dred  and  ninety-two  ships,  making 
twenty-five  thousand  four  hundred  and 
six  tons.  Hence  your  excellencies  will 
be  apprised  of  what  importance  it  is  to 
his  majesty's  service  that  so  powerful  a 
colony  should  be  restrained  within  due 
bounds  of  obedience  to  the  crown,  and 
more  firmly  attached  to  the  interests 
of  Great  Britain  than  they  now  seem 
to  be,  which,  we  conceive,  cannot  effec 
tually  be  done  without  the  interposi 
tion  of  the  British  legislature,  wherein, 
in  our  humble  opinion,  no  time  shouK 
be  lost." 

Fretted  and  worried  by  this  contro 
versy,  Governor  Burnet  was  seized  with 
a  fever  which  terminated  fatally 
on  the  7th  of  September,  1729. 
Jonathan  Belcher,  at  the  time  agent 
for  the  colony  in  England,  was  ap 
pointed  his  successor.  The  same  charge 


1729. 


1732. 


was  laid  upon  him  to  arrange  for  a  per 
manent  salary ;  but  he  met  with  no 
more  success  than  his  predecessor  ;  and 
not  long  after  he  accepted  the  annual 
grants  which  the  House  was  wil 
ling  to  make.  Thus  the  unfalter 
ing  firmness  of  the  colonists  triumphed 
over  all  attempts  to  coerce  them  into 
submission  on  this  point. 

While  these  disputes  between  the 
governor  and  the  people  were  in  pro 
gress,  fresh  troubles  arose  on  the  east 
ern  frontier.  As  was  natural,  the 
question  of  the  boundary  between  the 
English  and  French  territory  was  fruit 
ful  in  trouble.  The  Massachusetts  peo 
ple  looked  with  no  pleasant  feelings 
upon  the  Jesuit  mission  on  the  Penob- 
scot,  and  were  ready  to  make  encroach 
ments  upon  the  Indian  lands  whenever 
opportunity  offered.  It  was  determined 
to  seize  Ilasles,  the  Jesuit  missionary  at 
Norridgewock,  on  the  plea  of  his  excit 
ing  the  Indians  to  hostility.  The  expe 
dition  was  partially  successful: 
Rasles  escaped  capture  at  the 
time ;  but  two  years  later,  in  a  sudden 
attack,  he  was  killed,  with  some  thirty 
Indians,  and  both  the  chapel  and  the 
village  were  burned  and  completely  bro 
ken  up.  Following  the  example  of  the 
French,  the  government  offered  a  large 
premium  for  scalps.  This  excited  the 
cupidity  of  John  Love  well,  a  noted 
partisan  of  that  day,  to  raise  a 
company  of  hunters.  He  car 
ried  on  his  operations  with  success, 
surprised  and  killed  ten  Indians  near 
the  head  of  Salmon  Falls  River,  and 
entered  Dover  in  triumph,  with  the 
scalps  hooped  and  elevated  on  poles. 
A  few  months  later  he  met  his  death 


1722. 


172 


SECOND  AND  THIRD  INTERCOLONIAL   WARS. 


K.  II, 


on  a  second  expedition.  Near  the 
head  of  the  Saco  he  fell  into  an  am 
bush,  and  was  shot  on  the  first  fire 
with  eight  of  his  men :  the  survivors 
fought  bravely  through  the  whole  day, 
repulsed  the  Indians,  and  at  length 
made  good  their  retreat.  The  Indians 
retaliated  by  burning  frontier  villages 
and  farms.  At  the  Gut  of  Causo  they 
seized  seventeen  fishing  vessels,  belong 
ing  to  Massachusetts;  but  they  were 
speedily  compelled  to  relinquish  them 
with  severe  loss  to  the  Indian  captors. 
This  dispute,  which  had  well  nigh  in 
volved  all  the  northern  colonies  and 
Indians  in  a  fresh  war  of  mutual  exter 
mination,  was  at  length  found  to  be  so 
unprofitable  to  both  parties  that  they 
gladly  agreed  to  a  peace.  Every  such 
struggle,  however,  had  but  the  same 
result,  that  of  the  gradual  extermina 
tion  of  the  weaker  party,  and  opening 
their  country  to  the  further  advance  of 
the  white  men. 

It  was  at  this  period,  in  1722,  that 
James  Franklin  started  the  Neiu  Eng 
land  Courant,  and  had  for  a 
contributor  Benjamin  Franklin, 
a  youth  of  sixteen  at  the  time.  The 
Courant  aspiring  to  what  was  consid 
ered  too  great  freedom  in  uttering 
opinions,  the  younger  Franklin  was 
admonished  by  the  authorities,  and 
his  brother  was  forbidden  to  publish 
without  license.  The  paper  soon  after 
lost  support  and  was  discontinued. 
The  Philadelphia  Mercury,  the  only 
newspaper  in  the  colonies  out  of  Bos 
ton,  though  it  had  no  great  liberty  al 
lowed  to  it,  commented  severely  upon 
the  course  of  the  authorities  towards 
the  Courant. 


1722. 


174O. 


Governor  Belcher's  enemies  succeed 
ed  in  effecting  his  displacement 
in  1 740.  William  Shirley,  a  law 
yer  of  Boston,  was  appointed  his  suc 
cessor.  Governor  Belcher,  in  accord 
ance  with  his  instructions,  had  resisted 
new  issues  of  paper  money,  which  had 
added  very  much  to  his  troubles  and 
roused  the  ire  of  many  against  him. 
"The  operation  of  the  Massachusetts 
banks  was  cut  short  by  an  act  of  Par 
liament  extending  to  the  colonies  that 
act  of  the  previous  reign  occasioned 
by  the  South  Sea  and  other  bubble 
schemes,  which  prohibited  the  forma 
tion  of  unincorporated  joint  stock  com 
panies  with  more  than  six  partners."* 
The  companies  were  compelled  to 
wind  up ;  and  the  partners  were  held 
individually  liable  for  the  notes. 
Shirley,  who  knew  the  people  he  had 
to  govern,  found  it  not  difficult  to  at' 
tain  popularity;  and  a  new  issue  of 
paper  money  was  made  in  order  to 
meet  the  expenses  of  the  war  just  bro« 
ken  out.  By  tacit  consent,  the  General 
Court  made  Shirley  an  annual  allow 
ance  of  £1,000  sterling  for  salary. 

In  1737,  a  controversy,  which  had 
long  subsisted  between  the  two  colo 
nies  of  Massachusetts  Bay  and 
New  Hampshire,  was  heard  by 
commissioners  for  that  purpose  ap 
pointed  by  the  crown.  Various  at 
tempts  had  been  made  to  settle  this 
dispute,  and  it  had  been  often  recom 
mended  by  the  crown  to  the  Assem 
blies  of  the  two  provinces  to  agree 
upon  arbitrators  from  neighboring 


*  Hildrcth'a  "  History  »/  the  United  States?  vol. 
ii.,  p.  380. 


1737 


CH.  II.] 


EXPEDITION  AGAINST  LOUISE URG. 


173 


governments,  and  to  pass  acts  which 
should  bind  each  province  to  be  subject 
to  their  determinations;  but  the  sug 
gestion  had  not  been  acted  upon.  This 
year,  however,  commissioners  were  ap 
pointed,  with  Philip  Livingston,  of  New 
York,  as  president,  to  settle  the  dispute. 
Greatly  to  the.  mortification  of  Massa 
chusetts,  it  was  decided  against  her,  and 
the  result  was,  New  Hampshire  gained 
several  hundred  thousand  acres  more 
than  she  had  ever  claimed.  In  1741, 
Benning  Wentworth  was  appointed 
governor,  an  office  which  he  filled  for 
the  next  twenty  years.  Massachusetts 
was  equally  unsuccessful  in  the  matter 
of  disputed  boundaries  as  respected 
Maine  and  Rhode  Island.  The  west 
ern  boundary  of  Maine  was  fixed  as  it 
now  runs,  which  was  according  to  the 
claims  of  New  Hampshire.  Rhode 
Island  also  obtained  a  decision  in  her 
favor  for  all  that  tract  which  Massa 
chusetts  claimed  to  be  within  the  old 
Plymouth  patent. 

The  third  intercolonial  war  took  its 
rise  from  the  effort,  on  the  part  of 
Spain,  to  maintain  that  jealous  system 
of  colonial  monopoly  which  she 
had  adopted  in  its  utmost  rigor, 
and  in  which  she  was  imitated,  with 
less  stringency,  by  the  French  and 
English.  The  latter  had  acquired,  by 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  the  privilege  of 
transporting  a  certain  number  of  slaves 
annually  1o  the  Spanish  colonies,  under 
cover  of  which  a  wide-spread  system 
of  smuggling  had  been  introduced, 
against  which  the  Spaniards  vainly 
sought  to  protect  themselves  by  the  es 
tablishment  of  revenue  cruisers.  Some 
of  these  Spanish  vessels  had  attacked 


1740. 


1743. 


English  ships  engaged  in  lawful  traffic, 
and  had  committed  several  instances  of 
barbarity,  which  had  greatly  moved 
the  popular  indignation,  and  excited  a 
clamor  for  war,  to  which  Walpole  the 
minister  was  reluctantly  obliged  to  con 
sent.  Soon  after,  a  general  European 
war  broke  out,  under  George  II.,  and 
the  colonies  in  America  were  of  course 
involved  in  new  struggles. 

The  first  intimation  which  New  Eng 
land  had  of  the  actual  state  of  things, 
was  in  May,  1Y43,  when  an  ex 
pedition  crossed  over  from  Cape 
Breton,  broke  up  the  fishery,  and  at 
tacked  and  captured  Fort  Canso,  in 
Nova  Scotia.  Annapolis  was  twice  be 
sieged  by  Indians  and  Canadians,  but 
obtained  seasonable  relief  from  Massa 
chusetts.  Privateers  issuing  from  Louis- 
bur^  did  great  damage  to  the 

1  *y  /I   fl 

New  England  fisheries  and  com 
merce,  and  the  eastern  Indians  renewed 
their  ravages  on  the  frontiers  of  Maine. 
The  French  had  expended  large  sums 
in  erecting  the  fortress  of  Louisburg,  on 
the  island  of  Cape  Breton.  To  effect 
its  reduction  was  therefore  of  the  most 
vital  importance;  yet  the  attempt  might 
well  have  appeared  all  but  desperate. 
The  walls  of  the  fortress,  surrounded 
with  a  moat,  were  prodigiously  strong, 
and  furnished  with  nearly  two  hundred 
pieces  of  cannon.  A  body  of  prisoners, 
however,  who,  having  been  seized  at 
the  English  settlement  of  Canso  and 
carried  to  Louisburg,  were  allowed  to 
return  to  Boston  on  parole,  disclosed 
the  important  fact  that  the  garrison  was 
both  weak  and  disaffected.  Shirley, 
the  governor,  proposed  to  the  legisla 
ture  of  Massachusetts  to  attempt  its  re 


174 


SECOND  AND  THIRD  INTERCOLONIAL  WARS. 


.  IL 


1745. 


duction,  a  proposal  carried  by  only  a 
single  vote.  The  northern  States,  in 
vited  to  cooperate  against  the 
common  enemy,  furnished  some 
small  supplies  of  men  and  money,  but 
the  chief  burden  fell  upon  Massachu 
setts  itself.  The  enthusiasm  of  her  citi 
zens  was  enkindled  by  religious  zeal  as 
well  as  commercial  interest :  all  classes 
offered  themselves  as  volunteers,  from 
the  hardy  woodman  of  the  interior,  to 
the  intrepid  fisherman  of  the  coast. 
The  celebrated  Whitfield,  at  the  time 
on  a  preaching  tour  throughout  the 
colonies,  aided  the  expedition  by  his 
stirring  eloquence,  and  suggested  as  a 
motto  for  the  flag  of  the  New  Hamp 
shire  regiment,  UJ\TU  desperandum 
CHKISTO  duce ;"  "  Nothing  is  to  be  de 
spaired  of  with  CHRIST  as  our  leader." 

Early  in  April  ten  vessels,  with  a 
body  of  over  three  thousand  men,  as 
sembled  at  Canso,  to  wait  there  the 
melting  of  the  ice  and  the  arrival  of 
the  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island 
quotas.  Very  fortunately  they  were 
here  joined  by  four  English  ships  of 
war,  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Warren,  who,  at  the  solicitation  of 
Shirley,  had  been  ordered  to  cooperate 
zealously  with  the  expedition.  Over 
the  New  England  armament  was  Wil 
liam  Pepperell,  a  wealthy  merchant  of 
Maine,  but  who  had  no  further  knowl 
edge  of  military  affiiirs  than  he  had 
obtained  by  commanding  the  militia. 
On  the  morning  of  the  last  day  of 
April,  the  squadron  arrived  off  Louis- 
burg,  the  troops  were  landed  in  spite 
of  opposition,  and  the  siege  was  carried 
on  with  all  the  energy  of  courage  and 
enthusiasm,  though  uninstructed  and 


inexperienced  in  the  art  of  war.  Can 
non  were  dragged  through  morasses 
and  over  rocky  hills,  and  batteries  were 
established  in  an  irregular  sort  of  way ; 
but  no  impression  was  made  upon  the 
works,  and  after  the  first  outburst  of 
excitement  was  spent,  the  most  san 
guine  were  compelled  to  admit  that  the 
place  seemed  all  but  impregnable,  and 
that  the  campaign  promised  to  be  both 
long  and  arduous.  Happily  the  great 
est  friends  of  the  besiegers  were  a  dis 
contented  garrison  and  embarrassed 
governor,  whose  supplies  had  been  al 
ready  cut  off  by  the  vigilance  of  the 
English  fleet,  that  now  succeeded'  in 
capturing,  under  his  very  eyes,  a  ship 
of  war  sent  to  his  relief.  To  hold  out 
longer  with  any  chance  of  success  was 
impossible,  and  on  the  17th  of  June  he 
accordingly  surrendered.  This  import 
ant  capture  was  looked  on  by  the  pious 
New  Englanders  as  "a  remarkable 
providence,"  and  caused  great  rejoic 
ings  at  Boston.  The  enterprise  indeed 
was  all  their  own,  though  its  success 
had  been  materially  promoted  by  suc 
cors  from  the  mother  country,  where 
their  energy  and  prowess  were  duly 
recognised,  not  without  some  slight 

o  '  o 

tincture  of  jealous  apprehensions  for 
the  future.  Pepperell  was  made  a  bar 
onet,  and  both  he  and  Shirley  received 
commissions  as  colonels  in  the  British 
army.  Warren  was  made  rear  admiral. 
The  attempt  under  the  Duke  D'Anville, 
with  a  large  fleet  and  several  thousand 
veteran  troops,  to  retake  Louis- 
burg,  was  defeated  by  storms 
and  fatal  sickness.  The  French,  how- 
ever,  obtained  possession  again  of  this 
strong  fortress  by  the  terms  of  the 


1716 


CH.  II.] 


SPIEIT  OF  THE  BOSTON  PEOPLE. 


175 


1747. 


treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle ;  which  ex 
cited  very  considerably  the  indignation 
of  the  New  Englanders.  Parliament 
subsequently  reimbursed  the  colonies, 
for  the  expenses  incurred  in  their  efforts 
against  the  French,  to  the  amount  of 
upwards  of  a  million  of  dollars. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Bostouians  in  all  matters  where  they 
conceived  their  liberties  entrenched 
upon,  it  deserves  to  be  noted  how  they 
served  Commodore  Knowles  and 
his  attempts  to  impress  men  for 
his  ships.  One  morning  in  November 
he  sent  a  press-gang  on  shore  who  seized 
and  carried  off  several  of  the  inhabit 
ants.  So  soon  as  the  outrage  was 
known  the  whole  city  was  alive  with 
excitement.  A  mob  of  several  thou 
sand  people  immediately  collected,  and 
besieged  the  town-house,  where  the 

O  * 

Council  was  then  in  session,  with  a  storm 
of  stones  and  brickbats.  In  vain  did 
Governor  Shirley  come  forth  upon  the 
balcony,  and  with  a  disavowal  of  the 
outrage,  and  a  promise  to  obtain  redress, 
endeavor  to  calm  the  exasperated  feel 
ings  of  the  populace ;  they  seized  upon 
the  officers  of  the  ship,  who  happened 
to  be  on  shore  at  the  time,  and  detained 
them  as  hostages  for  the  ransom  of 
their  fellow  citizens.  The  governor 
earnestly  entreated  Knowles  to  give 
up  the  impressed  seamen,  in  reply  to 
which  he  offered  to  land  a  body  of 
marines  to  support  the  governor,  and 
threatened  to  bombard  the  town  unless 
the  tumult  was  appeased.  The  excite 
ment  kept  on  increasing,  and  the  militia, 
who  were  called  out  next  day,  evincing 
u  sympathy  with  the  mob,  Shirley,  con 
sidering  himself  in  personal  danger,  re 


tired  from  the  town  to  the  castle,  situa 
ted  on  an  island  in  the  neighboring 
bay,  a  retreat  which  the  more  zealous 
of  the  mob  began  to  consider  equal  to 
an  abdication.  As  matters  had  now 
reached  an  alarming  pitch,  the  leading 
members  of  society,  who  had  fully  con 
curred  in  the  movement,  began  to  think 
that  it  was  time  to  check  it,  and  assem 
bling  in  town  meeting,  declared  their 
intention,  at  the  same  time  that  they 
yielded  to  none  in  a  sense  of  the  out 
rage  committed  by  Knowles,  to  stand 
by  the  governor  and  executive,  and  to 
suppress  this  threatening  tumult,  which 
they  very  conveniently  attributed  to 
"  negroes  and  persons  of  vile  condition." 
Meanwhile  Knowles,  at  the  earnest  so 
licitation  of  the  governor,  consented 
to  return  most  of  the  men  he  had  im 
pressed,  and  shortly  afterwards  depart 
ed  with  his  fleet,  while  Shirley,  returning 
to  Boston,  was  escorted  to  his  house  by 
the  same  militia  who  but  a  day  or  two 
before  had  refused  to  obey  his  instruc 
tions.  In  his  letters  to  the  Board  of 
Trade  on  the  subject  of  this  "rebel 
lious  insurrection,"  Shirley  ascribes  the 
"  mobbish  turn  of  a  town  inhabited  by 
twenty  thousand  people,"  to  its  consti 
tution,  by  which  the  management  of  it 
devolves  on  "the  populace  assembled 
in  their  town  meetings." 

The  war  was  brought  to  a  conclusion 
by  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Oc 
tober,  1748,  a  war  on  the  whole  very 
unsatisfactory  and  adding  largely  to 
the  national  debt  of  England. 
For  the  present  the  struggle 
between  the  French  and  English  in 
America  was  terminated ;  but  it  was 
by  no  means  finally  settled.  The  dis- 


171§. 


176 


NEW  YORK,  NEW  JERSEY,  PENNSYLVANIA. 


[BK. 


putes  concerning  the  boundaries  alone 
contained  the  seed  of  future  wars, 
which  could  only  end  with  the  absolute 
ascendancy  of  the  stronger  party.  The 
conquest  of  Canada  had  become  the 
favorite  scheme  both  of  the  English 


government  and  the  northern  colonies ; 
an  object  for  which  the  colonists  were 
willing  to  expend  their  blood  and 
treasure,  and  one  which  their  success 
at  Louisburg  incited  them  ever  to 
keep  before  their  eyes. 


CHAPTER     III. 

1691  —  1748, 

NEW     YOKE,     NEW     JERSEY,      PENNSYLVANIA. 

Party  feuds  in  New  York  —  Fletcher's  administration  —  Schuyler  and  the  Indians  —  Fletcher's  acts  in  religious 
matters  —  His  efforts  in  Pennsylvania  and  Connecticut  —  Rev.  Mr.  Miller's  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  London  —  Bar 
barities  of  Indian  warfare  —  Lord  Bellamont  governor  —  His  administration  —  Lord  Cornbury  appointed  —  His 
character  and  acts  —  Committee  of  grievances  —  Lovelace  governor — His  death — Expedition  against  Canada 
—  Postage  regulations  —  Hunter  governor — German  emigrants  —  Burnet  appointed  —  Efforts  against  th* 
French  —  Cosby  governor  —  Trial  of  Zenger  —  Governor  Clarke's  disputes  with  the  Assembly  —  The  "Negro 
plot"  in  New  York  —  Clinton  governor  —  Efforts  against  the  French  and  Indians  —  Affairs  of  New  Jersey  at  thi* 
date  —  Trouble  in  Pennsylvania  —  William  Penn  in  America  —  Efforts  to  settle  the  government  —  "Charter  of 
Privileges"  —  Penn's  return  to  England  —  His  letter  —  Evans  removed  —  Gookin  governor  —  Sir  William  Keith 
ilia  ^accessor —  Family  dispute  about  the  sovereignty  of  the  province  —  Governor  Thomas  and  the  controversy 
between  the  proprietaries  and  the  Assembly  on  the  question  of  taxation,  defence  of  the  province,  etc. 


THE  unhappy  fate  of  Jacob  Leisler, 
as  related  in  a  previous  chapter,  pro 
duced  a  deep  impression  in  New  York, 
and  gave  rise  to  party  feuds  which 
lasted  a  long  time  in  that  colony. 
From  this  date,  as  Mr.  Hildreth 
correctly  states,  there  was  a  final 
abandonment  of  the  ancient  Dutch 
usages,  and  the  .complete  introduction 
of  English  law  :  and  although  the  kin  £ 

'  O  O 

vetoed  a  statute  declaring  the  right  of 
the  people  to  participate  in  the  enact 
ment  of  all  laws,  through  an  Assembly, 
yet  in  practice  an  Assembly  became 
from  this  time  an  essential  part  of  the 
political  system  of  New  York. 

Sloughter's  sudden  death  left  New 
York  for  a  year  or  so  under  Ingoldsby's 


charge ;  in  the  latter  part  of  1692,  how 
ever,    Benjamin    Fletcher    was 

'.  1692. 

appointed  governor.  He  was 
much  such  a  character  as  Slonghter,  in 
want,  and  ready  to  grasp  all  within  his 
reach :  he  took  sides,  too,  \vith  the  anti- 
Leislerian  party,  which,  together  with 
his  efforts  to  obtain  endowment  for  the 
ministers  of  the  Church  of  England, 
stirred  up  strong  opposition.  Fortu 
nately  for  Fletcher  as  well  as  for  the 
general  progress  of  the  colony,  he  was 
duly  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  im 
portance  of  cultivating  the  friendship 
and  obtaining  the  aid  of  Major  Schuy 
ler,  in  all  matters  relating  to  Indian 
affairs.  This  able  officer's  influence 
with  the  Five  Nations  was  almost  UD- 


Cl£.    III.] 


FLETCHER'S  ADDRESS  TO  THE  ASSEMBLY. 


177 


iG93. 


bounded,  and  he  was  ever  ready  to  aid 
in  measures  for  their  defence  against 
the  French.  In  the  beginning  of  1693, 
on  an  occasion  of  the  French  having 
made  an  incursion  into  the  Mo 
hawk  country,  Schuyler  raised  a 
volunteer  force  of  two  hundred  men  and 
marched  from  Albany  in  pursuit  of 
them.  Fletcher,  by  extraordinary  acti 
vity,  brought  up  from  New  York  the  in 
dependent  companies  and  other  troops  ; 
but'  the  French  effected  their  escape 
and  the  Indians,  though  greatly  pleased 
with  the  zeal  of  Fletcher,  were  never 
theless  a  good  deal  inclined  to  make 
peace  with  the  French. 

Fletcher,  who,  it  seems,  was  not  cal 
culated  to  raise  the  reputation  of  any 
denomination  of  Christians,  was  espe 
cially  urgent  in  favor  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  and  the  claims  of  its  ministry 
for  support.  As  illustrative  of  the  man 
and  the  times,  we  give  his  address  to 
the  members  of  the  Assembly  after  his 
ineffectual  attempt  to .  accomplish  his 
favorite  project  of  having  endowments, 
and  presenting  or  naming  the  ministers 
to  officiate  in  the  churches  :  "  Gentle 
men,  there  is  also  a  bill  for  settling  a 
ministry  in  this  city,  and  some  other 
countries  of  the  government.  In  that 
very  thing  you  have  shown  a  great 
deal  of  stiffness.  You  take  upon  you, 
as  if  you  were  dictators.  I  sent  down 
to  you  an  amendment  of  three  or  four 
words  in  that  bill,  which,  though  very 
immaterial,  yet  was  positively  denied. 
I  must  tell  you,  it  seems  very  unman 
nerly.  There  never  was  an  amendment 
yet  desired  by  the  council  board  but 
what  was  rejected.  It  is  the  sign  of  a 
stubborn  ill  temper,  and  this  I  have 

VOL.  ].— 25 


also  passed.  But,  gentlemen,  I  must 
take  leave  to  tell  you,  if  you  seem  to 
understand  by  these  words,  that  none 
can  serve  without  your  collation,  or  es 
tablishment,  you  are  far  mistaken.  For 
I  have  the  power  of  collating  or  sus 
pending  any  minister  in  my  govern 
ment,  by  their  majesties'  letters  patent ; 
and  whilst  I  stay  in  the  government,  I 
will  take  care  that  neither  heresy,  sedi 
tion,  schism,  or  rebellion,  be  preached 
among  you,  nor  vice  and  profanity  en 
couraged.  It  is  my  endeavor  to  lead  a 
virtuous  and  pious  life  amongst  you, 
and  to  give  a  good  example :  I  wish 
you  all  to  do  the  same.  You  ought 
to  consider  that  you  have  but  a  third 
share  in  the  legislative  power  of  the 
government ;  and  ought  not  to  take  all 
upon  you,  nor  be  so  peremptory.  You 
ought  to  let  the  council  have  a  share. 
They  are  in  the  nature  of  the  House  of 
Lords,  or  upper  house ;  but  you  seem 
to  take  the  whole  power  in  your  hands, 
and  set  up  for  every  thing.  You  have 
sat  a  long  time  to  little  purpose,  and 
have  been  a  great  charge  to  the  coun 
try.  Ten  shillings  a  day  is  a  large  al 
lowance,  and  you  punctually  exact  it. 
You  have  been  always  forward  enough 
to  pull  down  the  fees  of  other  ministers 
in  the  government.  Why  did  you  not 
think  it  expedient  to  correct  your  own 
to  a  more  moderate  allowance  ?  Gentle 
men,  I  shall  say  no  more  at  present,  but 
that  you  do  withdraw  to  your  private 
affairs  in  the  country.  I  do  prorogue 
you  to  the  10th  of  January  next,  and 
you  are  hereby  prorogued  to  the 
10th  clay  of  January  next  ensuing."* 

*  Smith's  "History  qf  yew  Fork,"  p.  84. 


178 


NEW  YORK,  NEW 'JERSEY,  AND  ±  JLJN NSYLV ANI A. 


Fletcher,  beside  being  charged  with 
administering  the  government  of  Penn 
sylvania  and  Delaware— Penn  having 
recently  been  deprived — was   author 
ized  by  a  royal  letter  to  the  colonies, 
except  Carolina,  to  call  on  them  for  aid 
in  defence  of  New  York.     The  Qua 
kers   of  Pennsylvania  did  not  at  all 
fancy  voting  money  or  anything  of  the 
kind,  and  agreed  reluctantly  to  only  a 
small  appropriation,  stipulating  that  it 
"  should  not  be  dipped  in  blood."     A 
few  months  later — in  October — Flet 
cher  went   to   Hartford  on   a  similar 
errand.     The  Assembly  was  in  session, 
and  Fletcher  endeavored  to  overawe 
them  into  consent  to  his  demands.    In 
forming  them  that  he  would  not  set 
foot  out  of  the  province  till  his  majes 
ty's  orders  had  been  obeyed,  he  then 
directed  the  trained  bands  to  be  assem 
bled,  and  his  commission  to  be  read  to 
them.     Captain  Wadsworth,  the  senior 
captain,  walked  up  and  down,  engaged, 
to   all   appearance,   in    exercising   his 
men.     "  Beat  the  drums  !"  was  his  or 
der,  as  Fletcher's  officer  lifted  up  his 
voice   to    read.      The    governor   com 
manded  silence,   arid    his   officer   pre 
pared  to  read.     "  Drum,   drum,  I  say 
again  !"  called  out  Wadsworth,  and  the 
voice  of  the  reader  was  a  second  time 
drowned  in  the  discordant  roll.     "  Si 
lence  !"  passionately  vociferated   Flet 
cher.     "  Drum,  drum,  I  say  !"  shouted 
Wadgwortb  in  a  still  louder  key  ;  and 
significantly  turning  to  Fletcher,  he  ex 
claimed,  "  if  I  am  interrupted  again,  I 
will  make  the  sun  shine  through  you 
in  a  moment!"     The  angry  governor, 
astounded  at  this  display  of  spirit,  was 
compelled  to  swallow  the  affront ;  and 


1695 


shortly  afterward  Fitz  John  Winthrop, 
ivho  had  been  sent  to  England  as  agent 
to  protest  against  a  violation  of  the 
charter,  returned  with  the  royal  con 
cession  that  on  ordinary  occasions,  at 
least,  the  command  of  the  local  militia 
belonged  to  the  respective  States.  Con- 
necticut  promised,  however,  to  be  in 
readiness  to  furnish  a  quota  of  a  hun 
dred  and  twenty  men  for  the  defence 
of  New  York. 

Mr.  Hildreth*  quotes  quite  fully  from 
a  letter  addressed  by  the  Rev.  John 
Miller,  in  1695,  to  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  London,  in  which  is 
contained  an  interesting  account  of  the 
writer's  views  of  the  ecclesiastical  and 
moral  condition  of  New  York.  The 
sentiments  of  Mr.  Miller,  though  evi 
dently  not  much  approved  of  by  Mr. 
Hildreth,  are  worthy  of  consideration, 
and  notwithstanding  he  speaks  as  an 
Episcopalian,  the  facts  which  he  states 
show  that  New  York  was,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago,  as  much  divided, 
in  proportion,  on  religious  subjects,  and 
as  much  given  to  folly  and  wickedness, 
as  it  is  now.f  Mr.  Miller's  proposed 
remedy  was  the  sending  over  a  bishop 
for  the  colonies  ;  about  the  expediency 
of  which,  at  that  date,  there  has  been 
no  little  difference  of  opinion  among 
those  who  fully  recognize  bishops  as  of 
divine  appointment. 

*" History  of  the  United  States,''  vol.  ii.,  pp.  189- 
193. 

f  In  1697,  a  royal  grant  was  made  of  a  certain 
church,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  piece  of  ground 
adjoining,  on  Broadway,  known  as  Trinity  Parish. 
In  1705,  the  Queen's  Farm,  on  the  west  side  of  Man 
hattan  Island — from  St.  Paul's  Church  to  Christophef 
street — was  donated  to  Trinity  C.iurch. — See  Dr 
Berrian's  "History  of  Trinity  Church"  pp.  14,  15. 


Cn.  III.] 


LORD   BELLAMONT'S  ADMINISTRATION. 


i 

179 


The  war  between  the  French  and 
Five  Nations  was  carried  on  more  or 
less  vigorously  according  to  the  means 
and  opportunities  of  the  aged  Fronte- 
nac.  The  most  revolting  feature  con 
nected  with  this  protracted  contest  was 
the  savage  and  detestable  barbarity 
practised  on  both  sides.  We  give  an 
example  drawn  from  La  Potherie's  His 
tory  of  North  America.  "  The  prisoner 
being  first  made  fast  to  a  stake,  so  as 
to  have  room  to  move  round  it,  a 
Frenchman  began  the  horrid  tragedy, 
by  broiling  the  flesh  of  the  prisoner's 
legs,  from  his  toes  to  his  knees,  with 
the  red-hot  barrel  of  a  gun.  His  ex 
ample  was  followed  by  an  Utawawa, 
who,  being  desirous  to  outdo  the  French 
in  their  refined  cruelty,  split  a  furrow 
from  the  prisoner's  shoulder  to  his  gar 
ter,  and  filling  it  with  gunpowder,  set 
fire  to  it.  This  gave  him  exquisite 
pain,  and  raised  excessive  laughter  in 
his  tormentors.  When  they  found  his 
throat  so  much  parched  that  he  was  no 
longer  able  to  gratify  their  ears  with 
his  howling,  they  gave  him  water,  to 
enable  him  to  continue  their  pleasure 
longer.  But  at  last  his  strength  failing, 
an  Utawawa  flayed  off  his  scalp,  and 
threw  burning  hot  coals  on  his  scull. 
They  then  untied  him,  and  bid  him  run 
for  his  life.  He  began  to  run,  tumbling 
like  a  drunken  man.  They  shut  up  the 
way  to  the  east,  and  made  him  run 
westward,  the  country,  as  they  think, 
of  departed  miserable  souls.  He  had 
still  force  left  to  throw  stones,  till  they 
put  an  end  to  his  misery  by  knocking 
him  on  the  head.  After  this  every  one 
cut  a  slice  from  his  body,  to  conclude 
the  tragedy  with  a  feast."  Such  dis- 


169§. 


gusting  outrages  as  these  were,  for  a 
time  at  least,  put  an  end  to,  by  the 
peace  of  Ryswick,  in  1697. 

The  next  year,  1698,  Lord  Bella- 
mont,  who  had  been  appointed  governor 
of  New  York  in  1695,  arrived 
in  the  colony :  he  was  charged 
with  the  duty  of  investigating  Fletcher's 
conduct,  enforcing  the  acts  of  trade, 
suppressing  piracy,  etc.  Bellarnont  took 
the  opposite  side  to  that  which  Fletcher 
had  favored,  and  it  was  in  a  measure 
through  him  that  Leisler's  son  obtained 
from  the  Assembly  a  vote  of  £1,000,  to 
be  paid  to  him  for  damages  resulting 
from  the  proceedings  against  his  father. 
The  attainder  was  reversed  by  act  of 
parliament,  and  Leisler  and  Melbourne 
were  reburied  in  the  Dutch  Church.* 
Bellamont  also  originated  a  Court  of 
Chancery,  which  afterwards  was  looked 
on  with  a  jealous  eye.  The  governor's 
speech  to  the  Assembly,  convened  in 
May,  is  well  worth  quoting  from  :  "  I 
cannot  but  observe  to  you,  what  a 
legacy  my  predecessor  has  left  me,  and 
what  difficulties  to  struggle  with  ;  a 
divided  people,  an  empty  purse,  a  few 
miserable,  naked,  half-starved  soldiers, 
not  half  the  number  the  king  allowed 
pay  for  ;  the  fortifications,  and  even  the 
governor's  house,  very  much  out  of 

*  "  This  year  (1700,)  no  fewer  than  a  thousand 
Scottish  fugitives  from  the  unfortunate  and  ill-nsed 
Scottish  colony  of  Darien  arrived  at  New  York  in 
various  ships,  during  the  absence  of  Lord  Bellamont 
at  Boston.  Nanfan,  the  lieutenant  governor,  in  con 
formity  with  instructions  from  England,  refused  even 
the  slightest  relief  or  assistance  to  these  unhappy 
adventurers.  Two  years  before,  the  royal  governors 
of  New  York  and  New  England  had  issued  procla 
mations,  forbidding  all  correspondence  with,  or  as 
sistance  to,  the  Scottish  colony."  Oldmixon  and 
Holmes,  quoted  by  Grahame,  vol.  i.,  p.  453. 


180 


NEW  YORK,  NEW  JERSEY,  AND  PENNSYLVANIA. 


[BK. 


1701. 


repair ;  and,  in  a  word,  the  whole 
government  out  of  frame."  After  this 
introduction,  he  puts  them  in  mind  that 
the  revenue  was  near  expiring, 
would  be  hard,"  he  adds,  "if  I,  that 
come  among  you  with  an  honest  mind, 
and  a  resolution  to  be  just  to  your  in 
terest,  should  meet  with  greater  diffi 
culties  in  the  discharge  of  his  majes 
ty's  service  than  those  that  have  gone 
before  me.  I  will  take  care  there  shall 
be  no  misapplication  of  the  public  mon 
ey.  I  will  pocket  none  of  it  myself, 
nor  shall  there  be  any  embezzlement 
by  others ;  but  exact  accounts  shall 
be  given  you,  when,  and  as  often,  as 
you  shall  require." 

Lord  Bellamont's  sudden  death,  in 
1701,  left  the  government  for  a  time  in 
the  hands  of  Nanfan,  the  lieu 
tenant  governor,  who  proceeded 
with  some  haste  and  violence  against 
Livingston  and  Bayard,  two  active  men 
in  the  anti-Leislerian  party.  Lord 
Cornbury,  a  grandson  of  the  first  Earl 
of  Clarendon,  having  arrived  in  New 
York,  in  1Y02,  as  governor,  put  a  stop 
to  these  proceedings :  he  also 
espoused  the  views  of  those  op 
posed  to  the  Leislerian  party.  Corn- 
bury  was  a  profligate  and  unprincipled 
man,  sent  out  to  a  governorship  rather 
to  get  rid  of  him  than  because  of  any 
fitness  which  he  possessed  for  the  duties 
of  the  office.  Being  deeply  in  debt,  it 
was  one  main  purpose  of  his  acts  to  get 
money,  in  any  and  every  way,  for  his 
necessities;  and  his  whole  administra 
tion  was  marked  by  rapacity,  meanness, 
and  outrageous  violations  of  ordinary 
decency  and  decorum.  Not  unlike 
Fletcher,  he  was  very  zealous  for  the 


1702. 


Church's  interests,  while  disgracing  the 
truths  which  the  Church  of  England 
has  ever  held  forth ;  and  accordingly 
we  find  that  he  promoted  all  such 
schemes  a«  zealots  of  party  and  seekers 
after  emoluments  in  religion  concocted. 
Cornbury,  on  more  than  one  occasion, 
put  into  his  own  pocket  the  money 
raised  for  public  service,  and  the  As 
sembly,  naturally  not  liking  this,  com 
plained  of  such  treatment ;  but  all  the 
satisfaction  they  got  was  a  pretty  sharp 
scolding  from  his  lordship  and  fresh 
applications  for  money. 

In  a  few  years  matters  came  to  such 
a  pass  that  the  Assembly  appointed  a 
committee  of  grievances,  which  drew 
many  and  heavy  charges  against  the 
governor.  The  Resolutions  approved 
by  the  House  were  pointed,  and  clearly 
showed  its  fixed  determination  to  assert 
its  just  rights.  One  of  these  Resolu 
tions  is  well  worth  quoting,  inasmuch 
as  it  significantly  indicates  a  princi 
ple  which,  just  before  the  Revolution, 
was  set  forth  as  lying  at  the  basis  of 
our  resistance  to  the  claims  of  England. 
It  is  as  follows:  " He-solved,  That  the 
imposing  and  levying  of  any  moneys 
upon  her  majesty's  subjects  of  this 
colony,  under  any  pretence  or  color 
whatsoever,  without  consent  in  General 
Assembly,  is  a  grievance,  and  a  violation 
of  the  people's  property." 

Lord  Cornbury  being  no  less  obnox 
ious  to  the  people  of  New  Jersey  than 
to  those  of  New  York,  the  As 
sembly  of  that  province  joined 
witl}  New  York  in  making  a  formal 
complaint  against  him  to  the  queen. 
Her  majesty,  though  Lord  Cornbury 
was  her  cousin,  removed  him,  saying 


1707. 


Cn.  III.1 


POST  OFFICE  SYSTEM  IN   AMERICA. 


181 


1709. 


that  she  would  not  countenance  oppres 
sion  by  any,  even  though  he  were  her 
own  flesh  and  blood ;  whereupon  his 
creditors  threw  him  into  prison.  Soon 
after,  his  father's  death  opened  the  way 
to  him  for  release,  for  now  become  the 
Earl  of  Clarendon,  he  was  discharged 
from  arrest  and  returned  to  England. 

Lord  Lovelace  was  appointed  Corn- 
bury's  successor  in  the  spring  of  1708, 
but  he  did  not  reach  New 
York  till  near  the  close  of  the 
year.  His  administration  gave  promise 
of  being  acceptable  and  serviceable  to 
*;he  province ;  it  was,  however,  very 
brief ;  for  early  in  the  year  1709,  Love 
lace  died,  and  Ingoldsby  again 
had  charge  of  public  affairs. 
It  was  while  Ingoldsby  was  acting  gov 
ernor  that  another  fruitless  expedition 
against  Canada  was  made.  Five  hun 
dred  men  were  raised,  and  bills  of  cre 
dit  were  issued  to  pay  the  expense. 
New  York  showed  herself  equally  zeal 
ous  with  her  New  England  neighbors. 
Schuyler  went  to  England  with  some 
of  the  Mohawk  chiefs,  and  they  were 
admitted  to  an  audience  with  the 
queen.  Aid  was  promised ;  but  the 
reverses  of  war  in  Spain  prevented  at 
the  time,  and  all  this  expense  and  pre 
paration,  which  were  beyond  anything 
the  colonies  had  yet  made,  proved  of 
no  avail.  Had  the  plan  been  energeti 
cally  carried  out  of  a  combined  attack 
by  land  and  sea,  there  can  be  hardly  a 
doubt  but  that  Canada  would  have 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  English. 

The  patent  of  Thomas  Neal  for  "  co 
lonial  posts  having  expired,  an  act  of 
parliament  extended  the  British  post- 
office  system  to  America.  A  chief 


171O. 


office  was  established  at  New  York, 
to  which  letters  were  to  be 
conveyed  by  regular  packets 
across  the  Atlantic.  The  same  act  re 
gulated  the  rates  of  postage  to  be  paid 
in  the  plantations,  exempted  the  posts 
from  ferriage,  and  enabled  postmasters 
to  recover  their  dues  by  summary  pro 
cess.  A  line  of  posts  was  presently  es 
tablished  on  Neal's  old  routes,  north  to 
the  Piscataqua,  and  south  to  Philadel 
phia;  irregularly  extending,  a  few  years 
after,  to  Williamsburg,  in  Virginia,  the 
post  leaving  Philadelphia  for  the  south 
as  often  as  letters  enough -were  lodged  to 

O  O 

pay  the  expense.  The  postal  commu 
nication  subsequently  established  with 
the  Carolinas  was  still  more  irregular."* 
E-obert  Hunter,  a  Scotchman  by 
birth,  who  had  risen  from  an  humble 
station  to  high  military  rank,  was  ap 
pointed  Lovelace's  successor  in  the 
gubernatorial  chair.  Three  thousand 
Germans,  who  had  been  compelled  by 
the  ravages  of  war,  to  leave  their 
homes  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  were 
sent  out  with  the  new  governor  to  be 
settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson, 
The  experiment  was  not  a  successful 
one  while  they  served  under  indentures 
to  the  queen,  for  their  maintenance 
was  a  positive  loss ;  but  when  they 
were  allowed  the  privileges  of  free  citi 
zens,  they  soon  became  thriving  and 
industrious  denizens  of  the  German 
Flats,  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Mo 
hawk.  A  part  of  the  same  company 
settled  in  Pennsylvania,  and  another 
part  in  North  Carolina.  It  is  owing  to 

*Hildreth's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii  , 
p.  26iZ. 


182 


NEW   YORK,  NEW  JERSEY,  AND  PENNSYLVANIA. 


1715. 


these  that  we  find  the  German  language, 
manners,  and  religious  views  handed 
down,  especially  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  new  Assembly  called  by  Hun 
ter  would  consent  to  nothing  but  an 
nual  grants,    which   for   some 
time  caused  much  dissatisfaction 
and  dispute.     A  few  years  later,  Hun 
ter  obtained  a  majority  in  the  newly- 
elected  Assembly  disposed  to  favor  his 
wishes :    accordingly,  he  was  enabled 
to  rule  this  hitherto  ungovernable  pro 
vince  without  further  difficulty, 
having  now  a  standing  revenue, 

O  O  ' 

and  a  subsement  Assembly. 

Hunter,  in  1719,  left  the  province, 
and   William    Burnet,   a   son   of    the 
famous  bishop  of  that  name,  was  ap 
pointed  to  succeed  him.    The  new  gov 
ernor  seems  to  have  been  aware  of  the 
importance  of  resisting  the  progress  of 
the  French  in  Canada  and  the  West. 
He  caused  a  trading  post  to  be  estab 
lished  at  Oswego,  thus   taking 
possession  of  the  south  shore  of 
Lake  Ontario,  pleading  that  the  Five 
Nations  were  under  the  protection  of 
England,  and   that   they  had  granted 
their  hunting  grounds  to   their  white 
protectors.    In  172 7,  a  fort  was  built  by 
Burnet   at  the  same   place;    but  the 
French  were  not  idle ;  they  also  erected 
a  fort  at  Niagara,  which  commanded 
the  communication  into  the  upper  lakes 
and  the  Mississippi.   Burnet,  meanwhile, 
was  involved  in  embarrassments  with 
the  Assembly  and  people.     Much  com 
plaint  having  been  made  by  the  latter, 
he  dissolved   the  Assembly  who   had 
now  been  in   office   for   eleven 
years.    The  new  Assembly  was 
not  more  favorable  to   the   governor, 


1722. 


1727. 


1732. 


and  complained  of  the  Court  of  Chan 
cery,  in  which  Burnet  presided,  as  with 
out  the  authority  of  law,  and  oppressive 
in  the  fees  exacted.  Shortly  after,  Bur- 
net  was  removed  from  New  York  and 
made  governor  of  Massachusetts. 

After  the  brief  administration  ol 
Montgomery,  who  succeeded  Burnet  in 
1728,  at  which  time  the  city  of  New 
York  numbered  something  over  eight 
thousand  inhabitants,  Colonel 
William  Cosby  was  made  gov 
ernor.  At  first  he  had  the  promise  of 
a  popular  administration,  but  as  he  was 
of  a  violent  temper  and  mercenary 
spirit,  he  soon  after  became  involved  in 
quarrels  with  members  of  the  Council, 
and  with  John  Peter  Zenger,  proprietoi 
of  the  Weekly  Journal,  a  newspaper 
opposed  to  the  governor  and  his  party. 
Cosby  instituted  a  suit  for  libel,  and 
both  ordered  the  Journal  to  be  burned 
by  the  sheriff  and  arrested  Zenger. 
Andrew  Hamilton,  a  Philadelphia  law 
yer,  defended  Zenger's  cause  suc 
cessfully,  so  that  he  was  acquitted 
at  once,  and  the  freedom  of  the  press 
was  thereby  vindicated.*  Poor  Zenger, 


1733. 


*  To  use  the  language  of  the  venerable  Da. 
FKANCIS,  "  the  newspaper  press  is  endeared  to  the 
feelings  of  Americans  by  the  strongest  considera 
tions  of  patriotism.  Franklin,  the  apostle  of  liberty, 
more  than  a  century  ago,  published  in  a  newspaper 
animadversions  on  the  legislative  enactments  of  Great 
Britain,  relative  to  the  colonies.  The  free  strictures 
on  the  administration  of  Governor  Cosby  and  hia 
Council,  printed  in  the  Weekly  Journal  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  by  John  Peter  Zenger,  roused  the  energies 
of  a  whole  people,  and  to  use  the  language  of  Gov- 
erneur  Morris,  in  a  conversation  with  the  speaker, '  the 
trial  of  Zenger,  in  1733,  was  the  germ  of  American 
freedom — the  morning  star  of  that  liberty  which  sub 
sequently  revolutionized  America.'" — See  Dr.  Fran 
cis's  speech  at  the  Fortieth  Anniversary  of  the  "  Nets 
York  Historical  Society,"  1844:  Proceedings,  p.  86 


Cn.  Ill.J 


GOVERNOR  CLARKE  AND  THE  ASSEMBLY. 


183 


however,  was  left  to  struggle  with  debt 
and  official  censure ;  and  he  complains 
warmly  of  the  neglect  and  ill  usage  of 
many  of  those  who  professed  to  be  his 
friends  and  supporters:  "My  country 
subscribers,"  he  says,  "  are  earnestly  de 
sired  to  pay  their  arrearages  for  this 
journal,  which  if  they  don't  speedily, 
f  shall  leave  off  sending,  and  seek  my 
money  another  way.  Some  of  these 
kind  customers  are  in  arrears  upwards 
of  seven  years !  Now,  as  I  have  served 
chem  so  long,  I  think  it  is  time,  aye  and 
high  time  too,  that  they  gave  me  my 
outset,  for  they  may  verily  believe  that 
my  every-day  clothes  are  nearly  worn 
out.  1ST.  B.  Gentlemen,  If  you  have 
not  ready  money  with  you,  still  think 
of  the  printer;  and  when  you  have 
read  this  advertisement  and  considered 
it,  you  cannot  but  say,  come,  dame,  (es 
pecially  you  inquisitive  wedded  men, 
let  the  bachelors  take  it  to  themselves,) 
let  us  send  the  poor  printer  a  few  gam 
mons,  or  some  meal,  some  butter,  cheese, 
poultry,  <fec." 

Cosby  died  suddenly,  in  1Y35,  and 
after  disputes  between  members  of  the 
Council  as  to  who  was  entitled  to 
act  ad  interim,  George  Clarke, 
in  1736,  was  made  governor.  The  As 
sembly  took  ground  against  any 
but  an  annual  grant  for  revenues, 
and  this  policy  was  thereafter  adhered 
to  in  New  York.  Clarke,  offended  at 
their  proceedings,  dissolved  the  Assem 
bly;  the  popular  party,  however, 
triumphed  in  the  new  election.  A 
portion  of  their  address  to  the  Gov 
ernor  is  worthy  of  quotation :  "  We 
therefore  beg  leave  to  be  plain  with 
your  honor,  and  hope  you  will  not  take 


1735. 


1737. 


it  amiss  when  we  tell  you,  that  you  are 
not  to  expect  that  we  will  either  raise 
sums  unfit  to  be  raised,  or  put  what  we 
shall  raise  into  the  power  of  a  governor 
to  misapply,  if  we  can  prevent  it ;  nor 
shall  we  make  up  any  other  deficiencies 
than  what  we  conceive  fit  and  just  to 
be  paid ;  nor  continue  what  support  or 
revenue  we  shall  raise,  for  any  longer 
time  than  one  year  ;  nor  do  we  think  it 
convenient  to  do  even  that,  until  such 
laws  are  passed  as  we  conceive  necessary 
for  the  safety  of  the  inhabitants  of  this 
colony,  who  have  reposed  a  trust  in  us 
for  that  only  purpose,,  land  which  we 
are  sure  you  will  tbink  it  reasonable  we 
should  act  agreeably  to;  and  by  the 
grace  of  God  we  shall  endeavor  not  to 
deceive  them." 

Clarke  deemed  it  unwise  to  enter  into 
a  contest  with  men  who  avowed  their 
sentiments  thus  decidedly,  and  so  he 
promised  his  co-operation  in  all  measures 
calculated  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the 
province.  In  his  speech,  however,  at 
the  opening  of  the  next  session,  he  de 
clared  that  unless  the  revenue  was 
granted  for  as  long  a  time  as  it  had 
been  granted  by  former  Assemblies,  his 
duty/to  his  majesty  forbade  him  from 
assenting  to  any  act  for  continuing  the 
excise,  or  for  paying  the  colonial  bills  of 
credit.  The  House  unanimously  re 
solved,  that  it  would  not  pass  any  bill 
for  the  grant  of  money,  unless  assurance 
should  be  given  that  the  excise  should 
be  continued,  and  the  bills  of  credit 
redeemed.  He  thereupon  immediately 
ordered  the  members  to  attend  him. 
He  told  them  that  "  their  proceedings 
were  presumptuous,  daring,  and  unpre 
cedented  ;  that  he  could  not  look  upon 


184 


NEW    YORK,   NEW   JERSEY,   AND   PENNSYLVANIA. 


II. 


them  without  astonishment,  nor  with 

honor  suffer  thellouse  to  sit  any  longer;" 

and  he  accordingly  dissolved  it.     In 

1741,  Clarke,  atraiu  endeavoring 

1741. 

to  bring  the  Assembly  to  his 
vie\vs,  took  occasion  to  charge  upon 
them  a  settled  purpose  or  desire  of  in 
dependence,  a  charge  which  the  As 
sembly  denied,  and  no  doubt  correctly, 
for,  however  tenacious  the  colonists 
were  of  what  they  held  to  be  their 
just  rights  and  privileges,  there  is  no 
probability  whatever  that  at  that  time 
there  was  any  idea  of  a  formal  severing 
the  connection  with  the  mother  country. 
Clarke  at  last  yielded  to  the  necessity 
of  the  case,  and  accepted  such  grants 
as  the  Assembly  chose  to  make. 

In  this  year,  a  delusion,  not  so  fa 
mous  as  the  Salem  witchcraft,  but,  in 
I  T4i  Pr°P01'tion,  quite  as  sanguinary, 
occurred  in  New  York,  com 
monly  known  as  the  "  Negro  Plot." 
The  frequent  occurrence  of  fires,  most 
of  which  were  evidently  caused  by  de 
sign,  first  excited  the  jealousy  and  sus 
picion  of  the  citizens.  Terrified  by 
danger  which  lurked  unseen  in  the 
midst  of  them,  they  listened  with  eao-er 
credulity  to  the  declaration  of  some 
abandoned  females,  that  the  negroes 
had  combined  to  burn  the  city,  and 
make  one  of  their  number  governor. 
Many  were  arrested  and  committed  to 
prison.  Other  witnesses,  not  more  res 
pectable  than  the  first,  came  fonvard  ; 
other  negroes  were  accused,  and  even 
several  white  men  were  designated  as 
concerned  in  the  plot. 

When  the  time  of  trial  arrived,  so 
strong  was  the  prejudice  against  the 
unhappy  black  men,  that  every  lawyer 


in  the  city  volunteered  against  them, 
and  Chief  Justice  Delancey  exerted 
the  influence  of  his  high  station  against 
them.  Ignorant  and  unassisted,  nearly 
all  who  were  tried  were  condemned. 
Fourteen  were  burned,  eighteen  were 
hung,  and  seventy-one  were  transport 
ed.  Of  the  whites  two  were  convicted, 
and  suffered  death. 

All  apprehension  of  danger  having 
subsided,  many  began  to  doubt  whe 
ther  there  was  really  any  plot  at  all. 
None  of  the  witnesses  were  persons  of 
credit ;  their  stories  were  extravagant, 

7  O  I 

and  often  contradictory ;  and  the  pro 
ject  was  such  as  none  but  fools  or 
madmen  would  form.  The  two  white 
men  were  respectable;  one  had  re 
ceived  a  liberal  education,  but  he  was 
a  Roman  Catholic,  and  the  prejudice 
against  these  was  too  violent  to  permit 
the  free  exercise  of  reason.  Some  of 
the  accused  were  doubtless  guilty  of 
setting  fire  to  the  city  ;  but  the  proof 
of  the  alleged  plot  was  not  sufficiently 
clear  to  justify  these  judicial  murders, 
which  disgrace  the  annals  of  New  York. 
In  1743,  George  Clinton,  a  younger 
son  of  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  was  sent 
over  as  governor  of  the  colony. 

n  f    -,  •  v  1743. 

Une  or  Ins  earliest  measures 
confirmed  the  favorable  accounts  which 
had  preceded  him,  of  his  talents  and 
liberality.  To  show  his  willingness  to 
repose  confidence  in  the  people,  he  as 
sented  to  a  bill  limiting  the  duration  of 
.  o 

the  present  and  all  succeeding  Assem 
blies.  The  House  manifested  its  grati 
tude  by  adopting  the  measures 
he  recommended  for  the  defence 
of  the  province  against  the  French,  who 
were  then  at  war  with  England.  In 


1745. 


CH.  III.] 


PROGRESS  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


185 


1716. 


1745,  the  savages  in  alliance  with 
France,  made  frequent  invasions  of 
the  English  territories.  Encouraged 
by  success,  the  enemy  became  more 
daring,  and  small  parties  ventured 
within  even  the  suburbs  of  Albany, 
arid  there  laid  in  wait  for  prisoners. 
Distressed  by  these  incursions, 
the  Assembly,  in  1746,  deter 
mined  to  unite  with  the  other  colonies 
and  the  mother  country  in  an  expedi 
tion  against  Canada.  They  appropri 
ated  money  to  purchase  provisions  for 
the  army,  and  offered  liberal  bounties 
to  recruits.  But  the  fleet  from  Eng 
land  did  not  arrive  at  the  appointed 
time  ;  the  other  colonies  were  dilatory 
in  their  preparations,  and  before  they 
were  completed  the  season  for  military 
operations  had  passed  by.  The  treaty 
of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  in  1748,  put  an  end 
to  the  contest  for  a  time,  but  only  for 
a  time.  The  grand  struggle  for  mas 
tery  was  soon  to  be  made  and  decided. 
The  proprietaries  of  New  Jersey,  wea 
ned  out  with  strucwlinsr  with  the. set- 

oo        o 

tiers,  in  the  year  1702  ceded  to 
the  crown  their  rights  of  juris 
diction  ;  whereupon  Queen  Anne  joined 
New  Jersey  to  New  York,  under  the 
government  of  Lord  Cornbury.  They, 
too,  as  well  as  the  New  Yorkers,  re 
sisted  the  encroachments  and  fraudu 
lent  acts  of  the  governor.  In 
1738,  New  Jersey  obtained  by 
petition,  the  privilege  of  having  a  go 
vernor  of  its  own ;  and  Lewis  Morris 
was  placed  in  the  chair.  The  position 
of  New  Jersey  gave  it  superior  advan 
tages  in  comparative  exemption  from 
the  assaults  and  inroads  of  the  Indians. 
We  find,  hence,  that  its  progress  was 

VOL.  I.— 26 


1702. 


1738. 


1747. 


steadily  forward,  although  its  annais 
are  marked  by  serious  disputes  on  the 
subject  of  paper  money,  conveyances 
of  land  by  Indians  to  certain  claim 
ants,  the  resistance  of  the  squatters  to 
the  efforts  made  to  oust  them,  etc. 
After  Morris's  death,  in  1745, 
Belcher,  in  1747,  took  charge 
of  the  difficult  post  of  governor  of  New 
Jersey ;  but  he  was  not  able  to  manage 
matters  much  better  than  his  predeces 
sors.  His  course  was  conciliatory ;  and 
he  favored  the  founding  of  the  college 

O  O 

at  Princeton,  which  received  a  charter 
in  1748.  The  population  of  New  Jer 
sey  at  this  date  is  computed  to  have 
been  forty  thousand. 

Pennsylvania,  too,  was  not  without 
its  share  of  trouble,  though,  on  the 
whole,  it  continued  to  advance  in  pros 
perity.  George  Keith,  a  Scotch  Qua 
ker,  gave  rise  to  a  kind  of  schism,  by 
pressing  the  question  of  non-resistance 
to  an  extent  quite  beyond  what  the 
more  reasonable  Quakers  ever 
were  willing  to  go.  His  attack 
on  negro  slavery,  as  inconsistent  with 
these  principles,  and  the  "  Address" 
which  he  set  forth,  led  to  his  being 
fined  for  insolence,  and  his  being  taken 
up  by  the  non-Quakers  as  a  sort  of 
martyr.  Penn  was  cleared  from  suspi 
cion,  and  restored  to  the  administration 
of  his  province  in  1694 ;  but 
the  pressure  of  debt  kept  him 
in  England,  and  he  appointed  Mark- 
ham  to  act  as  his  deputy.  The  Assem 
bly  having  presented  a  remonstrance 
to  Governor  Markham,  in  1696,  com 
plaining  of  the  breach  of  their  char 
tered  privileges,  a  bill  of  settlement, 
prepared  and  passed  by  the  Assembly, 


1692. 


1691. 


18G 


NEW   YORK,  NEW  JERSEY,  AND  PENNSYLVANIA. 


ir 


was  approved  by  the  Governor,  form- 
ing  the  third  frame  of  government 
in  Pennsylvania.  Penn,  however,  to 
whom  was  reserved  the  power  of  dis 
approval,  never  sanctioned  this  act.  A 
bill  for  raising  £300,  professedly  for 
the  relief  of  the  distressed  Indians 
beyond  Albany,  but  really  in  compli 
ance  with  the  demand  of  the  governor 
of  New  York,  to  aid  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,  was  passed  by  the  same  le 
gislature.  In  1699,  after  fifteen 

I  4*  OO 

years'  absence,  Penn  again  set 
sail  for  America,  accompanied  by  his 
family,  with  an  intention  of  spending 
the  remainder  of  his  life  in  Pennsylva 
nia.  Considerable  difference  of  opinion 
existed  between  himself  and  the  legis 
lature  ;  more  particularly  on  the  sub 
ject  of  negro  slavery,  and  the  frauds 
and  abuses  that  disgraced  the  character 
of  the  colonists  in  their  traffic  with  the 
Indians.  With  the  view  of  providing 
a  remedy  for  both  these  evils,  Peun 
presented  to  the  Assembly  three  bills 
which  he  had  himself  prepared ;  the 
first,  for  regulating  the  morals  and  mar 
riages  of  the  negroes ;  the  second,  for 
regulating  the  trials  and  punishments 
of  the  negroes  ;  and  the  third,  for  pre 
venting  abuses  and  frauds  upon  the 

Indians.     The  Assembly  necja- 

170O.         . 

tived  the  first  and  last  of  these 
bills,  acceding  only  to  that  which  re 
lated  to  the  trial  and  punishment  of 
their  slaves.  Though  disappointed  of 
the  more  extensive  influence,  which,  as 
a  political  legislator,  he  had  hoped  to 
exercise,  he  was  yet  able,  by  his  pow 
erful  influence  among  the  Quakers,  to 
introduce  into  their  discipline  regula 
tions  and  practices  relative  to  the  pur- 


1701. 


poses  of  the  rejected  bills,  the  spirit 
of  which,  at  least,  was  thus  forcibly 
recommended  to  general  imitation. 

Perplexed  witli  many  and  serious 
difficulties,  Penn  made  up  his  mind  to 
return  to  England ;  but  before 
doing  so  lie  pressed  upon  the 
;olonists  to  establish  a  constitution 
The  old  frame  of  government  was  for 
mally  given  up,  and  the  one  which 
Penn  prepared  and  presented  to  the 
Assembly  was  accepted.  It  confirmed 
to  them,  in  conformity  with  that  of 
1696,  the  right  of  originating  bills, 
which,  by  the  charters  preceding  that 
date,  had  been  the  right  of  the  Gover 
nor  alone,  and  of  mending  or  rejecting 
those  which  might  be  laid  before  them. 
To  the  Governor  it  gave  the  right  of 
rejecting  bills  passed  by  the  Assembly, 
of  appointing  his  own  Council,  and  of 
exercising  the  whole  executive  power. 
Liberty  of  conscience  was  specially 
secured  as  before  ;  and  the  qualification 
of  voters  was  fixed  at  a  freehold  of 
fifty  acres,  or  about  $166  in  personal 
property. 

Directly  after  the  "  Charter  of  Pri 
vileges,"  as  the  new  frame  was  called, 
was  accepted,  Penn  returned  to  Eng 
land,  leaving  the  management  of  his 
private  estates  and  the  direction  of 
Indian  affairs  in  the  hands  of  James 
Logan,  who  was  for  many  years  colo 
nial  secretary  and  member  of  the  Coun 
cil.  Scarcely  had  Penn  arrived  there, 
when  the  disputes  between  the  province 
and  the  territories  broke  forth 
with  greater  bitterness  than 
ever;  and  in  the  following  year,  the 
separate  legislature  of  Delaware  was 
permanently  established  at  Newcastle. 


1702. 


CH.  II1.J 


DEATH  OF  WILLIAM  PENN.' 


187 


1709. 


In  addition  to  the  tidings  of  these  pro 
longed  disagreements,  and  of  the  final 
rupture  between  the  two  settlements, 
Penn  was  harassed  by  complaints 
against  the  administration  of  Governor 
Evans,  and  rendered  indignant  with 
charges  made  against  himself  of  unfair 
dealing.  Having  ascertained,  by  a 
deliberate  examination  of  the  com 
plaints  against  Evans,  that  they  were 
too  well  founded,  he  appointed 
in  his  place  Charles  Gookin,  a 
gentleman  of  ancient  Irish  family,  who 
seemed  qualified  to  give  satisfaction  to 
the  people  over  whom  he  was  appointed 
governor.  The  Assembly  were  out  of 
humor  because  Penn  had  refused  to 
dismiss  Logan,  whom  they  termed  an 
enemy  to  the  welfare  of  the  province. 
Logan  soon  after  went  to  England,  and 
Penn,  now  in  his  sixty-sixth 
year,  sent  back  by  him  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  Assembly,  replete  with 
calm  solemnity  and  dignified  concern. 
This  letter  is  said  to  have  produced  a 
deep  and  powerful  impression  on  the 
more  considerate  part  of  the  Assembly, 
who  now  began  to  feel  for  the  father 
of  the  province,  and  to  regard  with 
tenderness  his  venerable  age  ;  to  re 
member  his  long  labors,  and  to  appre 
ciate  their  own  interest  in  his  distin 
guished  reputation :  in  consequence  of 
this  letter  at  the  next  election  a  new 
Assembly  was  chosen  arid  most  of  the 
points  in  dispute  were  arranged.  Penn 
had  determined,  in  consequence  of  his 
pecuniary  embarrassments  and  the  vex- 
atiousness  of  his  position,  to  relieve 
himself  from  the  troublesome  position 
in  which  he  was  placed,  intending  to 
cede  the  sovereignty  to  the  queen  for 


171O. 


1717. 


1722. 


an  equitable  consideration ;  but  an  at 
tack  of  paralysis  put  an  end  to 

.  1712* 

further  steps  on  his  part  at  the 

time,   and  some  few  years  afterwards 

he  died. 

Gookin  was  removed  in  1Y16,  and 
was  succeeded  the  next  year  by  Sir 
William  Keith.  Penn's  will, 
gave  rise  to  a  nine  years'  law 
suit  as  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  pro 
vince  ;  but  Keith,  studying  popularity, 
was  in  favor  with  all  the  claimants  and 
so  remained  in  office.  He  and  the  As 
sembly  proved  mutually  accommodat 
ing,  and  they  consented  to  his  wishes  in 
enrolling  a  volunteer  militia,  and  in 
adopting  the  English  criminal  law  as  a 
substitute  for  their  existing  statutes. 
Keith  also  consented  to  try  the 
paper  money  loan  system  by 
an  issue  of  £15,000,  to  be  lent  out  at 
five  per  cent. ;  the  next  year  an  addi 
tional  £30,000  were  issued  on  the  same 
plan.  Through  Logan's  interference — • 
Keith  having  served  him  rather  shab 
bily  as  secretary  and  counsellor — the 
governor  was  pretty  sharply  repre 
hended  for  some  of  his  acts,  and  in 
1Y25  he  was  removed  from  his  office. 
The  members  of  the  Penn  family  found 
it  most  convenient  to  arrange  and  set 
tle  their  long  dispute  about  the  sov 
ereignty  of  the  province.  Keith  tried 
to  be  troublesome  in  the  province  by 
heading  an  opposition  to  the  new 
governor.  Patrick  Gordon;  but 

1726. 

with  no  great  success.     Subse 
quently,  on  returning  to  England,  he 
broached  the  notion  of  the  propriety  of 
taxin^  the  colonies  for  the  benefit  of 

O 

the  mother  country ;  but,  as  Mr.  Hil- 
dreth  relates,  Sir  Kobert  Walpole  is 


188 


VIRGINIA,  MARYLAND,  THE  CAROLINAS. 


.  1L 


reported  to  have  declared  that  it  would 
require  more  courage  than  he  possessed 
to  venture  upon  that  step. 

On  the  death  of  the  widow  of  Penn, 

the  sovereignty  and  territorial  rights 

of  the  province  were  reunited 

1734      .        ,,       r,,  e     -r, 

in  the  three  sons  01  Penn : 
neither  of  them,  however,  possessed 
their  father's  ability  or  had  even  a 
moiety  of  his  popularity.  Logan  ad 
ministered  the  government  for  two 
years  as  president  of  the  Council,  until 
the  arrival  of  George  Thomas,  in  1738, 
as  deputy  governor.  The  Quakers 
were  not  more  than  a  third  of  the  pop 
ulation,  yet  as  they  possessed  the  most 
wealth  and  were  more  united,  they 
kept  the  control  of  the  Assembly.  In 

1740  a  dispute  arose  as  to  ques- 

1740.       .  e    J  c     a  £ 

tions  ot  measures  01  defence, 
fortifications,  etc.,  and  though  the  As- 


sembly  voted  £4000  for  the  king's  use, 
they  imposed  upon  Thomas  the  dispo 
sing  of  it :  true  to  their  principles  they 
would  not  openly  vote  money  to  carry 
on  war.  About  this  date  com 
menced  that  warm  controversy 
between  the  proprietaries  and  the  As 
sembly,  the  latter  claiming  that  the 
former  were  bound  to  provide  for  the 
defence  of  the  province  inasmuch  as 
they  received  a  revenue  from  it  in  the 
way  of  quit  rents,  etc.;  the  proprieta 
ries  and  the  Board  of  Trade,  on  the 
other  hand,  emphatically  denying  any 
such  view  of  the  matter.  Thomas 
having  given  up  the  struggle  with  the 
Assembly,  he  was  succeeded  in  the 
office  of  deputy  governor  by 
James  Hamilton,  a  man  of  de 
cided  ability  and  zeal  for  the  cause  of 
the  proprietaries. 


CHAPTEE    IY. 

1690—1748, 

VIRGINIA,      MARYLAND,      THE      C  AR  0  LIIST  AS  . 


Nicholson  governor  —  Blair  commissary  —  College  of  William  and  Mary  —  Administration  of  Andros  —  Founding 
of  Williamsburg  —  Powers  of  the  governor  —  Spirit  of  liberty  —  Office  of  governor  made  a  sinecure —  Spots-wood's 
administration  —  His  acts  —  Gouch's  administration  —  Progress  of  Virginia  —  Affairs  in  Maryland  —  Dr.  Bray 
commissary — "Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts" — Persecution  of  the  Roman 
Catholics  —  Lord  Baltimore  becomes  a  Protestant  —  Question  of  boundary  between  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania 
—  Progress  of  Maryland  —  Affairs  in  Carolina — LudAvell  governor  —  Feuds  —  "Grand  Model"  abrogated  — 
Archdale's  visit  and  labors  —  Introduction  of  rice  —  Dissenters  disfranchised  —  Act  declared  null  and  void  — 
Church  of  England  established  by  law  —  Mr.  Bancroft's  picture  of  the  state  of  North  Carolina  —  War  with  the 
Tuscaroras — Attack  on  St.  Augustine  —  Unsuccessful  —  Moore  censured — Paper  money  issued  —  War  with 
the  Yemassees  and  other  Indians  —  Craven  victorious  in  the  contest  —  Heavy  loss  and  debt  —  Revolution  in 
South  Carolina  —  Administration  assumed  by  the  crown  —  Proprietaries  sell  out  to  the  king  —  Tieaty  of  peace 
and  amity  with  the  Cherokees  —  Emigration  of  Swiss  —  Advance  of  the  colony  notwithstanding  many  sharp  trials. 


ALTHOUGH  the  commission  of  Effing- 
ham — see  page  148 — was  renewed 
by  William  III.,  notwithstanding  the 


charges  against  him,  he  did  not  return 
to  Virginia,  and  Francis  Nichol 
son,  in  1690,  accepted  the  place 


1690. 


Cii.  I  V.I 


COLLEGE  OF  WILLIAM  AND  MARY. 


1691. 


of  his  lieutenant.  At  this  date,  the 
Rev.  James  Blair,  who  had  some  years 
before  been  a  missionary  in  Virginia, 
returned  to  the  colony  with  a  commis 
sion  as  Commissary  of  the  Bishop  of 
London,  Avhose  jurisdiction  extended 
over  the  entire  American  colonies. 
Mr.  Blair  was  a  Scotchman  by  birth, 
an  earnest,  able,  devoted  man,  and  for 
the  next  half  century  he  exercised  a 
large  measure  of  influence  in  Virginia.* 
It  was  mainly  in  consequence  of  Blair's 
zealous  activity  that  the  king 
granted  a  charter  for  "  The  Col 
lege  of  William  and  Mary  in  Virginia." 
The  preamble  states,  "  that  the  Church 
of  Virginia  may  be  furnished  with  a 
Seminary  of  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
and  that  the  youth  may  be  piously 
educated  in  good  letters  and  manners, 
and  that  the  Christian  faith  may  be 
propagated  among  the  western  Indians, 
to  the  glory  of  Almighty  God" — their 
trusty  and  well  beloved  subjects,  con 
stituting  the  General  Assembly  of  their 
colony  of  Virginia,  have  had  it  in  their 
minds,  and  have  proposed  to  themselves, 
to  found  and  establish  a  certain  place 
of  universal  study,  or  perpetual  college 
of  divinity,  philosophy,  languages,  and 
other  good  arts  and  sciences,  consisting 
of  one  president,  six  masters  or  profes 
sors,  and  a  hundred  scholars,  more  or 
less,  according  to  the  ability  of  said 
college,  and  its  statutes,  to  be  made  by 

¥  "  Of  the  activity  and  practical  usefulness  of  this 
excellent  man,  sufficient  evidence  will  be  furnished 
in  the  statement,  that  when,  at  the  advanced  age  ol' 
eighty-eight,  he  died,  he  had  been  sixty-four  years  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel  ;  fifty-three  years  Commissary 
for  Virginia ;  president  of  a  College  for  forty-nine 
years;  and  a  member  of  the  king's  council  for  fifty." 
— Hawks's  "Prot.  Epis.  Ch.in  Virginia?  p.  75. 


certain  trustees  nominated  and  elected 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  colony. 
Nicholson  and  seventeen  others  nomi 
nated  and  appointed  by  the  Assembly, 
"  were  confirmed  as  trustees,  and  were 
empowered  to  hold  and  enjoy  lands, 
possessions,  and  incomes,  to  the  yearly 
value  of  £2,000,  and  all  donations, 
bestowed  for  their  use.  The  Rev. 
James  Blair,  nominated  and  elected  by 
the  Assembly,  was  made  first  president, 
and  the  Bishop  of  London  was  ap 
pointed  and  confirmed  by  their  majes 
ties  to  be  the  first  chancellor  of  the 
college.  To  defray  the  charges  of 
building  the  college,  and  supporting 
the  president  and  masters,  the  king  and 
queen  gave  nearly  £2,000,  and  endowed 
the  college  with  twenty  thousand  acres 
of  the  best  land,  together  with  the  per 
petual  revenue  arising  from  the  duty  of 
one  penny  per  pound  on  all  tobacco 
transported  from  Virginia  and  Mary 
land  to  the  other  English  plantations. 
By  the  charter,  liberty  was  given  to  the 
president  and  masters  or  professors  to 
elect  one  member  of  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  of  the  General  Assembly.  In 
grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  royal 
patronage  and  benefaction,  the  college 
was  called  William  and  Mary."*  This 
was  the  second  college  founded  in  North 
America, 

Sir  Edmund  Andros,  of  whose  trou 
bles  in  New  England  we  have  already 
spoken,  was  appointed  Governor  oi 
Virginia  in  1692.  Contrary  to 
what  might  have  been  expected 
of  him  from  his  previous  course,  An 
dros  rendered  himself  very  popular  in 

*  Holrnes's  "American  Annals?  vol.  i.,  p.  443. 


1692. 


190 


VIRGINIA,  MARYLAND,  THE  CAROLINAS. 


1698. 


his  new  government,  and,  during  the 
six  years  he  was  in  office,  he  was  par 
ticularly  serviceable  to  the  colony  in 
collecting,  arranging,  and  taking  mea 
sures  to  preserve  the  public  records. 
Early  in  1693,  Thomas  Neale  obtained 
a  patent  for  establishing  a  post  in  the 
colonies  at  rates  proportioned  to  those 
of  the  English  post-office.  An  act  was 
also  passed,  in  1696,  fixing  the 
salaries  of  the  ministers  at  six 
teen  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  to 
gether  with  a  glebe,  and  a  dwelling 
house  to  be  provided  by  the  parish. 

Nicholson,  in  1698,  was  reappointed 
to  Virginia,  and,  with  his  usual  activi 
ty,  undertook  various  measures  for  the 
benefit  of  the  colony.  An  act  wras 
passed  in  December  of  this  year 
for  the  building  of  a  new  city, 
which  was  to  be  hereafter  the  capital 
of  the  province  in  place  of  Jamestown. 
The  college  had  already  been  erected 
at  Middle  Plantation,  and  the  region 
having  proved  salubrious,  the  site  of  the 
new  city  was  fixed  upon  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  college  on  two  pleasant  creeks 
that  run  out  of  James  and  York  Rivers. 
As  showing  their  loyal  devotion  the 
streets  of  the  new  city,  named  Williams- 
burg,  were  laid  out  in  the  form  of  a 
cypher  made  from  the  letters  W  and 
M.  In  order  to  defray  the  expense  of 
building  a  Capitol  or  State  House,  the 
tax  on  liquors  was  continued,  and  a  new 
tax  on  servants  not  born  in  England  or 
Wales,  and  on  slaves  imported  into  the 
colony.  During  the  same  session,  pro 
vision  was  made  for  thoroughly  revis 
ing  the  colonial  statutes,  and  also,  in 
obedience  to  orders  received  from  En^- 

O 

land,  the  benefits  of  the  English  tol 


eration  acts  were  extended  to  the  dis 
senters. 

Although  this  last  was  a  step  in  the 
right  direction,  yet  but  little,  if  any, 
aid  was  to  be  expected  from  the  royal 
governors  towards  attaining  enlarged 
political  freedom.  "  The  powers  of  the 
governor,"  says  Mr.  Bancroft,  "  were  ex 
orbitant  ;  he  was  at  once  lieutenant 
general  and  admiral,  lord  treasurer  and 
chancellor,  the  chief  judge  in  all  courts, 
president  of  the  council,  and  bishop  or 
ordinary,  so  that  the  armed  force,  the 
revenue,  the  interpretation  of  law,  the 
administration  of  justice,  the  church, — 
all  were  under  his  control  or  guardian 
ship."*  Checks  on  this  power,  it  is 
true,  did  exist,  in  the  instructions  from 
the  mother  country,  the  Council,  and 
the  General  Assemblv  ;  but,  as  the 

i/      /  ' 

instructions  were  kept  secret,  the  mem 
bers  were  in  a  great  measure  dependent 
on  the  governor  for  their  seats,  and  as 
the  Assembly  was  under  pretty  strict 
surveillance  and  occupied  somewhat  of 
a  subordinate  position,  the  governor,  if 
so  disposed,  was  at  liberty  to  "exercise 
tyrannical  sway  over  the  people. 

The  Virginians,  however,  nursed  the 
spirit  of  independence  in  various  ways. 
They  knew  well  the  importance  of  the 
colony  to  England ;  they  were  jealous 
of  their  rights  ;  they  would  not  vote 
money  unless  they  could  have  some 
oversight  of  its  distribution ;  and  by 
their  aristocratic  tendencies  they  both 
acquired  and  retained  extensive  powej 
in  the  management  of  public  affairs. 
When  Nicholson  favored  the  project  of 


*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the   United  Stales?  vol, 
iii.,  p.  20 


CH.  IV.] 


DEPUTY   GOVERNORS   OF  VIRGINIA. 


191 


1705. 


providing  for  the  general  defence  of  the 
colonies  against  the  French  by  quotas 
of  money,  Virginia  not  only  refused  to 
vote  its  money  but  with  entire  unani 
mity  justified  its  course,  despite  the 
special  orders  from  England.  Nichol 
son,  having  manifested  his  dissatisfaction 
in  pretty  plain  terms,  with  this  result, 
he  became  unpopular,  and  as  he 
had  been  guilty  of  some  acts 
that  would  not  bear  too  close  scrutiny 
he  was  removed  in  1*705. 

The  ministers  of  Queen  Anne  now 
adopted  a  line  of  policy  by  no  means 
wise  or  just.  The  office  of  governor 
was  made  a  sinecure,  and  so  remained 
for  about  fifty  years,  the  nominal  gov 
ernor  receiving  three-fifths  of  the  salary, 
or  £1200  sterling  annually,  and  the 
deputy  governor  receiving  the  balance, 
or  £800  for  doing  all  the  work.  The 
Earl  of  Orkney  was  the  first  governor 
under  this  arrangement.  Edward  jSTott, 
the  deputy,  lived  only  a  year;  there 
was,  however,  effected  during  his  brief 
administration  a  fifth  revision  of  the 
Virginia  code,  which  had  been  in  pro 
gress  for  some  years.  Most  of  the  pro 
visions  relate  to  the  cases  of  indented 
servants,  slaves,  the  Indians  still  remain 
ing,  etc.,  and  in  general  the  enactments 
are  marked  by  a  desire  to  promote  hu 
manity  and  justice.  Each  county  was 
allowed  two  burgesses,  and  Jamestown 
one,  to  be  elected  by  the  freeholders. 
The  twelve  counsellors  were  allowed 
about  $1600  annually,  for  their  services 
in  attending  the  General  Assembly  and 
Courts,  in  proportion  to  the  time  spent 
in  actual  duty. 

On  Mr.  Nott'a  death,  the  place  of 
lieutenant  was  bestowed  upon  Hunter, 


1710. 


afterwards  governor  of  New  York,  but 
he  having  been  captured  by  the  French 
on  his  passage  out,  Edmund 

17O6. 

Jennings,  president  of  the 
Council  for  several  years,  discharged 
the  duties  of  the  post.  Alexander 
Spotswood,  a  military  officer  of  age, 
judgment,  and  conciliating  manners, 
was  appointed  deputy  governor 
in  1710 ;  and  he  brought  with 
him  the  formal  extension  of  the  habeas 
corpus  act  to  the  province  of  Virginia. 
Soon  after  his  arrival,  Spotswood,  who 
seems  to  have  been  in  advance  of  his 
compeers  in  divining  the  purposes  of 
the  French  in  the  west  and  south  west, 
undertook  an  expedition  across  the 
Blue  Ridge,  and  thereby  opened  the 
way  to  a  knowledge  of  the  country  on 
the  Ohio  and  Western  lakes.  Although 
no  immediate  results  followed  this  ex 
pedition,  yet  it  was  a  good  beginning ; 
Spotswood  was  knighted,  and  in  due 
time  the  beautiful  valley  beyond  the 
Ridge  was  settled  by  colonists. 
In  1711,  the  province  was  re 
presented  by  Spotswood  as  in  a  state 
of  entire  peace  and  happiness,  and 
though  occasional  trials  of  his  equan 
imity  occurred,  when  Councils  were 
stubborn  and  Assemblies  obstinate,  yet, 
on  the  whole,  the  gallant  deputy  gov 
ernor  passed  the  thirteen  years  of  his 
official  life  in  Virginia  in  quiet  and 
satisfaction;  probably  Mr.  Bancroft  is 
correct  in  terming  him  "  the  best  in  the 
line  of  Virginia  governors." 

In    1723,  Hugh  Diysdale  was  sent 
out    as    Spotswood's    successor.      He 
proved  himself  quite  acceptable 
to  the  Virginians,  and  reported 
to  the  authorities  at  home  that  there 


1711, 


192 


VIRGINIA,  MARYLAND,  THE  CAROLINAS. 


[Bit. 


1748. 


was  in  the  province  "  general  harmony 
and  contentment."  Drysdale's  death 
occurred  in  1727,  and  the  government 
was  committed  to  William  Gouch,  a 
military  officer  of  amiable  manners  and 
temper.  Virginia  enjoyed  peace  and 
prosperity  for  many  years  under  his 
government.*  Settlers  also  began  to 
penetrate  the  Blue  Ridge,  and 
established  themselves  in  the 
valley  beyond.  There  were,  however, 
no  towns,  as  yet,  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  word,  and  but  few  villages. 
The  capitol  at  Williarnsburg  having 
been  destroyed  by  fire,  the  burgesses 
endeavored  to  remove  the  seat  of  gov 
ernment  ;  but  the  Council  de 
feated  the  project.  Near  the 
close  of  Gouch's  administration,  the 
sixth  and  last  colonial  revisal  of  the 
Virginia  code  was  made. 

As  we  have  before  stated,  (p.  150,) 
the  government  of  Maryland  was  for 
some  three  years  in  the  hands 
of  the  insurgents.  In  1692,  the 
king  sent  out  Lionel  Copley  as  royal 
governor,  under  whom  the  Assembly 
not  only  repealed  all  existing  laws,  but 
enacted  an  entirely  new  code.  The 
Church  of  England  was  established  by 
law;  the  province  was  divided  into 
thirty  parishes,  and  tithes  were  imposed 
upon  every  inhabitant  without  regard 
to  his  religious  opinions.  Great  com 
plaints  were  made  by  the  Roman 
Catholics  and  Quakers  of  the  oppres 
siveness  of  this  tax,  and  they  spared  no 

*  During  the  ten  years  from  1720  to  1730,  accord 
ing  to  Mr.  Hildreth,  the  value  of  goods  exported  from 
England  to  the  North  American  colonies, — i.  e.  New 
England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Vir 
ginia,  and  Carolina, — was  £4,712,992=$20,906,140  ; 
s  an  annual  average  of  about  $2,000,000. 


1692. 


1696. 


efforts  to  oppose  the  establishment  in 
any  and  every  way  they  could.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Bray,  whose  zeal  and  self-de 
nial  deserve  to  be  held  in  honor,  was 
appointed  commissary  by  the  Bishop 
of  London,  in  1696 ;  it  was 
through  his  efforts,  that  uThe 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts"  was  origi 
nated  in  1698,  and  obtained  a  charter 
in  1701.  Dr.  Bray  visited  Maryland 
in  1699,  returned  to  England  the  next 
year,  and  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life  did  all  in  his  power  to  promote  the 
spiritual  interests  of  the  Colonies.*  In 
1702,  bv  the  act  of  toleration 

1702 

every  sect  was  allowed  liberty 
except  the  Roman  Catholic.  Two  years 
later,  after  Colonel  Seymour  had  ar 
rived  as  governor,  legalized  persecution 
was  set  on  foot  against  the  papists , 
mass  was  forbidden  to  be  said  publicly , 
and  children  were  tempted  to  hypoc 
risy  by  offers  of  shares  in  their 
parents'  property,  etc.  Seymour 
died  in  1709,  and  John  Hart  was  ap 
pointed  governor  in  1714. 

The  first  Lord  Baltimore  had  become 
a  Roman  Catholic  from  conviction ;  the 
present  successor  to  his  title  and  estates, 
perceiving  that  ruin  was  impending 
unless  he  or  his  family  could  obtain 
a  restoration  of  the  proprietary  rights, 
prevailed  upon  his  son  Benedict  Leon 
ard,  to  embrace  the  doctrines  of  the 
Established  Church.  This  hav 
ing  been  done,  the  administra 
tion  of  the  colony  was  restored  to  the 


1709. 


171.1 


*  Dr.  Bray  died  in  1730,  at  an  advanced  age. — Sea 
Dr.  Hawks's  "  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Mary 
land^  p.  82,  etc.,  for  a  more  full  account  of  this  ex 
cellent  man  and  his  labors. 


UH.  IV.] 


PROGRESS  OF  CAROLINA. 


193 


Culvert  family,  in  full.  His  infant  son, 
Charles, — liis  father  having  died  within 
a  year — succeeded  as  the  fifth  Lord 
Baltimore.  Hart  was  continued  in 
office,  and  though  no  special  effect  was 
produced  in  Maryland  by  this  change 
of  religious  views  on  the  part  of  the 
proprietary,  it  was  judged  expedient, 
by  the  legislature,  to  impose  a  test  oath 
by  which  Roman  Catholics  were  ex 
cluded  from  all  share  in  the  govern 
ment.  Charles  Calvert,  a  kinsman  of 
the  proprietary,  succeeded  Hart 
as  governor,  in  1720.  Some 
years  later  the  free  school  system  was 
carried  out,  with  advantage  to  the  col 
ony  and  its  progress. 

A  younger  brother  of  the  proprie 
tary  was  governor  of  Maryland  from 
1727  onward:  during  his  administra 
tion,  acts  were  passed  offering 
bounties  on  flax,  hemp,  and  iron. 
Calvert  went  to  England  in  1732,  and 
soon  after  the  proprietary  in  person  ar 
rived  in  the  colony.  His  main  object 
was  to  endeavor  to  agree  upon  the  line 
between  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania 
and  Delaware.  The  controversy  was 
not  settled  until  after  some  twenty 
years  of  litigation.  Lord  Baltimore 
returned  to  England  in  1736, 
and  Benjamin  Ogle  took  charge 
of  the  administration  of  public  affairs. 
During  the  remainder  of  the  period 
between  this  and  the  peace  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  Maryland  continued  to  ad 
vance  in  prosperity,  and  was  ready  to 
take  her  share  in  the  measures  rendered 
necessary  by  the  jealousy  of  the  French, 
and  the  near  approach  of  that  contest 
for  the  mastery  soon  to  be  fought  be 
tween  the  hostile  nations  and  colonies. 

VOL.  I.— 27 


1727. 


1736. 


In  Carolina,  Philip  Ludwell  was  ap 
pointed  by  the  proprietaries,  in  1690, 
to  the  governorship  of  that 

1 AAQ 

province.  Sothel  was  com 
pelled  to  retire  from  the  place  he 
had  usurped,  (see  page  128)  and  Lud 
well  began  his  administration,  over 
both  South  and  North  Carolina,  in  a 
way  that  promised  to  give  peace  and 
satisfaction  to  the  colony.  It  was,  how 
ever,  of  but  short  duration.  The  old 
enmities  between  Churchmen  and  Dis 
senters,  and  between  these  same  and 
the  Huguenots,  now  considerable  in 
number  and  political  importance,  were 
revived,  and  Ludwell,  in  1693, 

.          '.       ,.  '  1693. 

retired  in  disgust.  He  was  suc 
ceeded  in  Albemarle  by  Thomas  Har 
vey,  and  in  the  southern  province  by 
Thomas  Smith,  a  man  of  high  charac 
ter  and  a  member  of  the  Council.  The 
"Grand  Model,"  which  had  never  satis 
fied  any  one,  was  this  same  year — 1693 
— formally  abrogated,  it  being  voted 
by  the  proprietaries,  "That  as  the  peo 
ple  have  declared  they  would  rather  be 
governed  by  the  powers  granted  by  the 
charter,  without  regard  to. the  funda 
mental  constitutions,  it  will  Be  for  their 
quiet,  and  the  protection  of  the  well- 
disposed,  to  grant  their  request." 

In  order  to  restore  tranquility,  Smith 
advised  the  proprietaries  to  serftt  over 
one  of  their  own  number.  This  advice 
was  adopted  ;  the  place  was  offered  to 
the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury ;  on  his  de 
clining,  John  Archdale,  a  worthy  Qua 
ker,  was  appointed.  His  measures  were, 
on  the  whole,  judicious  and  productive 
of  good  results,  and  having  suc 
ceeded  in  allaying  some  of  the 
ferments  and  disputes  between  contend- 


194 


VIRGINIA,   MARYLAND,   THE   CAROLINAS. 


11. 


ing  parties,  and  also  having  displayed  a 
friendly  disposition  towards  the  Span 
iards  in  Florida,  Archdale  appointed 
Joseph  Blake,  a  nephew  of  the  famous 
admiral,  as  governor,  and  the  next  year 
returned  to  England. 

Not  long  before,  a  vessel  from  Mada 
gascar,  on  her  homeward  voyage  to 
Britain,  happening  to  touch  at  Charles 
ton,  the  captain  presented  the  governor 
with  a  bag  of  seed  rice,  which  he  said 
lie  had  seen  growing  in  eastern  coun 
tries,  where  it  was  deemed  excellent 
food,  and  yielded  a  prodigious  increase. 
Cultivated  at  first  more  as  a  curiosity 
than  with  any  definite  expectation  of 
the  result,  it  soon  grew  to  be  esteemed 
a  most  important  staple.  "  Hence," 
says  Mr.  Bancroft,  "the  opulence  of 
the  colony ;  hence  also,  its  swarms  of 
negro  slaves.  The  profits  of  the  rice 
fields  tempted  the  planter  to  enlarge 
his  domains,  and  Africa  furnished  la 
borers." 

Although  the  majority  of  the  colo 
nists  were  Dissenters,  yet  in  1704,  by  a 
very  small  majority,  they  were 
disfranchised,  and  the  monopoly 
of  political  power  bestowed  upon  the 
Church  of  England.  Archdale  op 
posed  the  bill  in  {he  court  of  proprie 
taries,  but  through  Lord  Granville's  ef 
forts  it  was  sanctioned :  two  years  later, 
on  application  to  the  queen,  the  intol- 
lerant  acts  were  declared  null  and  void, 
and  in  November,  1706,  so  far 
as  political  privileges  were  con 
cerned,  they  were  repealed  by  the  Colo 
nial  Assembly:  the  Church  of  England 
nevertheless  was  established  as  the  re 
ligion  of  the  province.  Angry  strifes 
ensued,  and  turbulence  and  popular 


1704. 


1704. 


excitements  were  not  uncommon.  Still 
the  period  was  one  of  prosperity  and 
exemption  from  the  trials  to  which 
other  colonies  were  exposed. 

A  graphic  picture  is  drawn  by  Mr. 
Bancroft  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina, 
"  the  sanctuary  of  runaways,"  where 
"  every  one  did  what  was  right  in  hia 
own  eyes,  paying  tribute  neither  to  God 
nor  to  Caesar;"  and  of  the  effort  made 
under  Robert  Daniel,  the  deputy  gov 
ernor,  to  establish  the  Church  of  Eng 
land  among  such  a  people  as 
this.  Of  course  the  effort  was 
abortive ;  anarchy  ensued ;  the  two 
parties  were  arrayed  one  against  the 
other ;  each  party  had  its  governor ; 
each  elected  its  House  of  Re 
presentatives.  The  Quakers  to 

j    j.          •       J  •  ±     xi  1710. 

determined  to  resist  the  ope 
ration  of  what  they  deemed  injustice; 
and  notwithstanding  the  governor  of 
Virginia  was  asked  to  interfere  with  a 
military  force,  the  malcontents 
were  unterrified,  and  persisted 
in  their  attitude  of  defiance.  But  the 
attention  of  the  whole  province  was 
soon  engrossed  by  a  war  with  the  Tus- 
carora  Indians.  These,  enraged  by 
what  they  deemed  a  trespass  on  their 
land,  proceeded  to  revenge  themselves 
in  the  usual  manner  of  savages.  The 
Quakers  in  North  Carolina  refused  to 
bear  arms ;  South  Carolina  sent  some 
aid ;  but  the  yellow  fever  breaking  out, 
the  inhabitants  fled  in  terror  and  dis 
tress  from  the  ravages  of  disease,  and  the 
inroads  of  the  Indians.  The  next  win 
ter — 1713 — a  force  of  militia 

S  7  S 1 

and  Indians  from  South  Caro 
lina,  subdued  the  Tuscaroras,  and  some 
eight  hundred  prisoners  were  sold  into 


1712. 


Cn.  IV.] 


EXPEDITION   AGAINST  ST.   AUGUSTINE. 


195 


1V02. 


slavery.  The  balance  of  the  tribe  es 
caped,  arid  made  their  way  northward, 
where  they  were  at  last  received  as  a 
sixth  tribe  in  the  confederacy  of  the 
Five  Nations. 

A  rupture  having  taken  place  in 
1702,  between  England  and  Spain,  the 
attention  of  the  colony  was  directed  to 
a  different  object,  which  afforded 
Governor  Moore  an  opportunity 
of  exercising  his  military  talents,  and 
a  prospect  of  enriching  himself  by 
Spanish  plunder  or  Indian  captives. 
He  proposed  to  the  Assembly,  whose 
cupidity  was  easily  excited,  an  expedi 
tion  against  the  Spanish  settlement  at 
St.  Augustine.  Many  applauded  the 
proposal,  but  men  of  cool  reflection 
doubted  the  expediency  of  the  mea 
sure.  A  large  majority  of  the  Assem 
bly,  however,  declared  in  favor  of  the 
expedition,  and  a  sum  of  £2,000  ster 
ling  was  voted  for  the  service  of  the 
war.  Six  hundred  Indians  were  en 
gaged,  who,  being  fond  of  warlike  ex 
ploits,  gladly  accepted  of  arms  and 
ammunition  offered  them,  for  their  aid 
and  assistance.  Six  hundred  provincial 
militia  were  raised,  and  schooners  and 
merchant  ships  were  impressed  for 
transports  to  carry  the  forces.  Port 
Royal  was  fixed  upon  as  the  place  of 
general  rendezvous,  whence  the  expedi 
tion  sailed  in  September.  In  the  plan 
of  operations,  it  had  been  agreed  that 
Colonel  Daniel,  who  was  an  officer  of 
spirit,  should  go  by  the  inland  passage 
with  a  party  of  militia  and  Indians,  and 
attack  the  town  by  land,  while  the 
governor  should  proceed  to  support 
him  by  sea.  Daniel  was  quite  success 
ful,  having  arrived  first  and  plundered 


the  town;  but  the  Spaniards  having 
laid  up  provisions  for  four  months  in 
the  castle,  on  his  approach  they  retired 
to  it,  with  all  tjjeir  money  and  most 
valuable  effects.  Upon  the  arrival  of 
Moore,  the  place  was  invested  with  a 
force  against  which  the  Spaniards  could 
not  contend,  and  they  therefore  kept 
themselves  shut  up  in  their  stronghold. 
The  governor,  finding  it  impossible  to 
dislodge  them  without  additional  artil- 

O 

lery,  sent  a  sloop  to  Jamaica  for  cannon, 
bombs,  and  mortars.  While  he  was 
waiting  the  return  of  the  vessel,  the 
Spaniards  at  Havana,  having  received 
information  of  this  sudden  attack,  sent 
two  ships,  the  one  of  twenty-two  guns 
and  the  other  of  sixteen,  which  pres 
ently  appeared  off  the  mouth  of  the  har 
bor,  and  struck  such  a  panic  into  Moore, 
that  he  instantly  raised  the  siege,  aban 
doned  his  ships,  and  made  a  precipitate 
retreat  to  Carolina  by  land ;  by  this 
movement  the  Spaniards  in  the  garri 
son  were  not  only  relieved,  but  the 
ships,  provisions,  and  ammunition,  be 
longing  to  the  Carolinians,  fell  also  into 
their  hands.  Daniel,  who  had  com 
mand  of  the  vessel  sent  to  Jamaica,  on 
his  return  found  the  siege  raised,  and 
narrowly  escaped  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  Spaniards. 

Moore  was  sharply  censured  for  his 
conduct,  and  a  debt  of  £6,000  sterling 
was  entailed  upon  the  colony  in  conse 
quence.  A  bill  was  passed  by  the  As 
sembly  for  stamping  bills  of  credit  to 
answer  the  public  expense,  which  were 
to  be  sunk  in  three  years,  by  a  duty 
laid  upon  liquors,  skins,  and  furs.  This 
was  the  first  paper  money  issued  in  Ca 
rolina,  and  for  some  years  it  remained 


19G 


VIRGINIA,  MARYLAND,   THE   CAROLINAS. 


|Bs.  IL 


1706. 


at  par  valne.  Moore,  having  attacked 
the  Apalachian  Indians,  was 
quite  successful  in  breaking  up 
their  power;  his  successor,  also,  was 
enabled  to  resist  an  attack  of  the 
Spaniards,  in  1706,  on  Charleston. 

Scarcely  had  North  Carolina  re 
covered  from  the  Indian  devastations 
when  South  Carolina  was  exposed  to 
similar  calamity.  For  some  time  past 
the  Indian  tribes  had  been  laying  their 
plans  to  extirpate  the  whites,  and  the 
combination  extended  from  the  tribes 
in  Florida  to  those  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Cape  Fear.  The  day  before  the 
Yemassees  began  their  work  of  blood, 
deep  gloom  was  observed  to  have 
settled  on  their  faces,  and  other  indica 
tions  of  impending  trouble  were  not 
wanting.  The  next  morning,  April 
15th,  hostilities  broke  out.  The 
leaders  were  all  out  under  arms, 
calling  upon  their  followers,  and  pro 
claiming  aloud  designs  of  vengeance. 

o  o  o 

The  young  men,  burning  with  fury  and 
passion,  flew  to  their  arms,  and  in  a 
few  hours,  massacred  above  ninety  per 
sons  in  Pocotaligo  town  and  the  neigh 
boring  plantations  ;  and  many  more 
must  have  fallen  a  sacrifice  on  Port 
Royal  Island,  had  they  not  providen 
tially  been  warned  of  their  danger. 

The  Yemassees,  spreading  desolation 
and  ruin  on  every  side,  and  driving  the 
planters  to  take  refuge  in  Charleston, 
were  soon  joined  by  the  Catawbas,  the 
Cherokees,  and  the  Creeks,  all  of  them 
a  short  time  before  allies  of  the  Caro 
linians  in  the  war  against  the  Tus- 
caroras.  The  Indians,  so  far  as  could 
be  ascertained,  were  some  six  or  seven 
thousand  strong.  In  Charleston,  how- 


1715. 


ever,  there  were  not  more  than  a  thou 
sand  two  hundred  men  fit  to  bear  arms, 
but  as  the  town  had  several  forts  into 
which  the  inhabitants  might  retreat, 
Gov.  Craven  resolved  to  march  with 
this  small  force  into  the  woods  against 
the  enemy.  He  proclaimed  martial 
law,  and  laid  an  embargo  on  all  ships, 
to  prevent  either  men  or  provisions 
from  leaving  the  country.  He  obtained 
an  act  of  Assembly,  empowering  him 
to  impress  men,  and  seize  arms,  ammu 
nition,  and  stores,  wherever  they  were 
to  be  found,  to  arm  such  trusty  negroes 
as  might  prove  serviceable  in  this  con 
juncture,  and  to  prosecute  the  war  with 
vigor.  New  York  and  Virginia  sent 
some  military  stores,  and  North  Caro 
lina  lent  such  aid  as  was  in  her  power. 
Advancing  warily,  Craven  came  upon 
the  Indians  at  Saltcatchers,  where  they 
were  encamped.  Here  a  bloody  en 
gagement  took  place,  in  which  the 
white  men  were  victorious.  The  Ye 
massees  were  driven  out  and  retired  to 
Florida,  and  a  year  or  so  afterwards 
peace  was  concluded  with  the  other 
tribes.  Several  hundred  inhabitants 
lost  their  lives  in  this  war,  the  damages 
of  which  were  estimated  at  £100,000, 
besides  a  debt,  in  bills  of  credit,  of 
about  the  same  amount. 

The  proprietaries,  though  earnestly 
solicited,  refused  to  afford  any  relief,  or 
to  pay  any  portion  of  the  debt. 
The  Assembly,  therefore,  deter 
mined  to   remunerate   the  colony,  by 
disposing  of  the  land  from  which  the 
Indians  had  been  driven.     The  terms 
offered   were    so   favorable,    that    five 
hundred    Irishmen    inmediately   came 
over,  and  planted  themselves   on  the 


CH.  IV.] 


INSURRECTION   AGAINST  PROPRIETARY  AUTHORITY. 


19? 


1718. 


frontiers.  The  proprietaries,  most  un 
wisely  as  well  as  unjustly,  refused  to 
sanction  the  proceedings  of  the  Assem 
bly,  and  deprived  these  emigrants  of 
their  lands.  Reduced  to  extreme 
poverty,  some  perished  from  want, 
while  others  resorted  to  the  northern 
colonies ;  and  thus  a  strong  barrier 
between  the  old  settlements  and  the 
savages  was  removed,  and  the  country 
again  exposed  to  their  incursions.  The 
people  were  exasperated,  and  longed 
for  a  change  of  masters ;  and  the  cor 
rupt  and  oppressive  conduct  of  Trott, 
the  chief  justice,  and  Rhett,  the  receiver- 
general,  increased  the  discontent.  Of 
the  former,  the  governor  and 
Council  complained  to  the  pro 
prietaries,  and  asked  for  his  removal; 
but  the  authorities  at  home  refused. 
Johnson,  the  governor,  was  ordered  to 
dissolve  the  Assembly,  which  he  did, 
despite  the  excited  state  of  the  public 
mind.  The  newly-chosen  repre 
sentatives,  elected  in  December, 
declined  to  act  as  an  Assembly,  and 
assumed  the  character  of  a  revolu 
tionary  convention.  Johnson  refusing 
to  join  them,  the  members  of  the  Con 
vention  selected  Colonel  James  Moore 
to  govern  the  colony  in  the  king's 
name,  and  entered  into  an  association 
for  common  defence,  as  well  against  the 
Spaniards  as  the  proprietaries.  An 
agent  was  sent  to  England  in  behalf  of 
the  colonists,  and  after  a  hearing,  legal 
process  was  taken  for  vacating 
the  Carolina  charter ;  pending 
this  process  the  administration  of  South 
Carolina  was  assumed  by  the  Crown. 

Sir  Francis  Nicholson  came  out  to 
South  Carolina  with  a  commission  as 


1719. 


1T20. 


1721. 


1722. 


provisional  royal  governor.  Taught 
by  experience  of  the  temper  of  the 
colonists,  Nicholson  desired 
to  make  himself  popular,  and 
favored  as  much  a|^he  could  the  wishes 
of  the  people,  by  appointing  Middletori 
president  of  the  Council,  and  Allen, 
chief  justice,  both  active  in  the  late 
movements  against  the  proprietaries. 
He  also  gave  his  sanction  to  a  large 
additional  issue  of  paper  money. 
Great  confusion  and  sharp  con 
tests  for  a  number  of  years  followed 
on  this  subject. 

North  Carolina  had  not  joined  in 
the  insurrection  against  proprietary 
authority.  Some  years  afterwards, 
however,  the  proprietaries  of  the  pro 
vince  made  an  arrangement  by  which 
they  sold  out  their  rights  to 

1729. 

the  crown,  for  about  £22,000. 
Robert  Johnson  was  appointed  royal 
governor  of  South  Carolina  ;  and  Bur- 
rington,  who  had  been  in  disgrace  pre 
viously,  was  reappointed  to  the  same 
office  in  North  Carolina.  Burlington 
was  succeeded,  in  1734,  by  Ga 
briel  Johnston.  The  president 
of  the  Council,  William  Bull,  succeeded 
Broughton,  in  South  Carolina,  in  1737. 
In  the  early  part  of  1730,  Sir  Alex 
ander  dimming  was  sent  out  to  effect 
an  amicable  arrangement  with  the 
Cherokees  for  peacable  settlement  on 
the  lands  near  the  Savannah  River. 
Gumming  was  successful  in  his  mission, 
and  a  treaty  was  drawn  up  by  which 
the  sovereignty  of  the  king  was  ac 
knowledged  and  privileges  of  settle 
ment  in  the  Indian  territories  freely 
accorded.  The  Cherokees,  in  conse 
quence  of  this  treaty,  for  many  years 


1734. 


VIRGINIA,   MARYLAND,   THE   CAROLINAS. 


198 

remained  in  a  stute  of  perfect  friend 
ship  and  peace  with  the  colonists,  who 
followed  their  various  employments 
in  the  neighborhood  of  those  Indians 
without  the  least  terror  or  molesta 
tion. 

The  Carolinas  now  attracted  consid 
erable  attention,  and  their  population 
was  increased  by  accessions  from  several 
of  the  states  of  Europe.  Encouraged  by 
the  assurances  and  the  arrangements  of 
their  countryman,  John  Peter  Pury,  a 
native  of  Neufchatel,  in  Switzerland, 
one  hundred  and  seventy  persons  emi 
grated  with  him  to  this  province,  and 
not  long  after  they  were  joined  by  two 
hundred  more.  The  governor,  accord 
ing  to  agreement,  allotted  forty  thou 
sand  acres  of  land  for  the  use  of  the 
Swiss  settlement  on  the  north-east  side 
of  the  Savannah  River ;  and  a  town  was 
marked  out  for  their  accommodation, 
which  he  called  Purysburgh,  from  the 
name  of  the  principal  promoter  of  the 
settlement.  These  settlers,  however, 
felt  very  severely  the  change  of  climate, 
to  which  many  of  their  lives  fell  a  sac 
rifice  ;  and  for  some  years  the  survivors 
deeply  regretted  the  voluntary  banish 
ment  to  which  they  had  subjected 
themselves.  In  the  same  year,  accord 
ing  to  a  plan  that  had  been  recently 
adopted  in  England,  for  the  more 
speedy  population  and  settlement  of 
Carolina,  eleven  townships  were  mark 
ed  out  on  the  sides  of  rivers,  in  square 
plats,  each  consisting  of  twenty  thou 
sand  acres.  Two  of  these  townships 
were  laid  out  on  the  Alatamaha ;  two 


a 


on  the  Savannah ;  two  on  the  Santee ; 
one  on  the  Pedee ;  one  on  the  Wa- 
camaw ;  one  on  the  Wateree ;  and  one 
on  Black  River.  The  lands  in  these 
townships  were  divided  into  shares  of 
fifty  acres  for  each  man,  woman,  and 
child,  who  should  come  over  to  occupy 
and  improve  them.  In  1*737, 
multitudes  of  laborers  and  hus 
bandmen  in  Ireland,  unable  to  procure 
a  comfortable  subsistence  for  their  fam 
ilies  in  their  native  land,  embarked  for 
Carolina.  The  first  colony  of  Irish,  re 
ceiving  a  grant  of  lands  near  the  Santee 
River,  formed  a  settlement,  which  was 
called  Williamsburgh. 

The  following  year,  a  party  of  slaves 
made  an  insurrection  in  South  Carolina, 
which,  however,  was  easily  sub 
dued.  Jealous  of  Spanish  influ 
ence,  and  coveting  the  great  wealth 
of  Spanish  towns  and  ships,  the  Caro 
linas  joined  in  enterprises  against  the 
Spaniards  ;  but  the  one  in  1740, 
against  St.  Augustine,  was  un 
successful.  In  North  Carolina  the 
question  of  the  quit-rents  continued  to 
be  productive  of  discord,  and  the  offi 
cers  of  the  crown  were  for  years  un 
paid.  The  matter  was,  however,  ar 
ranged  in  1748.  Notwithstanding 
difficulties  and  trials  of  various  descrip 
tions,  the  colony  increased  in  popula 
tion  and  wealth  ;  and  in  some  cases  the 
younger  members  of  rich  families  were 
sent  to  England  to  be  educated.  By 
and  by  we  shall  see  the  effect  of  this 
change  brought  about  by  the  posses- 
sion  of  wealth  and  leisure. 


174O. 


Co.  V.j 


FOUNDING   OF   GEORGIA. 


199 


CHAPTER     Y. 

1732—1754, 

FOUNDING     AND      PROGRESS      OF      GEORGIA. 

Origin  of  Georgia  —James  Edward  Oglethorpe  —  His  character  and  merits  —  Object  of  the  colony — Error  of 
judgment  at  the  first  —  Oglethorpe  at  the  head  of  the  colony  —  Founding  of  Savannah — Emigration  of  Lutherans 
from  Salzburg  —  Moravians  —  Jews  —  Highlanders  —  Charles  and  John  Wesley  in  Georgia  —  Discontent  among 
some  of  the  colonists — Slavery  desired —  When  introduced  —  Spanish  claims  to  the  territory  —  Oglethorpe's 
plans  —  Resists  Spanish  pretensions  —  Attack  on  St.  Augustine  —  Unsuccessful  —  Spanish  expedition  against 
Georgia  and  Carolina — Oglethorpe's  trial  —  Charges  against  him — His  complete  vindication  —  Whitfield  in 
America  —  The  great  revival  —  Changes  in  the  government  —  Slow  progress  of  Georgia  —  Expensiveness  of  the 
colony —  Royal  governor  appointed  —  The  people  hospitable  —  Value  of  the  land  not  yet  known. 


SOME  years  before  the  breaking  out 
of  the  third  intercolonial  war,  the 
colony  of  GEORGIA  was  planted  in  that 
waste  and  unproductive  portion  of 
Carolina,  between  the  Savannah  and 
the  Alatamaha  rivers.  Its  ori- 

•  w«»2 

gin  was  due  to  kindly  and  be 
nevolent  motives  and  desires,  notwith 
standing  the  errors  of  judgment  into 
which  its  founders  fell ;  and  the  name 
of  James  Edward  Oglethorpe  will 
always  be  held  in  deserved  honor  and 
esteem.  This  philanthropic  man  was 
earnestly  intent  upon  mitigating  the 
evils  connected  with  imprisonment  for 
debt,  and  hoped  also  to  provide  season 
able  relief  for  the  struggling  poor  of 
England,  who  might  desire  to  live 
soberly  and  industriously,  and  reap  the 
fruits  of  their  efforts.  In  conjunction 
with  Lord  Percival  and  other  noble 
men  and  gentlemen,  Oglethorpe  ob 
tained  a  charter*  from  parliament  of  a 
part  of  Carolina,  south  of  the  Savan- 


*  £  ee  the  "  Historical  Collections  of  Georgia,"  by 
Rev.  Geo.  White,  for  the  Charter  of  the  Colony. 


nab,  to  be  settled  for  the  purpose  jusf- 
named.  Liberal  contributions  were 
made  by  the  nobility  and  clergy ;  par 
liament  also  made  a  grant ;  and  the 
warmest  interest  was  excited  in  favor 
of  the  plan.  They  who  thought  of 
political  advantages,  favored  the  pro 
ject  because  of  the  service  Georgia  was 
likely  to  prove  as  a  barrier  on  the 
south  against  the  Spaniards ;  merchants 
were  attracted  by  promises  of  Aviue  and 
silk  as  staples  for  the  new  colony ;  Pro 
testants  looked  hitherward  as  a  refuge 
for  their  persecuted  brethren  on  the 
continent ;  those  who  desired  to  labor 
for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  had 
here  opened  to  them  a  wide  field ; 
everything,  in  short,  seemed  to  favor 
the  undertaking.  And  the  official  seal 
had  on  one  of  its  faces  a  group  of  silk 
worms  with  the  motto,  "non  sibi,  sed 
aliis" — "not  for  themselves,  but  for 
others." 

The  great  error  of  judgment  at  the 
beginning  was  in  confining  the  emigra 
tion  to  that  helpless,  inefficient,  queru 
lous  class  of  the  community,  who,  by 


200 


FOUNDING  AND   PROGRESS   OF  GEORGIA. 


.  n. 


1732. 


misfortune  and  ill  success  at  home,  were 
little  fitted  to  encounter  the  toils  and 
privations  of  a  new  country ;  the  very 
sort  of  persons  needed  as  pioneers,  such 
as  husbandmen,  artificers,  and  laborers, 
were  the  ones  excluded  from  the  bene 
fit  of  the  charity.  But  this  error  was 
not  of  long  continuance, 

Oglethorpe  offered  to  endure  the  fa 
tigue  of  planting  the  colony  himself. 
Accordingly,  with  thirty-five  families — 
about  a  hundred  and  thirty-five  per 
sons — a  clergyman,  having  with  him 
Bibles,  Prayer  Books,  and  Catechisms, 
a  person  to  instruct  in  cultivation  of 
silk,  and  several  officers  of  justice, 
Oglethorpe  set  sail  from  Deptford, 
November  17th,  1732,  reached 
Charleston  early  in  1733,  where 
he  and  his  company  were  hospitably 
entertained,  and  soon  after  landed  on 
the  shores  of  the  new  province.  On 
ascending  the  Savannah  River,  a  pine- 
covered  hill,  somewhat  elevated  above 
its  level  shores,  the  Yamacraw  Bluff, 
was  fixed  upon  as  the  seat  of  the  capi 
tal,  which  was  laid  out  in  broad  aven 
ues  and  open  squares,  and  named  SA 
VANNAH,  after  the  Indian  name  of  the 
river.  Daring  these  operations,  Ogle 
thorpe  pitched  his  tent  under  a  canopy 
of  lofty  pine  trees.  He  found  the  spot, 
on  his  arrival,  occupied  by  a  small 
body  of  the  Creek  Indians,  who 
were  easily  induced  to  surrender  it  and 
to  yield  to  the  settlers  an  ample  extent 
of  territory.*  Immediate  steps  were 
taken  for  setting  forward  the  work  of 

*  For  the  interesting  history  of  Mary  Musgrove, 
who  acted  as  interpreter,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bosorn- 
worth,  her  husband  subsequently,  see  Mr.  White's 
"Historical  Collections  of  Georgia?  pp.  21-31. 


1733. 


colonization  and  settlement.  A  small 
battery  commanded  the  river  ;  a  pali 
sade  was  erected;  an  experimental 
garden  was  laid  out  for  vines,  mulberry 
trees,  etc.  ;  and  a  storehouse  was  built. 
Soon  after,  a  body  of  German  Luthe 
rans,  from  the  valleys  of  the  Western 
Alps,  within  the  archbishopric  of  Salz 
burg,  who  had  been  exposed  to  perse 
cution  at  home,  obtained  the  sympathy 
and  assistance  of  the  English  parlia 
ment,  who  furnished  the  means  for 
enabling  them  to  emigrate.  Headed 

O  O 

by  their  ministers,  they  left  the  home 
of  their  fathers  on  foot,  and  walked 
to  Rotterdam,  their  place  of  embark 
ation,  chanting  as  they  went  hymns 
of  thanksgiving  for  the,ir  deliverance. 
They  touched  at  Dover,  where  they 
had  an  interview  with  their  English 
patrons  ;  and  on  reaching  Geor 
gia,  in  March,  1734,  formed,  at 
a  distance  above  Savannah,  a  settle 
ment,  piously  called  Ebenezer,  where 
they  were  shortly  after  joined  by  other 
members  of  their  community-  To  these 
early  in  1735,  were  added  several  Mo 
ravians,  the  disciples  of  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf.  A  company  of  about  forty  des 
titute  Jews  had  also  been  furnished  by 
some  of  their  wealthier  brethren  with 
the  means  of  emigrating  to  Georgia, 
where,  though  not  encouraged  by  the 
trustees,  they  were  allowed  to  establish 
themselves  in  peace. 

Oglethorpe  returned  to  England  in 
April,  1734,  and  carried  with  him  se 
veral  Creek  chiefs,  and  some  speci 
mens  of  Georgia  silk.  The  Indians 
were  treated  with  great  attention,  and, 
deeply  impressed  with  the  power  and 
wealth  of  the  English,  were  ready  to 


1734. 


CHAP.  V.' 


JOHN   WESLEY  IN  GEORGIA. 


1736. 


promise  perpetual  fidelity.  By  means 
of  an  additional  parliamentary  grant 
of  JS2  6,000,  steps  were  taken  for  occu 
pying  the  region  lying  near  to 
Florida.  Early  in  1*736,  a  body 
of  Scotch.  Highlanders  founded  New 

O 

Inverness  on  the  Alatamaha.  Ogle- 
thorpe  returned  to  Georgia  with  these 
settlers,  having  in  his  company  John 
and  Charles  Wesley,  afterwards  cele 
brated  for  their  connection  with  the 
Methodist  movement.  Charles  Wes 
ley  was  appointed  secretary  to  Ogle 
thorpe,  and  John  was  chosen  the  parish 
minister  of  Savannah.  At  first  he  was 
very  popular,  and  was  listened  to  with 
great  devotion  by  all  classes  in  the 
community ;  but  his  zeal  ere  long  in 
volved  him  in  difficulties,  which  led  to 
his  leaving  Georgia..  He  had  formed 
an  attachment  for  a  young  lady,  whose 
piety  at  first  appeared  unquestionable, 
but  proving  afterwards  not  quite  equal 
to  what  Wesley  and  his  religious  asso 
ciates  required,  he  had  been  led  by 
principle  to  break  off  the  connection,  and 
the  lady  was  married  to  another  per 
son.  Becoming  now  more  "  worldly" 
than  before,  she  was  refused  admission 
to  the  Lord's  Supper  by  Wesley,  as 
unfit  to  partake  of  that  solemnity, 
an  exclusion  for  which  her  husband 
brought  a  suit,  and  claimed  damages 
to  the  amount  of  £1,000.  Wesley, 
charged  beside  with  a  number  of  other 
abuses  of  authority,  and  find 
ing  the  public  feeling  decidedly 
against  him,  "  shook  off  the  dust  of  his 
feet,"  as  he  phrases  it,  and  left  Georgia 
in  disgust.  He  never  afterwards  re 
visited  America. 
The  Germans  and  Scotch  were  toler- 

VOL.  I.— 28 


1T37. 


ably  well  contented  with  their  posi 
tion;  industry  and  frugality  brought 
their  proper  reward ;  but  the  class  of 
settlers  spoken  of  above,  soon  became 
clamorous  for  the  privilege  of  having 
rum  to  use,  and  the  keeping  of  slaves, 
both  of  which  had  been  expressly  for 
bidden  from  the  first  by  the  trustees. 
Discontent,  and  factious  language  and 
action,  became  quite  prevalent  among 
these ;  and  by  constant  agitation,  dur 
ing  ten  years  or  so  that  followed,  their 
wishes  were  yielded  to,  and  slavery 
was  introduced  into  Georgia. 

Oglethorpe,  aware  of  the  importance 
of  strengthening  his  position,  took  mea 
sures  to  fortify  the  colony  against  the 
neighboring  Spaniards.  A  fort  was 
erected  on  an  island  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Alatamaha  River,  where  a  town 
called  Frederica  was  regularly  laid  out 
and  built ;  and  ten  miles  nearer  the 
sea,  on  Cumberland  Island,  was  raised 
a  battery,  commanding  the  entrance 
into  Jekyl  Sound,  through  which  all 
ships  of  force  must  pass  to  reach  Fred- 
erica.  The  Spaniards  took  umbrage 
at  these  proceedings  on  the  part  of  the 
English,  and  sent  a  commissioner  from 
Havana  to  demand  an  evacuation  of 
all  the  territory  south  of  St.  Helena 
Sound,  as  belonging  to  the  King  of 
Spain.  Oglethorpe,  of  course,  resisted 
such  a  demand.  He  had  acquired  the 
veneration  of  all  classes  by  his  benevo 
lent  labors,  "nobly  devoting  all  his 
powers  to  serve  the  poor,  and  rescue 
them  from  their  wretchedness;"  and 
though  he  himself  possessed  no  share 
of  territory  in  Georgia,  he  determined 
to  shelter  it,  if  needful,  with  his  life. 
"  To  me,"  he  said  to  Charles  Wesley, 


202 


FOUNDING  AND  PKOGRESS  OF   GEORGIA. 


[BK.  1L 


173§. 


1739. 


174O. 


"  death  is  nothing.  If  separate  spirits 
regard  our  little  concerns,  they  do  it 
as  men  regard  the  follies  of  their  child- 

O 

hood."  Having  proceeded  to  England, 
he  raised  and  disciplined  a  regiment, 
and  returned  to  Savannah  in 
September,  1738,  with  the  ap 
pointment  of  military  commandant  of 
Georgia  and  the  Carolinas,  and  with 
directions  to  "  repel  force  by  force." 

In  August  of  the  next  year,  Ogle- 
thorpe  travelled  some  three  hundred 
miles  through  the  forests,  and 
met  the  Creeks,  near  the  site 
of  the  present  city  of  Columbus,  who 
promised  to  maintain  amity  and  con 
cord  with  the  English,  and  also  to  ex 
clude  all  others.  Having  raised  a  large 

O  o 

force,  Oglethorpe  laid  siege  to 
St.  Augustine  ;  but  the  expedi 
tion  was  not  successful. 

Anson's  undertakings  in  despoiling 
Spanish  commerce  and  colonies,  as  well 
as  Vernon's  efforts  in  the  same  line, 
having  proved  failures,  the  Spa 
niards,  in  1742,  determined  to 
attack  Georgia  and  Carolina  with  a 
force  of  three  thousand  men.  Nothing 
but  the  ignorance  of  the  Spanish  com 
mander  saved  the  colonies  from  im 
pending  and  fearful  disaster  ;  and  Ogle 
thorpe  was  enabled  to  repel  an  attack 
upon  Frederica  without  serious  diffi 
culty.  Notwithstanding,  however,  his 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  Georgia, 
Oglethorpe  experienced  much  the  same 
trials  as  other  men  placed  in  the  like 
positions,  and  was  exposed  to  a  large 
share  of  petty  meanness  and  ingrati 
tude.  The  discontented  colonists  first 
sent  over  Thomas  Stevens  as  their 
agent  to  England,  laden  with  com- 


1712. 


1713. 


plaints  against  the  trustees  in  general, 
which,  having  been  duly  examined  by 
the  House  of  Commons,  were  pro 
nounced  to  be  "  false,  scandalous,  and 
malicious."  Oglethorpe  himself, 
soon  after,  went  to  England,  to 
answer  charges  brought  against  his 
character,  which  he  so  effectually  suc 
ceeded  in  vindicating,  that  his  accuser, 
Cook,  who  was  his  own  lieutenant- 
colonel,  was  deprived  of  his  commis 
sion.  Marrying  presently  and  accept 
ing  a  home  appointment,  the  founder 
of  Georgia  never  afterwards  revisited 
America  ;  but  he  lived  long  enough  tc 
see  the  establishment  of  the  indepen 
dence  of  the  United  States.  Ogle- 

O 

thorpe    died,  July    1st,   1785,    at   the 
great  age  of  ninety-seven. 

Directly  after  Wesley's  return  to 
England,  the  equally  celebrated  George 
Whitfield  embarked  for  Georgia,  and 
labored  very  effectively  in  many  ways 
to  set  forward  the  cause  of  charity  and 
religion.  The  orphan  house  near  Sa 
vannah  owed  its  origin  to  the  labors 
of  Whitfield.  Mr.  Hildreth  devotes  a 
number  of  pages  in  his  second  volume, 
to  an  account  of  the  "  Great  Revival" 
in  New  England,  consequent  upon 
Whitfield's  preaching  and  influence, 
aided  by  such  men  as  Jonathan  Ed 
wards,  David  Brainerd,  and  others. 
On  the  whole,  we  deem  Mr.  Hildreth's 
account  a  fair  one,  though  probably  not 
entirely  acceptable  to  any  of  the  par 
ties  whose  names  he  freely  uses.  "  Re 
ligion,  so  conspicuous  hitherto  as  the 
glowing,  sometimes  lurid,  atmosphere 
of  our  historical  pictures,  fades  hence 
forth,  almost  vanishes  away  :"  because, 
thenceforth,  men  were  content  to  give 


CHAP.  V.] 


44  THE  GREAT  REVIVAL." 


203 


up  the  idea,  which  is  now  scouted  at 
by  almost  all,  that  religion  and  politics 
must  go  together.  Men  now  care  not 
whether  a  man  has  any  religion  what 
ever,  so  far  as  political  and  civil  rela 
tions  are  concerned.  May  not  the 
question  be  worth  considering,  whether, 
in  departing  from  the  extreme  theocra 
tic  views  of  the  Puritans,  we  have  not 
reached  the  opposite  extreme  ?  Is  the 
atheistical  iudiffereutism  of  our  day  a 
better  thing  for  the  good  of  the  com 
munity  than  the  stern  denunciation  of 
the  world,  and  all  connection  with  it, 
of  former  times  ? 

The  reader,  however,  who  takes  note 
of  the  important  effect  upon  a  people 
of  all  extended  religious  movements, 
like  the  one  now  under  consideration, 
will,  we  think,  not  be  displeased  to  see 
what  Mr.  Hinton*  has  to  say  in  regard 
to  the  "Great  Revival." 

"  It  was  in  the  year  1735,  that  the 
first  very  decided  indication  of  a  revi 
val  spirit  manifested  itself  at  North 
ampton,  Massachusetts,  under  the  minis 
try  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards,  af 
terwards  president  of  the  college  in 
New  Jersey.  It  appears  to  have  r.orn- 
meucea  among  the  young  people  of  his 
congregation.  '  Presently/  g-Eju  Dr. 
Edwards,  '  a  great  and  earnest  concern 
about  the  things  of  religion  and  the 
eternal  world  became  universal  in  all 
parts  of  the  town,  and  among  persons 
of  all  degrees  and  ages.  All  the  con 
versation  in  all  companies,  and  upon  all 
occasions,  was  upon  these  things  only, 
unless  so  much  as  was  necessary  for 
people  to  carry  on  their  ordinary  secu- 

*  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  p.  134. 


lar  business.  Other  discourse  than  of 
the  things  of  religion  would  scarcely 
be  tolerated  in  any  company.  They 
seemed  to  follow  their  worldly  business 
more  as  a  part  of  their  duty,  than  from 
any  disposition  they  had  to  it.  The 
temptation  now  seemed  to  lie  on  this 
hand,  to  neglect  worldly  affairs  too 
much,  and  to  spend  too  much  time  in 
the  immediate  exercises  of  religion. 
But  although  people  did  not  ordinarily 
neglect  their  worldly  business,  yet  there 
then  was  the  reverse  of  what  com 
monly  is ;  religion  was  with  all  the 
great  concern.'  This  state  of  feeling 
spread  rapidly  during  the  following 
seven  years  through  many  of  the  New 
England  States,  and  in  some  of  those 
of  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  'This 
work,'  says  Dr.  Trumbull,*  '  was  very 
extraordinary  on  many  accounts.  It 
was  much  beyond  what  had  been  the 
common  course  of  Providence.  It  was 
more  universal  than  had  before  been 
known.  It  extended  to  all  sorts  and 
characters  of  people,  sober  and  vicious, 
high  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  wise  and 
unwise.  To  all  appearance,  it  was  no 
less  powerful  in  families  and  persons  of 
distinction,  in  the  places  which  it  visited, 
than  others.  In  former  works  of  this 
nature,  young  people  had  generally 
been  wrought  upon,  while  elderly  peo 
ple  and  children  had  been  little  affected, 
if  moved  at  all.  But  at  this  time  old 
men  were  affected  as  well  as  others.' 
'  People,  in  a  wonderful  manner,  flocked 
together  to  places  of  public  worship, 
not  only  on  the  Lord's  Day,  but  on  lec 
ture  days,  so  that  the  places  of  worship 

*  "  History  of  Connecticut,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  141 


204 


FOUNDING  AND   PROGRESS   OF  GEORGIA. 


I  RR. 


could  not  contain  them.  They  would 
not  only  fill  the  houses,  but  crowd 
round  the  doors  and  windows  without, 
and  press  together  wherever  they  could 
hear  the  preacher.  They  would  not 
only  thus  assemble  in  their  own  towns 
and  parishes  when  the  word  was 
preached,  but  if  they  had  the  knowl 
edge  of  lectures  in  the  neighboring 
towns  and  parishes,  they  would  attend 
them.  Sometimes  they  would  follow 
the  preacher  from  town  to  town,  and 
from  one  place  to  another,  for  several 
days  together.  In  some  instances,  in 
places  but  thinly  settled,  there  would 
be  such  a  concourse,  that  no  house  could 
hold  them.  There  was,  in  the  minds 
of  people,  a  general  fear  of  sin,  and  of 
the  wrath  of  God  denounced  against  it. 
There  seemed  to  be  a  general  convic 
tion,  that  all  the  ways  of  man  were 
before  the  eyes  of  the  Lord.  It  was 
the  opinion  of  men  of  discernment  and 
sound  judgment,  who  had  the  best  op 
portunities  of  knowing  the  feelings  and 
general  state  of  the  people  at  that 
period,  that  bags  of  gold  and  silver, 
and  other  precious  things,  might,  with 
safety,  have  been  laid  in  the  streets, 
and  that  no  man  would  have  converted 
them  to  his  own  use.  Theft,  wanton 
ness,  intemperance,  profaneness,  sab 
bath-breaking,  and  other  gross  sins, 
appeared  to  be  put  away.  The  inter 
missions  on  the  Lord's  Day,  instead  of 
being  spent  in  worldly  conversation 
and  vanity,  as  had  been  too  usual  be 
fore,  were  now  spent  in  religious  con 
versation,  in  reading  and  singing  the 
praises  of  God.  At  lectures  there  was 
not  only  great  attention  and  seriousness 
In  the  house  of  God,  but  the  conversa 


tion  out  of  it  was  generally  on  the 
great  concerns  of  the  soul.' 

"  There  is  a  circumstance  which  con 
siderably  contributed  to  accelerate  .the 
diffusion  of  a  revival  spirit,  which  must 
not  be  overlooked — the  visits  of  the 
celebrated  contemporaries,  Wesley  and 
Whitfield,  to  the  American  continent, 
just  at  this  period.  The  extraordinary 
exertions  of  the  latter  especially  excited 
and  emboldened  many  faithful  minis 
ters  of  Connecticut,  whose  labors  and 
pecuniary  sacrifices  now  became  greater 
than  they  had  ever  before  experienced 
or  imagined  they  could  endure.  They 
not  only  abounded  in  active  exertions 
among  their  own  and  neighboring  con 
gregations,  but  preached  in  all  parts  of 
the  colony,  where  their  brethren  would 
admit  them,  and  in  many  places  in  Mas 
sachusetts,  and  the  other  colonies.  They 
were  very  popular,  and  their  labors 
were  generally  acceptable  to  their 
brethren,  and  useful  to  the  people. 
They  were  not  noisy  preachers,  but 
grave,  sentimental,  searching,  and  pun 
gent.  Connecticut  was,  however,  more 
remarkably  the  seat  of  the  work  than 
any  part  of  New  England,  or  of  the 
American  colonies.  In  the  years  1740, 
1741,  and  1742,  it  had  pervaded,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  every  part  of 
the  colony.  In  most  of  the  towns  and 
societies,  it  was  very  general  and  pow 
erful. 

"  It  has  been  estimated,  that,  during 
three  years,  from  thirty  to  forty  thou 
sand  persons  had  their  minds  affected 
in  the  decided  manner  which  has  been 
described.  It  might  naturally  have 
been  supposed,  that,  as  many  of  these 
impressions  occurred  at  a  period  of  ex- 


CH.  V.] 


SLOW   PEOGRESS   OF   GEORGIA. 


205 


traordinary  excitement,  they  would  not 
have  been  generally  productive  of  per 
manently  beneficial  results.  The  con 
trary,  however,  in  a  very  great  majority 
of  instances,  appears  to  have  been  the 
fact.  'The  effects  on  great  numbers,' 
says  Dr.  Trumbull,  '  were  abiding  and 
most  happy ;  they  were  the  most  uni 
form,  exemplary  Christians,  with  whom 
I  was  ever  acquainted.  I  was  born, 
and  had  my  education,  in  that  part  of 
the  town  of  Hebron  in  which  the  work 
was  most  prevalent  and  powerful. 
They  were  extraordinary  for  their  con 
stant  and  serious  attention  on  the  pub 
lic  worship ;  they  were  prayerful,  right 
eous,  peaceable,  and  charitable ;  they 
kept  up  their  religious  meetings  for 
prayer,  reading,  and  religious  conversa 
tion,  for  many  years ;  they  were  strict 
in  the  religion  and  government  of  their 
families,  and  I  never  knew  that  any 
one  of  them  was  ever  guilty  of  scandal, 
or  fell  under  discipline.  About  eight 
or  ten  years  after  the  religious  revival 
and  reformation,  that  part  of  the  town 
was  made  a  distinct  society,  and  it  was 
mentioned  to  Mr.  Lothrop,  the  pastor 
elect,  as  an  encouragement  to  settle 
with  them,  that  there  was  not  a  drunk 
ard  in  the  whole  parish.  While  I  lived 
in  it,  I  did  not  know  of  one  prayerless 
family  among  his  people,  nor  ever 
heard  of  one.  Some  of  those  people, 
who  dated  their  conversion  from  that 
period,  lived  until  they  were  far  ad 
vanced  in  life  ;  and  after  I  was  settled 
in  the  ministry,  I  became  acquainted 
with  them  in  one  place  and  another. 
They  appeared  to  be  some  of  the  most 
consistent  practical  Christians  with 
whom  I  ever  had  an  acquaintance. 


Their  light  shone  before  men,  through 

O  /  O 

a  long  life,  and  brightened  as  they 
advanced  on  their  way.  Some  I  was 
called  to  visit  in  their  last  moments  in 
full  possession  of  their  rational  powers, 
who  appeared  perfectly  to  acquiesce  in 
the  will  of  God,  to  die  in  the  full  assu 
rance  of  faith,  and  in  perfect  triumph 
over  the  last  enemy.' " 

But  to  return  from  this  digression. 
The  government  of  Georgia  thus  far 
had  not  proved  quite  satisfactory ;  the 
trustees  determined,  therefore,  after 
Oglethorpe's  return  to  England,  to 
introduce  important  changes,  commit 
ting  civil  affairs  to  a  president 

.     .  1743. 

and  four  councillors.     William 
Stevens  was  appointed  president,  and 
notwithstanding  his  advanced  a^e,  he 

O  Of 

discharged  effectively  the  duties  of  his 
post. 

The  progress  of  Georgia  was  slow 
and  uncertain.  Not  only  did  the  course 
pursued  by  the  trustees  serve  to  hinder 
its  growth,  but  the  nature  of  the  cli 
mate  and  similar  causes  had  a  serious 
influence  upon  its  prosperity.  "  After 
twenty  years'  efforts,  and  the  expendi 
ture  of  parliamentary  grants  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  $600,000,  besides 
about  $80,000  contributed  by  private 
ostentation  or  charity,  when  the  trus 
tees  surrendered  their  rights 
under  the  charter,  Georgia, 
contained  only  three  small  towns  and 
some  scattered  plantations,  with  seven 
teen  hundred  white  inhabitants  and 
four  hundred  negroes.  The  total  value 
of  the  exports  for  the  three  years 
preceding,  had  hardly  amounted  to 
$13,000.  The  exportation  of  wine  and 
drugs  had  been  totally  relinquished, 


1752. 


200 


COLONIZATION   AND   PROGRESS   OF  LOUISIANA. 


[BE.  II. 


1754. 


but  some  hopes  of  silk  were  still  enter 
tained."*  Two  years  later,  the  Board 
of  Trade  having  recommended  a  form 
of  government,  John  Reynolds 
was  sent  out  as  governor.  The 
lesnslature  was  similar  in  its  construe- 

O 

tion  to  that  of  other  colonies  under 
the  Crown.  The  genuine  Southern 
spirit  of  hospitality  prevailed  in  Geor 


gia,  as  in  other  colonies  ;  yet,  although 
the  people  were  now  favored  with  the 
same  liberties  and  privileges  enjoyed 
by  their  neighbors  under  the  royal 
care,  several  years  more  elapsed  before 
the  value  of  the  lands  in  Georgia  was 
known,  and  that  spirit  of  industry 
aroused,  which  afterwards  diffused  its 
happy  influence  over  the  country. 


CHAPTER    YI. 

1698—1753, 


COLONIZATION     AND      PROGRESS      OF     LOUISIANA, 

Lemoine  DTberville —  Colonists  led  by  him  —  Enters  the  Mississippi  —  Importance  of  the  movement — English 
jealousy  —  Ships  sent  by  them  —  Outwitted  by  Bienville  —  D'Jberville  charged  with  various  projects  by  the 
government  —  Ascends  the  Mississippi  —  Losses  by  sickness  —  D'Iberville's  death — Settlement  at  Mobile — • 
Condition  of  the  colonists  —  Slow  progress  —  Kept  alive  by  help  from  abroad  —  Grant  to  Crozat  —  Cadillac 
governor  —  111  success  —  Depressed  state  of  the  colony  —  The  famous  Mississippi  Company — John  Law  and  his 
career — His  schemes  in  financial  matters  —  Their  effect  upon  France  —  Colonists  sent  out  by  the  Company  — 
New  Orleans  founded  —  War  with  Spain  —  Military  and  ecclesiastical  establishment  —  Population  in  1727- — 
Masaacre  by  the  Natchez  Indians  —  Retaliation  by  the  French  —  War  with  the  Chickasaws  —  Difficulty  in  the 
wav  of  subduing  this  brave  tribe  —  Bienville  leaves  Louisiana  —  Administration  of  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil 
—  Kerlerec  appointed  governor. 


FOR  some  years  after  La  Salle's  un 
timely  death  (p.  141,)  the  whole  re 
gion  of  the  lower  Mississippi  remained 
undisturbed.  The  peace  of  Ryswick, 
however,  opened  the  way  for  fresh 
efforts  on  the  part  of  the  French  to 
carry  out  their  favorite  project  of 
establishing  an  uninterrupted  line  of 
communication  between  Canada  and 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Lemoine  D'Iber 
ville  was  chosen  as  the  leader  in  this 
important  enterprise.  He  was  well 
known  as  a  brave  and  skilful  naval 


*  Hildreth's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  vol. 
ii.,  p.  453. 


1C98. 


officer,  and  stood  high  in  the  esteem  of 
his  Canadian  countrymen.*  On  the 
17th  of  October,  1G98,  he  embarked, 
with  two  frigates  and  some  two 
hundred  settlers — mostly  dis 
banded  soldiers — to  plant  a  colony  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi;  which  as 
yet  had  not  been  entered  from  the  sea. 
Early  in  February,  1699 — the  Span 
iards  having  prevented  his  entering 


*  Mr.  Gayarre.  in  his  interesting  work,  "Romance 
of  the  History  of  Louisiana"  vol.  i.,  p.  30-36,  gives 
a  very  spirited  and  graphic  account  of  a  sea  fight  of! 
the  coast  of  New  England,  in  which  D'Iberville  suc 
ceeded  in  gaining  the  victory  over  three  English  ships 
which  attacked  him  at  the  same  time. 


CH.  VI.] 


D'IBERVILLE  AND   HIS    PLANS. 


207 


the  harbor  of  Pensacoia — D'Iberville 
landed  on  Dauphine  Island,  near  Mo 
bile,  and  soon  after  discovered  the 
River  Pascagoula  and  the  tribes  of  the 
Biloxi.  Leaving  most  of  the  colonists 

O 

in  huts  on  Ship  Island,  D'Iberville,  in 
company  with  his  brother,  Bienville, 
and  about  fifty  men,  took  two  barges 
and  set  out  to  find  the  entrance  to  the 
Mississippi.  Guided  by  the  muddy 
waters,  on  the  2d  of  March,  they  dis 
covered  the  mouth  of  the  great  river, 
which  they  ascended  as  high  as  Red 
River,  and  received  from  some 

1699. 

Indians  the  letter  which  Ton- 
ti  had  written  to  La  Salle,  in  1684. 
Turning  a^ain  down  the  river.  D'Iber- 

O         O  / 

ville  left  the  main  stream,  and  passing 
through  the  Lakes  Maurepas  and  Pont- 
chartrain,  made  his  way  back  by  a 
shorter  passage,  to  the  place  where  the 
main  body  of  the  colonists  were  waiting 
his  movements.  At  the  head  of  the 
Bay  of  Biloxi,  on  the  sandy  and  deso 
late  shore,  and  under  the  burning  sun 
of  that  region,  a  fort  was  erected  in 
May.  D'Iberville  returned  to  France, 
leaving  his  brothers  Sauvolle  and  Bien- 

O 

ville  in  command. 

Such    was    the    beginning   of    the 

CJ  O 

colony,  and  though  it  was  plainly  ira- 
possible  to  look  for  prosperity  there, 
still  it  was  an  important  movement  in 
advancing  the  purposes  of  the  French 
in  America.  ''Already  aline  of  com 
munication  existed  between  Quebec 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  bound 
less  southern  region — made  a  part  of 
the  French  empire  by  lilies  carved  on 
forest  trees,  or  crosses  erected  on  bluffs, 
and  occupied  by  French  missionaries 
and  forest  rangers — was  annexed  to  the 


1699 


command  of  the  governor  of  Biloxi."* 
England,  ever  wakeful  in  her  jealousy 
of  France,  determined  to  assert  a  claim 
to  the  region  thus  occupied;  and  an 
expedition  under  Coxe,  a  London  phy 
sician,  who  had  purchased  the  old  patent 
of  Carolana,  set  out  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi.  In  September, 
1699,  as  Bienville  was  exploring 
the  forks  below  New  Orleans,  he  met 
an  English  ship  of  sixteen  guns  ;  with 
the  ready  wit  of  genius  he  persuaded 
the  English  commander  that  the  region 
where  he  then  was,  was  already  occu 
pied  and  settled  by  the  French,  and 
thus  got  rid  of  a  very  troublesome 
visitor.  The  point  where  this  occurred 
in  the  river  is  still  known  as  the  Jtnq- 
HsJi  Turn. 

D'Iberville  returned  early  in  Decem 
ber,  1699,  and  various  and  important 
projects  were  entrusted  to  him  to  carry 
out ;  but  especially  was  he  to  seek  for, 
and  to  find,  gold.  In  company  with 
his  brother,  he  ascended  the  Mississippi, 
and  visited  various  tribes  of  Indians; 
but  all  inquiry  and  search  for  gold  was 
in  vain:  the  aged  Tonti,  with  a  few 
companions  from  the  banks  of 
the  Illinois,  joined  D'Iberville 
in  this  expedition,  and  they  ascended 
the  Mississippi,  some  three  or  four 
hundred  miles.  Bilious  fevers  carried 
off  numbers,  the  amiable  Sauvolle 
amons;  the  earliest ;  and  when  D'Iber- 

O  > 

ville  returned  again  from  France,  to 
which  he  had  gone  for  provisions  and 
soldiers,  he  found  only  a  hundred 

. 

and  fifty  alive.     D'Iberville  was 

*  Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States'''  vol. 
iii.,  p.  202. 


208 


COLONIZATION  AND  PROGRESS   OF  LOUISIANA. 


K.  n 


attacked  by  yellow  fever,  and  his  health 
was  broken  down  by  its  effects  upon 
his  constitution.  He  died  at  Havana, 
in  1706.  Louisiana,  at  his  death,  was 
little  more  than  a  wilderness :  in  the 
whole  of  its  borders  there  were  not 
more  than  thirty  families. 

The  major  part  of  the  settlers  found 
it  necessary  to  abandon  Biloxi,  and  re 
moved  to  Mobile,  near' the  head  of  the 
bay  of  that  name.  This  was  the  first 
European  settlement  within  the  limits 
of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Alabama, 
and  it  remained,  as  Mr.  Hiidreth  states, 
for  twenty  years  the  head  quarters  of 
the  colony.  No  regular  systematic  in 
dustry  had  place  among  them  ;  pearls, 
gold  mines,  furs,  the  wool  of  the  buffalo, 
were  sought  for  by  the  colonists.  Bi- 
h>xi  was  a  sandy  desert,  and  the  soil  on 
Dauphine  Island  was  meagre  and  un 
productive  ;  in  fact,  to  use  Mr.  Ban 
croft's  poetic  language,  "  Bienville  and 
his  few  soldiers  were  insulated  and  un 
happy,  at  the  mercy  of  the  rise  of 
waters  in  the  river ;  and  the  buzz  and 
sting  of  mosquitoes,  the  hissing  of  the 
snakes,  the  croaking  of  the  frogs,  the 
cries  of  alligators,  seemed  to  claim  that 
the  country  should  still  for  a  genera 
tion,  be  the  inheritance  of  reptiles, — 
while  at  the  fort  of  Mobile,  the  sighing 
of  the  pines  and  the  hopeless  character 
of  the  barrens,  warned  the  emigrants 
to  seek  homes  farther  within  the  land." 
Recruits,  it  is  true,  were  added  from 
time  to  time  to  the  colony;  but  the 
whole  number  of  the  colonists  does  not 
seem  ever  to  have  exceeded  two  hun 
dred  at  any  one  time  during  the  next 
ten  years ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  pro 
visions  sent  from  France  and  St.  Do-  j 


1712. 


rningo,  even  these  would  probably  have 
perished  by  starvation. 

Hardly  sustaining  itself  in  existence, 
even  by  such  means,  the  colony  became 
a  burden  to  Louis  XIV.,  and  in 

1712,  he  granted   to   Anthony 
Crozat  the  exclusive  privilege  for  fifteen 
years  of  trading  in  all  that  immense 
country,  which,  with  its  undefined  lim 
its,  France  claimed  as  her  own  under 
the  name  of  Louisiana.     Bienville,  still 
acting  as  Governor,  was  succeeded,  in 

1713,  by  Cadillac,  as  Governor,  he  him 
self  being  appointed  Lieutenant  Gov 
ernor.    Crozat  charged  Cadillac  to  look 
especially  after   mineral   wealth ;    and 
the  new  Governor,  whose  character  is 
presented  in  a  very  ludicrous  light  by 
Mr.  Gayarre,  expected  soon  to  realize 
an  immense    fortune.     But  his  expec 
tations  met  with  a  mortifying  failure, 
and  he  was  dismissed  without  ceremony 
from  his  office,  whose  duties  he  had  dis 
charged  to  so  little  profit  to  any  one. 
Crozat,  wearied  out  with  the  ill  success 
of  his  plans  for  establishing  commercial 
relations  with  the  Spaniards,  and  getting 
a  share  in  the  trade  with  the  Indians, 
which  trade  was  monopolized  by  the  En 
glish,   begged   the   government, 

in  1717,  to  take  the  colony  off 
his  hands.  At  this  date,  the  whole  pop 
ulation,  white  and  colored,  was  only 
about  seven  hundred,  and  notwithstand 
ing  Bienville's  activity  and  success  in 
conciliating  and  overawing  the  Natchez 

o  o 

Indians,  among  whom  he  had  placed 
Fort  Rosalie,  and  notwithstanding  vari 
ous  efforts  in  behalf  of.  the  colony,  it 
was  at  this  date  in  a  very  depressed 
state. 

France,  however,  was  unwilling  to 


1717. 


CH.  VI.] 


JOHN   LAW  THE  FINANCIER. 


209 


1717. 


give  up  the  hope  of  profit  and  wealth 
by  means  of  Louisiana ;  and  the  Regent 
and  his  advisers  determined  to  hand  it 
over  to  the  famous  Company  of  the 
West,  better  known  as  the  Mississippi 
Company,  through  whose  management 
it  was  confidently  believed  that  im 
mense  wealth  would  flow  into 
the  empty  treasury  of  France. 
This  gigantic  scheme,  one  of  the  most 
extensive  and  wonderful  bubbles  ever 
blown  up  to  astonish,  delude,  and  ruin 
thousands  of  people,  was  set  in  opera 
tion,  and  its  charter  registered  by  the 
parliament  of  Paris,  on  the  6th  of 
September,  1717,  the  capital  being  a 
hundred  millions  of  livres. 

The  fertile  brain  of  John  Law  gave 
birth  to  this  mighty  project  of  making 
every  body  rich  with  nothing  more 
substantial,  in  fact,  than  pieces  of 
paper.  Law  was  born  in  Edinburgh, 
in  1671  ;  and  so  rapid  had  been  his 
career,  that,  as  Mr.  Gayarre  says,  at 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  he  was  "a 
bankrupt,  an  adulterer,  a  murderer, 
and  an  exiled  outlaw."  But  he  was 
undoubtedly  a  man  of  financial  ability, 
and  by  his  agreeable  and  attractive 
manners,  and  his  enthusiastic  advocacy 
of  his  schemes,  he  succeeded  in  inflam 
ing  the  imaginations  of  the  mercurial 
Frenchmen,  whose  wishes — fathers  to 
their  thoughts — led  them  readily  to 
adopt  any  plans  for  obtaining  wealth 
in  preference  to  those  of  steady  indus 
try  and  the  natural  gains  of  honest  and 
honorable  trade. 

Arriving  in  Paris  with  two  million 
and  a  half  francs,  which  he  had  gained 
at  the  gambling  table,  he  found  him 
self  there  just  at  the  right  time.  Louis 

VOL.  I.— 29 


XIV.  died  soon  after,  and,  in  1716,  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  the  Regent,  found  the 
financial  condition  of  France  to  be  truly 
desperate.  "The  public  debt  was  im 
mense  ;  it  was  a  legacy  bequeathed 
by  the  military  glory  of  Louis  XIV.. 
and  the  other  pompous  vanities  of  his 
long  reign.  The  consequence  was,  that 
the  load  of  taxation  was  overwhelming, 
merely  to  pay  the  interest  of  this  debt, 
without  any  hope  of  diminishing  the 
capital.  All  the  sources  of  industry 
were  dried  up:  the  very  winds  which 
wafted  the  barks  of  commerce,  seemed 
to  have  died  away  under  the  pressure 
of  the  time  ;  trade  stood  still ;  the  man 
ufacturers  were  struck  with  palsy ;  the 
merchant,  the  trader,  the  artificer,  once 
flourishing  in  affluence,  were  now  trans 
formed  into  clamorous  beggars,  and 
those  who  could  yet  command  some 


small 


means,   were  preparing  to  emi 


grate  to  foreign  parts.  The  life-blood 
that  animated  the  kingdom,  was  stag 
nated  in  all  its  arteries,  and  the  danger 
of  an  awful  crisis  became  such,  that  it 
was  actually  proposed  in  the  Council  of 
State,  to  expunge  the  public  debt,  by 
an  act  of  national  bankruptcy.  Hut 
the  Regent  has  the  credit  of  having  re 
jected  the  proposition;  and  a  commis 
sion  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
financial  situation  of  the  kingdom,  and 
to  prepare  a  remedy  for  the  evil."* 

Law  now  stepped  forward,  and  the 
Regent  eagerly  caught  at  the  proposed 

means  of  relief:  a  bank  was  es- 

1910. 

tablisned,  as  an  experiment,  bear 
ing  Law's   name,  with   a  capital  of  six 
millions  of  livres,  divided  into  shares 

*  Gayarre's  "  History' of  Louisiana"  vol.  i.  p.  190. 


20 


COLONIZATION  AND   PROGRESS   OF   LOUISIANA. 


[BK.  II. 


171§. 


of  five  hundred  livres.  This  bank  was 
very  successful,  and  a  year  afterwards 
its  notes  were  ordered  to  be  received 
as  specie  by  the  royal  treasury.  From 
one  step  to  another  is  always 
easy,  and  so  it  happened  that 
Law's  bank  was  abolished  in  December, 
1718,  and  the  Royal  Bank,  with  Law 
as  director-general,  sprang  into  exist 
ence.  The  same  grand  speculator  was 
appointed  director-general  of  the  Mis 
sissippi  Company,  and  both  institutions 
were  merged  into  one. 

Our  limits  do  not  admit  of  following 
the  almost  incredible  career  of  John 
Law,  and  the  frenzy  of  cupidity  dis 
played  by  the  Parisians  and  others,  in 
the  insane  attempt  to  accomplish  the 
payment  of  their  debts,  and  increase 
their  wealth,  by  means  of  an  inflated 
paper  currency.  The  bubble  burst 
after  a  few  years,  scattering  ruin  and 
distress  in  every  direction:  the  bank 
stopped  payment  in  May,  1*720,  at 
which  time  there  was  paper  in  circula 
tion,  amounting  to  2,235,085,590  livres. 
The  whole  of  it  was  suddenly  reduced 
to  the  value  of  so  much  waste  paper, 
and  no  more.  Law  fled  from  the  fury 
of  the  people  to  Brussels  ;  nearly  every 
thing  was  lost ;  he  visited  England  in 
1721 ;  left  it  in  1722,  and  died  in  ob 
scurity  and  poverty  at  Venice,  in  1729. 
Truly,  to  use  the  words  of  Mr.  Gayarre, 
"  he  who  could  write  in  all  its  details 
the  history  of  that  Mississippi  bubble, 
so  fatal  in  its  short-lived  duration, 
would  give  to  the  world  the  most  in 
structive  composition,  made  up  of  the 
most  amusing,  ludicrous,  monstrous, 
and  horrible  elements  that  were  ever 
jumbled  together !" 


171§. 


In  March,  1718,  three  vessels  reached 
Louisiana,  with  three  companies  of  in 
fantry  and  sixty-nine  colonists ; 
and  in  June  of  the  same  year, 
some  eight  hundred  persons,  colonists, 
convicts,  and  troops,  also  safely  arrived : 
these  were  the  first  installments  of  the 
six  thousand  whites  and  three  thousand 
negroes  which  the  Mississippi  Company 
agreed  to  introduce.  Bienville  was  re- 
appointed  governor,  and  soon  after  sent 
a  party  of  convicts  to  clear  up  a  swamp 
the  site  of  the  present  city  of  New 
Orleans,  so  named  after  the  Recent 

7  O 

of  France.  A  few  years  later  Bien 
ville  removed  thither  the  seat  of  gov 
ernment,  and  time  has  justified  his  fore 
sight  and  perspicacity  in  the  choice  of 
this  locality  for  the  commercial  capital 
of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Law 
had  reserved  to  himself  twelve  miles 
square  on  the  Arkansas,  whither  he 
had  sent  fifteen  hundred  German  set 
tlers.  During  the  prosperity  of  the 
paper  scheme,  money  was  profusely 
spent  in  promoting  enterprise  and  col 
onization  in  Louisiana,  but  when  this 
scheme  exploded  these  foreign  re 
sources  suddenly  ceased,  and  the  set 
tlers,  who  were  in  a  great  measure 
dependent  on  them,  were  reduced  to 
great  distress. 

A  war  having  broken  out  with 
Spain,  Pensacola  was  twice  taken  by 
the  French,  but  in  1721  it 

',  ,  .,       ,  1721. 

was  restored  again  to  its  for 
mer  owners,  and  the  River  Perdido 
became  the  dividing  line  between 
Spanish  Florida  and  French  Louis 
iana.  A  military  establishment  of 
about  a  thousand  troops  was  kept  up : 
and  a  considerable  number  of  Capu- 


Cu.  VI.] 


PROSPERITY   OF  LOUISIANA. 


211 


chins  and  Jesuits  had  charge  of  the 
spiritual  concerns  of  the  colonists. 
"  Rice  was  the  principal  crop,  the 
main  resource  for  feeding  the  popu 
lation.  To  this  were  added 
tobacco  and  indigo.  The  fig 
had  been  introduced  from  Provence, 
and  the  orange  from  St.  Domingo." 
In  1727,  the  population  amounted  to 
something  more  than  five  thousand, 
half  of  this  number  beinsr  negroes. 

O  O 

Perier,  in  1726,  was  appointed  gov 
ernor  in  place  of  Bienville,  whose  re 
moval  had  been  effected  by  his  pertin 
acious  enemies  ;  soon  after,  difficulties 
began  to  arise  with  the  Indians.  The 
Natchez  tribe,  who  had  at  first  amicably 
received  the  French,  and  in  whose  ter 
ritory  Fort  Rosalie  had  been  erected, 
now  became  jealous  of  their  growing 
demands  for  territory :  urged  on  by 
the  Chickasaws,  and  falling  suddenly 
upon  the  fort  in  1729,  they 
massacred  all  the  male  inhab 
itants  and  carried  away  the  women 
and  children  into  slavery ;  but  a  year 
or  so  afterwards,  the  French  nearly 
exterminated  the  whole  tribe,  and  sent 
several  hundred  of  them  to  be  sold  as 
slaves  in  Hispaniola,  The  Chickasaws, 
who  traded  with  the  English,  and  ob 
structed  the  communication  between 
Upper  and -Lower  Louisiana,  now  gave 
asylum  to  the  poor  remains  of  the 
Natchez  tribe ;  for  these  offences  the 
French  determined  to  subdue  them. 

The  Mississippi  Company,  in  1732, 
resigned  Louisiana  into  the  hands  of 
the  King,  and  Bienville  was 
again  appointed  governor,  and 
directed  to  make  preparations  for  a 
war  against  the  Chickasaws.  With  a 


1729. 


1732. 


1735. 


1739. 


fleet  of  sixty  boats  and  canoes,  and 
with  about  twelve  hundred  Choctaws 
as  allies,  Bienville  ascended  the 
Tombigbee  River  to  the  head 
of  navigation,  and  attacked  the  Chick 
asaws  near  that  point ;  but  the  French 
were  repulsed  and  compelled  to  re 
treat.  Three  years  later  the  whole 
strength  of  the  French  was  put  forth 
to  overcome  this  haughty  and  powerful 
tribe ;  sickness,  however,  and  scarcity 
of  provisions,  soon  thinned  the 
ranks  of  the  French  troops,  and, 
probably  in  consequence  of  dissensions 
among  the  officers,  in  1740,  they  were 
glad  to  withdraw  their  forces  and  leave 
the  Chickasaws  unsubdued.  The  home 
government  was  greatly  displeased  with 
Bienville's  ill  success  in  this  undertak 
ing ;  and  shortly  after,  in  1743,  the 
Marquis  de  Vaudreuil  was  sent 
out  as  his  successor.  Bienville, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-five,  left  Louisiana 
never  to  return  to  the  colony  he  loved 
and  had  served  so  lon<2f  and  well. 

O 

From  this  date  onward,  for  many 
years,  Louisiana,  under  the  adminis 
tration  of  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil, 
enjoyed  comparative  tranquility,  and 
gradually  advanced  in  prosperity.  De 
Vaudreuil  was  a  nobleman  of  honor 
able  standing,  and  endeavored  to  give 
a  high  tone  to  his  government,  and 
although  troubles  with  the  Indians 

o 

and   other   difficulties   interfered   with 
his  comfort   and   the    progress  of  the 
colony,  yet,  on  the  whole,  matters  went 
on  as  well   as  could  be  expected.     In 
1753,  De  Vaudreuil  was  trans 
ferred  to  Canada,  and  Kerlerec, 
a  captain  in  the  Royal  Navy,  succeeded 
him  as  governor  of  Louisiana. 


1743. 


212 


GENERAL  CONDITION   OF  THE   COLONIES. 


.  11. 


CH  APTEE     VII. 

1700—1750. 

GENERAL      CONDITION      OF     THE      COLONIES. 

brief  survey  of  the  condition  of  the  colonies  important  —  Population  of  Virginia  —  State  of  manners,  habits,  cus 
toms,  progress  in  trade  and  commerce  —  Report  made  to  the  Board  of  Trade  —  Complaint  of  the  Virginians  as 
to  the  conduct  of  the  royal  officers  —  Population  of  Massachusetts  —  Trade,  etc.  —  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island  —  Militia  force  —  Iron  works  —  Mining  operations — Progress  of  New  Hampshire  —  The  throat  dis 
temper —  Earthquake  in  New  England  —  Religion  in  New  England  —  Improvement  in  manners  and  general 
intercourse  —  Mode  of  living,  fashions,  etc.  — Discussions  as  to  the  intentions  of  the  colonists  on  the  subject  of 
independence — Population  and  progress  of  Maryland  —  Trade,  etc.,  of  the  Carolinas  —  Hurricane  —  Yellow 
fever  —  New  York  —  Tea  —  Contraband  trade  —  Manners  and  social  life  in  New  York — Albany  and  its  people 
—  New  Jersey  —  Pennsylvania;  its  trade,  etc.,  compared  with  New  York  —  Value  of  this  imperfect  sketch  of 
the  condition  of  the  colonies  —  Final  struggle  approaching  between  the  English  and  French  in  America. 


AT  this  point  in  the  progress  of  our 
narrative,  it  will  be  profitable  as  well  as 
interesting  to  pause  a  while,  and  take 
a  brief  survey  of  the  position  and  gen 
eral  condition  of  the  American  colonies. 
We  have  already,  here  and  there,  called 
the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  grad 
ual  development  of  wealth  and  energy 
in  the  colonies;  it  will  conduce,  how 
ever,  to  additional  clearness  of  ideas,  as 
well  as  better  understanding  of  the  ac 
tual — though  not  yet  understood  or  ap 
preciated — strength  of  the  colonies,  if 
we  devote  a  few  pages  more  particu 
larly  to  this  subject,  and  endeavor  to 
ascertain  what  was  the  real  condition 
of  things  during  the  first  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  In  doing  this,  we 
shall  rely  mainly  upon  Mr.  Grahame, 
whose  te-sume  of  this  topic,  as  far  as  it 
goes,  we  look  upon  as  worthy  of  entire 
confidence. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  population  of  Virginia 
amounted  to  sixty  thousand,  of  whom 
about  one  half  were  slaves.  The  militia 


1722. 


were  then  in  number  less  than  ten  thou 
sand  :  in  1*722,  they  numbered  eighteen 
thousand,  from  wrhich  it  is  fair  to  infer 
a  proportionably  great  increase  in  the 
general  population.  In  IT 50, 
Virginia  numbered  at  least  one 
hundred  and  sixty  thousand  inhabitants 
more  than  half  of  whom  were  slaves, 
At  Williamsburg,  the  seat  of  govern 
ment,  there  were  three  public  buildings, 
in  1727,  which  wrere  considered  the  finest 
specimens  of  architecture  in  the  coun 
try — the  College,  the  State  House,  and 
the  Capitol.  Hospitality,  to  a  profuse 
extent,  and  card-playing  among  the  up 
per  classes,  were  quite  common,  and 
hunting  and  cock-fighting  were  amuse- 

o  o  o 

ments  in  which  all  were  interested 
There  was  also  in  this  town  a  theatre, 
the  first  that  arose  in  the  British  col 
onies.  Many  persons  of  proud  families 
at  home,  came  to  Virginia  to  escape  the 
being  looked  down  upon  by  their  more 
wealthy  aristocratic  friends ;  and  it  was 
customary  for  young  women,  who  had 
met  with  misfortune  or  loss  of  charac- 


CH.  VII.] 


VIEWS   OF  THE  BO  A  ED   OF  TRADE. 


213 


1729. 


ter  in  their  native  land,  to  emigrate  to 
America,  where  they  were  at  liberty  to 
establish  their  claims  to  better  charac 
ters,  and  more,  honorable  positions  in 
life  than  they  could  ever  have  attained 
elsewhere.  Printing  was  first 
established  in  Virginia,  in  1729 ; 
and  the  first  newspaper  in  this  colony 
was  published  at  Williamsburg,  in 
1736.  From  Virginia  and  Maryland 
there  were  now  annually  exported 
about  one  hundred  thousand  hogsheads 
of  tobacco,  (valued  at  £&  per  hogs 
head)  and  two  hundred  ships  were 
•eommonly  freighted  with  the  tobacco 
produce  of  these  two  provinces.  The 
annual  gain  to  England  from  this  trade 
was  about  £500,000.  The  articles  of 
iron  and  copper  ore,  beeswax,  hemp, 
and  raw  silk,  were  first  exported  from 
Virginia  to  England,  in  1730. 

In  a  report  made  to  the  Board  of 
Trade  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  Ave 
find  the  following  statements :  "  On 
every  river  of  this  province,  there  are 
men,  in  number  from  ten  to  thirty,  who, 
by  trade  and  industry,  have  got  very 
complete  estates.  These  gentlemen  take 
care  to  supply  the  poorer  sort  with  goods 
and  necessaries,  and  are  sure  to  keep 
them  always  in  their  debt,  and  conse 
quently  dependent  on  them.  Out  of 
this  number,  are  chosen  the  Council, 
Assembly,  justices,  and  other  officers  of 
government.  The  inhabitants  consider 
that  this  province  is  of  far  greater  ad 
vantage  to  her  majesty  than  all  the  rest 
of  the  provinces  besides  on  the  main 
land,  and  therefore  conclude  that  they 
ought  to  have  greater  privileges  than 
the  rest  of  her  majesty's  subjects.  The 
Assembly  think  themselves  entitled  to 


all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  an  Eng 
lish  parliament,  and  begin  to  search  into 
the  records  of  that  honorable  House  for 
precedents  to  govern  themselves  by. 
The  Council  imagine  that  they  stand 
upon  equal  terms  with  the  British  House 
of  Lords."  Probably,  we  think,  these 
statements  were  due  as  much  to  the 
jealousy  of  the  Board  as  to  the  careful 
investigation  of  the  facts  in  the  case. 
The  Virginians,  no  doubt  justly,  com 
plained  of  the  insolence  of  the  com 
manders  of  ships  of  war  sent  to  cruise 
off  the  coast  for  the  protection  of  trade. 
— insolence  which  at  no  late  day  became 
utterly  insufferable,  and  added  not  a 
little  to  the  readiness  of  the  provincials 
to  measure  arms  with  the  haughty  and 
overbearing  regulars,  who  prided  them 
selves  so  much  on  their  superiority  in 
all  respects.  Virginia  was  warm  in  its 
attachment  to  the  parent  country ;  but 
they,  too,  had  begun  generally  to  ques 
tion  the  right  to  impose  restrictions  on 
commerce,  a  right  constantly  claimed 
and  almost  as  constantly  resisted  or 
evaded ;  and  the  Virginia  Assembly  had 
no  disposition  to  keep  in  repair  forts  and 
such  like,  which  mi^ht  be  turned  to 

t  o 

their  hurt  in  case  of  a  contest. 

Massachusetts  not  less  than  Virginia 
had  advanced  in  population  during 
this  period.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  there  were  between 

O  v 

seventy  thousand  and  eighty  thousand 
inhabitants;  in  1731,  the  number  is 
estimated  at  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  freemen  and 
two  thousand  six  hundred  slaves :  and 
in  1750,  it  had  reached  not  less  than 
two  hundred  thousand.  Six  hundred 
ships  and  sloops  were  engaged  in 


1731. 


214 


GENERAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  COLONIES. 


[Bx.  II 


trade,  amounting  to  at  least  thirty- 
ei^ht  thousand  tons ;  one  half  of  these 

O  ' 

vessels  traded  to  Europe.  About  six 
thousand  persons  were  employed  in  its 
fisheries.  Connecticut  appears  to  have 
made  steady  progress,  and  in  1750  is 
computed  to  have  had  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  Rhode  Island, 
which  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  had  about  ten  thousand  inhab 
itants,  in  1*730  possessed  a  population  of 
eighteen  thousand,  of  whom  nine  hun 
dred  and  eighty-five  were  Indians  and 
one  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  negro  slaves:  in  1750,  there 
were  thirty  thousand  inhabitants  in 
this  colony.  Newport,  which  was  the 
metropolis,  contained  a  population  of 
something  less  than  five  thousand,  in 
cluding  Indians  and  negroes.  The 

o  o 

first  newspaper  was  published  in  this 
colony  in  1732.  In  the  year 
3738,  Newport  contained  seven 
places  of  worship ;  there  was  a  large 
society  of  Quakers  at  Portsmouth,  and 
in  the  other  eleven  townships  of  the 
colony  there  were  twenty-five  assem 
blages  for  Christian  worship.  In  re 
gard  to  New  Hampshire,  we  find  in 
Kolmes's  Annals  that  its  population, 
in  1750,  is  computed  to  have  been 
twenty-four  thousand. 

The  militia  of  New  England,  as  a 
whole,  is  computed  to  have  amounted 
to  fifty  thousand  Iron  was  the  only 
metallic  ore  which  the  colonists  had 
undertaken  to  improve ;  and  there 
were  now  six  furnaces  for  hollow 
ware,  and  nineteen  forges,  in  New 
England.  In  1730,  fifty  hundred 
weight  of  hemp,  produced  in  New 
England  and  Carolina,  were  exported 


1738. 


to  Britain.  In  1712,  certain  adven 
turers  in  Connecticut  conceived  hopes 
of  great  enrichment  from  the  discovery 
of  two  copper. mines,  which  were  erro 
neously  supposed  to  contain  also  some 
veins  of  more  precious  metals.  One  of 
these  mines  at  Simsbury,  was  worked 
to  a  great  extent,  but  to  little  profit. 
The  excavation  which  they  made  was 
afterwards  converted  into  a  prison, 
whereby,  as  Trunibull  rather  drily 
says,  it  yielded  more  advantage  to  the 
province  than  by  all  the  copper  that 
had  been  extracted  from  it. 

We  have  before  spoken  of  the 
troubles  that  arose  between  New 
Hampshire  and  Massachusetts  in  the 
matter  of  the  former  having  a  gov 
ernor  for  themselves.  After  much  un 
pleasant  litigation  the  question  waa 
settled.  The  trade  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  at  this  date,  consisted  chiefly  in 
the  exportation  of  lumber  and  fish 
to  Spain,  Portugal  and  the  Carribee 
Islands.  In  winter  small  vessels  were 
despatched  to  the  southern  colonies 
with  English  and  AVest  India  goods, 
and  returned  with  cargoes  of  corn 
and  pork.  The  manufacture  of  linen 
was  considerably  increased  by  the  com 
ing  of  Irish  emigrants  to  this  colony. 
Although  New  Hampshire  was  justly 
considered  to  be  a  healthy  region,  it 
was  about  this  time  visited  with  a 
fatal  epidemic,  called  the  throat  dis 
temper,  which  broke  out  again  in  1754 
and  1784,  and  was  very  destructive  on 
all  these  occasions.  The  symptoms 
were  a  swelled  throat,  with  white 
or  ash-colored  specks,  an  efflorescence 
on  the  skin,  extreme  debility  of  the 
whole  body,  and  a  strong  tendency  to 


Cn.  VII.] 


SOCIAL   LIFE  AND  MANNERS. 


215 


putridity.  Its  remote  and  predisposing 
cause,  says  Belknap,  is  one  of  those 
mysteries  in  nature  which  baffie  human 
inquiry.  Respecting  innoculation  for 
the  small  pox  we  have  already  spoken, 
and  need  only  refer  the  reader  to  what 
is  there  said.  On  the  29th  of  Octo 
ber,  1727,  while  the  sky  was  clear  and 
serene,  and  a  deep  stillness  and  tran- 
quility  pervaded  the  air,  New  England 
was  suddenly  shaken  by  a  tremendous 
earthquake,  which  overthrew  a  consid 
erable  number  of  buildings,  and  pros 
trated  many  persons  to  the  ground. 
On  the  same  day,  the  Island  of  Mar 
tinique  was  threatened  with  entire  de 
struction,  from  a  similar  convulsion  of 
nature. 

New  England  was  still  distinguished 

O  O 

by  the  zeal  in  behalf  of  religion  of  the 
great  body  of  its  inhabitants.  This 
zeal  happily  was  less  intolerant  than  in 
earlier  days  of  the  Puritan  colonies; 
and  when  fanatical  exhibitions  broke 
out,  they  were  content  to  treat  them  as 
they  deserved,  and  did  not  attempt  to 
put  a  stop  to  delusions  and  folly,  by 
hanging,  or  burning,  or  mutilating  the 
bodies  of  those,  who,  for  the  time, 
showed  that  they  were  not  in  their 
right  minds.  In  1725,  a  proposition 
was  set  on  foot  to  hold  a  synod  of  all 
the  Congregational  churches  in  New 
England ;  but  the  design  was  aban 
doned,  owing  to  the  opposition  of  the 
government. 

Notwithstanding  a  certain  stiffness 
still  remaining — the  result  of  the  long 
reign  of  strict  Puritanism — the  social 

o 

and  domestic  condition  of  the  people 
was  vastly  improved,  and  to  a  large  ex 
tent  there  prevailed  cheerfulness,  re 


finement,  and  liberality.  The  royal 
govtrnors  often  maintained  a  somewhat 
splendid  style  of  living,  and  formed  the 
centre  of  a  society  composed  of  "  per 
sons  in  office,  the  rich,  and  those  who 
had  connections  in  England,  of  which 
they  were  very  proud."  These  were 
the  gentry  of  the  country,  in  those 
days.  Modes  of  life,  manners,  and 
personal  decoration,  were  the  indica 
tions  of  superiority.  Most  of  the  gen 
try  embraced  the  side  of  government, 
when  those  serious  disputes  began  to 
arise,  which  ultimately  drove  a  large 
portion  of  them  from  the  colony ;  but 
the  same  indications  continued  among 

o 

some  who  remained,  and  adhered  to  the 
side  of  their  countrymen.  There  was 
a  class  of  persons,  no  longer  known, 
who  might  be  called  the  gentry  of  the 
interior.  They  held  very  considerable 
landed  estates,  in  imitation  of  the  land 
owners  in  England.  These  persons 
were  the  great  men  in  their  respective 
counties.  They  held  civil  and  military 
offices,  and  were  members  of  the  Gen 
eral  Court.  This  sort  of  personal  dig 
nity  gradually  disappeared,  as .  the 
equalizing  tendency  of  the  growth  and 
fortunes  of  the  country  began  to  pro 
duce  its  effect  upon  the  whole  com 
munity. 

In  early  days,  the  stern  old  Puritans 
had  endeavored  to  restrain  extrava 
gance  and  luxury,  by  sumptuary  regu 
lations  ;  but  their  power  was  no  longer 
felt,  at  least  to  any  great  extent,  in  such 
matters:  and  as  wealth  increased,  dis 
play  and  even  luxurious  indulgence 
obtained  place  in  New  England.  A 
picture  like  the  following  is  decidedly 
instructive  as  well  as  suggestive :  "  In 

oo 


210 


GENERAL  CONDITION   OF  THE  COLONIES. 


|BK.  11. 


the  principal  houses  of  Boston,"  says 
the  writer,   "there  was   a  great  hall, 
ornamented  with  pictures,  and  a  great 
lantern,  and  a  velvet  cushion  in   the 
window-seat  that  looked  into  the  gar 
den.     A  large  bowl  of  punch  was  often 
placed  in  the  hall,  from  which  visitors 
might  help  themselves  as  they  entered. 
On  either  side  was  a  great  parlor,  a 
little    parlor,  or   study.      These    were 
furnished   with    great   looking-glasses, 
Turkey  carpets,  window  curtains  and 
Balance,  pictures  and  a  map,   a   brass 
clock,  red   leather-back   chairs,  and  a 
great    pair   of   brass    andirons.      The 
chambers    were    well    supplied    with 
feather-beds,  warming-pans,  and  every 
other  article  that  would  now  be  thought 
necessary  for  comfort  or  display.     The 
pantry  was  well  filled  with  substantial 
fare,  and  dainties — prunes,  marmalade, 
Mid   Madeira   wine.     Silver   tankards, 
vrine  cups,  and  other  articles  of  plate 
were  not  uncommon,  and  the  kitchen 
was  completely  stocked  with   pewter, 
iron,  and  copper  utensils.     Very  many 
families  employed  servants,  and  in  one 
we  see  a  Scotch  boy,  valued  among  the 
property,  and  invoiced  at  £14."     Negro 
slaves  also  often  formed  part  of  a  New 
England  household  of  that  day.     Even 
before  this   period,  in  the  matter  of 
dress,  certain  of  the  ladies  were  eager 
to  copy  the  London  and  Paris  fashions, 
as  we  learn  from  a  splenetic  old  writer. 
u  Methinks,"  he  says,  "  it  should  break 
the  heart  of  Englishmen  to  see  so  many 
goodly   Englishwomen    imprisoned   in 
Frencli  cages,  peering  out  of  their  hood- 
holes  for  some  men  of  mercy  to  help 
them  with  a  little  wit ;"  and  he  sharply 
complains  of  their  eagerness  to  learn 


ID  hat  dress  tlie  queen  is  in,  and  to  copy 
it  in  all  haste. 

As  a  matter  of  interest,  it  may  be 
noted  here,  that  the  first  portrait  painter 
in  America  was  John  Smibert,  a  Scotch 
artist,  who  came  over  with  Berkeley, 
and  painted  that  picture  of  the  bishop 
and  his  family  which  is  preserved  at 
Yale  College.  An  art  so  pleasing  was 
not  long  in  making  its  way  over  the 
colonies,  and  has  preserved  to  posterity 
the  youthful  appearance  of  Washing 
ton.  But  though  art  and  literature 
were  making  their  way,  public  amuse 
ments  were  still  frowned  upon  by  the 
New  England  magistrates.  Otway's 
play  of  "The  Orphan"  was  acted  in 
1750,  at  a  coffee-house  in  Boston;  but 
such  exhibitions  were  forthwith  pro 
hibited,  as  "tending  to  discourage  in 
dustry  and  frugality,  and  greatly  to 
increase  impiety  and  contempt  of  re 
ligion."  A  London  company  of  actors 
contrived,  however,  shortly  afterwards, 
to  gain  a  footing  in  New  York,  Phila 
delphia,  and  other  towns  further  south. 

The  probable  designs  of  the  New 
En  ^landers  at  this  date,  in  regard  to 

O  ' 

the  question  of  by  and  by  throwing  off 
the  yoke  of  the  mother  country,  afford 
ed  matter  for  considerable  discussion 
in  England.  Some  members  of  the 

o 

Board  of  Trade  entertained  and  ex 
pressed  apprehension  of  such  a  deter 
mination  on  the  part  of  the  colonists. 
They  even  went  so  far  as  to  give  it  as 
their  opinion,  that  nothing  but  the 
effective  interposition  of  parliament 
could  arrest  the  manifest  tendency  to 
independence.  The  colonists  treated 
all  such  charges  as  without  foundation 
and  we  believe  quite  justly,  so  far  as 


CH.  VII.]          POPULATION   OF  MARYLAND   AND  THE   CAROLINA'S. 


217 


any  settled  or  clearly  defined  purpose 
in  their  own  minds  was  concerned :  it 
is  not  quite  so  clear,  however,  that,  when 
their  attention  was  turned  to  the  evi 
dent  design  of  the  mother  country  to 
jnpose  heavy  burdens  upon  them,  and 
when  they  both  felt  their  own  strength, 
and  knew  their  own  unyielding  resolve 
never  to  submit  to  tyranny  or  unlawful 
imposition  of  any  sort ; — we  say,  when 
they  thought  over  these  things,  it  is  not 
quite  so  clear,  that  the  idea  of  independ 
ence  had  not  found  place  among  them, 
as  a  thing  possible,  though  not  then  at 
all  probable.  The  folly  of  provoking 
such  discussions  in  the  colonies,  we  need 
not  enlarge  upon:  the  youthful  giant 
would  throw  oif  all  parental  control 
soon  enough,  without  provoking  him  to 
measure  his  strength  prematurely  with 
his  sire. 

In  1734,  the  population  of  Maryland 
appears  to  have  been  thirty-six  thou 
sand  taxable  inhabitants,  by  which  is 
meant  the  white  men  above  six 
teen  years  of  age,  and  negroes, 
male  and  female,  from  sixteen  to  sixty. 
The  state  of  society  and  manners  in 
Maryland  was,  naturally,  very  much  the 
same  as  in  Virginia.  A  printing-press 
was  established  in  Maryland,  in  1726, 
three  years  before  Virginia  enjoyed 
that  privilege.  The  people  of  this 
colony  are  said  to  have  derived  much 
advantage  from  their  knowledge  of 
the  medicinal  uses  of  certain  herbs  and 
plants,  from  the  fact  that  long  peace 
and  friendship  with  the  Indians  had 
induced  creat  freedom  of  intercourse 

o 

between  the  white  and  the  red  men. 
The  salaries  of  public  officers  were 
very  low.  In  17.32,  the  Assembly 

VOL.  I.— 30 


1731. 


made  tobacco  a  legal  tender  for  the 
payment  of  all  debts,  at  a  penny 
per  pound,  and  Indian  corn  at  twenty 
pence  per  bushel.  Probably  the  Ko- 
man  Catholics  still  were  in  the  majority 
in  the  colony :  many  Protestants,  how 
ever,  settled  on  the  frontier  counties  of 
Virginia  and  Maryland. 

The  population  of  North  Carolina, 
in  1710,  was  six  thousand;  probably  it 
had  considerably  increased  some  years 
later ;  it  must  be  confessed,  however, 
as  we  have  in  substance  noted  before, 
that  in  the  early  part  of  this  century 
the  people  of  North  Carolina  formed  one 
of  the  most  turbulent,  irreligious,  and 

'  O  7 

illiterate  communities  in  America,  In 
the  year  1700,  the  population  of  South 
Carolina  was  less  than  six  thousand :  in 
1723,  it  amounted  to  thirty -two  thou 
sand  ;  of  whom  eighteen  thousand  were 
slaves.  Beside  the  commercial  inter 
course  with  England,  an  extensive  trade, 
carried  on  almost  entirely  in  British 
ships,  was  kept  up  between  Carolina 
and  the  West  Indies,  New  England, 
Pennsylvania  and  New  York.  Be 
tween  1720  and  1730,  rice,  to 
the  amount  of  over  forty-four 
thousand  tons,  was  exported  from  South 
Carolina :  in  the  year  1730,  the  ne 
groes  amounted  to  twenty-eight  thou 
sand,  and  large  accessions  to  this  class 
of  population  continued  to  be  made 
from  year  to  year.  In  respect  to  social 
life,  the  habits  of  the  planters  were 
generally  frugal,  and  luxury  had  not 
yet  obtained  much  influence.  Print 
ing  was  introduced  in  1730,  and  a 
newspaper  established  in  1734.  The 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  at 
tached  to  the  Church  of  England; 


1730. 


218 


GENERAL  CONDITION   OF  THE  COLONIES. 


1T28. 


but  the  Presbyterian  denomination  al 
so  flourished. 

During  the  summer  of  1728,  the 
weather  in  South  Carolina  proved  un 
commonly  hot;  the  surface  of 
the  earth  was  parched,  the  pools 
of  water  were  dried  up,  and  the  beasts 
of  the  field  reduced  to  the  greatest 
distress.  This  was  followed  in  the 
autumn  by  a  furious  hurricane,  which 
occasioned  wide-spread  destruction.  In 
the  same  year  that  fearful  scourge,  the 
yellow  fever,  broke  forth  to  an  extent 
and  with  a  malignitv  that  swept  off 
large  numbers.  Subsequently  to  this, 
the  increase  of  wealth  among  the  Caro 
linians  led  to  a  corresponding  increase 
in  expensiveness  of  living  and  its  usual 
concomitants  of  display  and  luxurious 
indulgence. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
New  York  numbered  thirty  thousand 
persons;  in  1*732,  this  number  had 
more  than  doubled,  of  whom  about 
seven  thousand  were  slaves;  and  in 
1750,  there  were  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants  in  the  province. 
The  annual  imports  of  this  colony  were 
reckoned  at  £100,000 ;  and  in  1736,  two 
hundred  and  eleven  vessels  with  cargoes 
entered,  and  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  vessels  with  cargoes  departed  from 
the  port  of  New  York.  A  taste  for  tea 
was  gradually  making  progress :  this 
led  to  considerable  contraband  trade  on 
the  part  of  the  colonists,  so  that  they 
might  obtain  tea  at  a  less  rate  than  that 
charged  by  the  English  East  India  Com 
pany  ;  in  fact,  they  did  get  it  by  this 
means  some  thirty  per  cent,  lower.  A 
public  school  was  founded  in  New  York 
city  bv  the  Legislature,  in  1732,  where- 


[BK.  II. 

in  Latin,  Greek,  and  the  mathematics 
were  to  be  taught.  A  newspaper  was 
first  published  in  New  York  in  1725. 

Some  remaining  influence  of  the 
Dutch  manners  and  habits  still  pre 
vailed  in  New  York,  although  it  was 
evident  that  English  and  French  tastes 
were  predominant.  The  citizens  were 
lively  and  sociable  in  manners  ;  there 
were  weekly  evening  clubs ;  and  in 
the  winter,  balls  and  concerts.  Living 
was  on  a  less  expensive  scale  than  at 
Boston,  and  the  New  Yorkers  were  at 
that  day,  as  well  as  now,  devoted  to 
business  and  the  gains  of  trade.  Al 
bany,  at  this  date  on  the  outskirts  of 
civilization,  retained  much  more  of  the 
flavor  of  its  Dutch  origin.  The  archi 
tecture  was  like  that  of  Delft  or  Ley- 
den  ;  all  the  houses  stood  with  their 
angular  zigzag  gables  turned  to  the 
street,  with  long  projecting  gutter- 
pipes,  which,  like  those  of  the  towns 
of  continental  Europe  at  the  present 
day,  discharge  their  unsavory  current 
of  dirty  water  or  melted  snows  upon 
the  heads  of  the  unwary  passengers. 
The  -stoope-s,  or  porches,  were  furnished 
with  side-seats,  well  filled  in  the  even 
ing  with  the  inmates,  old  and  young, 
of  both  sexes,  who  met  to  gossip  or  to 
court,  while  the  cattle  wandered  almost 
at  will  about  the  streets  of  the  half- 
rustic  city.  In  the  interior  of  the 
dwellings,  Dutch  cleanliness  and  econ 
omy  were  established ;  the  women,  as 
at  the  present  day  in  Holland,  were 
considered  over-nice  in  scrubbing  their 
floors,  and  burnishing  their  brass  and 
pewter  vessels  into  an  intensity  of 
lustre.  From  the  dawn  of  day  until 
late  at  night  they  were  engaged  in  the 


CH.  VIL] 


POSITION  ALREADY  ATTAINED  BY   THE  COLONIES. 


219 


work  of  purification.  They  lived  too 
with  exemplary  sobriety ;  breakfasting 
on  tea  without  milk  and  sweetened  by 
a  small  bit  of  sugar  passed  round  from 
one  to  the  other ;  they  dined  on  butter 
milk  and  bread,  and  if  to  that  they 
added  sugar,  it  was  esteemed  delicious, 
though  sometimes  they  indulged  in 
broiled  and  roasted- meats.  The  use 
of  stoves  was  unknown,  and  the  huge 
fire-places,  through  which  one  might 
have  driven  a  wagon,  furnished  with 
ample  logs,  were  grand  and  cozy  nest 
ling-places  during  the  long  winter  even 
ings,  which  the  wail  of  the  snow  storm 
and  the  roar  of  the  forest  trees  ren 
dered  more  deliciously  secure.  Under 
the  English  the  same  simplicity  of  man 
ners  long  prevailed. 

The  population  of  New  Jersey,  in 
1738,  had  increased  to  forty-seven  thou 
sand  three  hundred  and  sixty-seven, 
of  whom  about  four  thousand  were 
slaves.  In  1736,  a  college  was  founded 
at  Princeton,  named  Nassau  Hall.  The 
general  prosperity  of  this  colony  was 
due,  doubtless,  to  the  virtuous  and  in 
dustrious  character  and  habits  of  the 
people.  In  1750,  the  population  of 
New  Jersey  was  about  seventy  thou 
sand. 

In  regard  to  Pennsylvania  and  Dela 
ware,  no  entirely  reliable  computation 
can  be  made  of  the  population  of  these 
colonies;  probably  it  was  considerably 
less  than  that  of  Virginia  at  the  same 
date.  The  colonists  traded  with  En^- 

o 

land,  Portugal  and  Spain ;  with  the 
Canaries,  Madeira,  and  the  Azores; 
with  the  West  India  Islands ;  with 
New  England,  Virginia,  and  Carolina. 
In  1731,  Philadelphia  is  said  to  have 


numbered  about  twelve  thousand  in 
habitants,  being,  probably,  somewhat 
in  advance  of  New  York.  In  1736, 
the  vessels  arriving  and  departing  were 
considerably  less  than  we  have  noted 
in  the  case  of  New  York.  The  import 
ations  into  Pennsylvania  are  reckoned 
at  the  annual  value  of  £150,000,  being 
much  more  than  those  of  New  York. 

The  value  of  the  exports  from  Great 
Britain  to  North  America,  according 
to  Mr.  Hildreth,  for  the  ten  years  from 
1738  to  1748,  was,  on  an  average, 
annually  about  $3,500,000.  The  im 
ports  from  the  colonies  were  somewhat 
less.  The  balance  against  the  colonies 
was  paid  in  specie,  the  produce  of 
their  West  India  and  African  trade. 

From  this  brief,  imperfect,  and,  we 
fear,  rather  dry  sketch  of  the  genera! 
condition  of  the  American  colonies, 
it  will  be  evident  that  there  existed 
among  them  the  undoubted  elements 
of  strength,  decision  of  character,  and 
firm  resolves  to  maintain  their  just 
rights  and  privileges.  Prosperity  had 
fallen  to  their  lot  in  a  large  degree, 
and  with  prosperity  the  natural  rest 
lessness  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  urged 
them  on  to  greater  and  more  far- 
reaching  designs.  Their  neighbors,  the 
French,  they  had  never  liked ;  already 
had  there  been  many  a  contest  between 
them ;  and  now  the  day  was  fast  ap 
proaching  when  the  final  struggle  was  to 
take  place  and  the  mastery  be  attained 
by  one  or  the  other.  It  was  not  possi 
ble  much  longer  to  put  off  the  contest. 

France,  thus  far  secure  in  the  West, — 
to  use  the  language  of  Mr.  Parkman — 
"  next  essayed  to  gain  foothold  upon 
the  sources  of  the  Ohio,  and,  about  the 


220 


THE  FOURTH  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


11 


year  1748,  the  sagacious  Count  Gal- 
issoniere  proposed  to  bring  over  ten 
thousand  peasants  from  France,  and 
plant  them  in  the  valley  of  that  beau 
tiful  river,  and  on  the  borders  of  the 
lakes.  But  while  at  Quebec,  in  the 
Castle  of  St.  Louis,  soldiers  and  states 
men  were  revolving  schemes  like  this, 
the  slowly-moving  power  of  .England 
bore  on  with  silent  progress  from  the 
East.  Already  the  British  settlements 
were  creeping  along  the  valley  qf  ;the 
Mohawk,  and  ascending  the  eastern 

/  •-_? 

slope  of  the  Alleganies.  Forests  crash 
ing  to  the  axe,  dark  spires  of  smoke 
ascending  from  autumnal  fires,  were 
heralds  of  the  advancing  host ;  and 


while  on  the  one  side  of  the  Alle 
ganies,  Celeron  de  Bienville  was  bury 
ing  plates  of  lead,  engraved  with  the 
arms  of  France,  the  ploughs  and  axes 
of  Virginia  backwoodsmen  were  enfor 
cing  a  surer  title  on  the  other.  The 
adverse  powers  were  drawing  near 
The  hour  of  collision  was  at  hand."* 
To  the  history  of  this  last  measuring 
of  arms  between  the  ancient  rivals,  and 
of  its  important  bearing  on  the  position 
of  the  colonies,  in  their  disputes  with 
the  mother  country,  we  now  invite  the 
reader's  attention. 


*  Parkmau's  "  History  of  the  Conspiracy  of  Pon 
tiac,"  p.  56. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 
1749—1755, 


THE     FOURTH     INTERCOLONIAL      WAR. 

Designs  and  claims  of  the  French  —  Counter  claims  of  the  English  —  No  regard  to  the  Indiana'  claims  —  The  Ohio 
Company  —  Its  policy  and  efforts  —  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  —  Early  life  and  training  —  His  father's  death  —  The 
mother  of  Washington  —  Receives  an^jDpointment  as  midshipman  in  the  Navy  —  Method  and  orderly  habits  — 
Activity,  spirit,  energy  —  Studies  sui^Rfying — Undertakes  the  duties  of  a  surveyor  —  Military  appointmeat — 
His  brother  Lawrence's  ill  li^alth  and  de^.th  —  Appointed  by  Governor  Dinwiddie  to  visit  the  French  post  on 
the  Ohio  —  His  adventurous  mission  —  Its  results  —  His  return  —  His  journal  —  Appointed  lieutenant-colonel  — 
His  military  exploits  —  The  affair  with  Jumonville  —  Truth  of  the  matter  —  Obliged  to  capitulate  at  Fort 
Necessity  —  Thanks  of  the  Assembly  to  Washington  —  Convention  of  governors  at  Albany  —  Plan  of  union  and 
confederation  —  Not  received  with  favor  —  Levy  of  troops  called  for  —  Dieskau's  force  —  111  usage  of  colonial 
officers  —  Braddock  commander-in-chief — Expeditions  undertaken  —  Braddock's  character  and  conduct  — 
Franklin's  help  —  His  conversation  with  Braddock  —  Washington  serves  as  aid-de-camp — His  urgent  advice 
rejected  by  Braddock  —  Splendid  spectacle  —  Troops  routed  by  Indians  and  French  in  ambush — Death  of 
Braddock  —  Washington's  preservation  —  Panic  of  the  army  —  Prestige  of  royal  troops  destroyed. 

coverers  of  rivers,  the  jurisdiction  ovei 
the  lands  watered  by  them.  So  lont, 
as  the  English  colonies  were  confined 
to  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  sea 
coast,  there  was  little  reason  for  them 
to  interfere  with  the  plans  and  pur- 


have  already  spoken  of  the 
designs  of  the  French  and  their  de 
termination  to  obtain,  if  possible,  the 
control  of  the  entire  region  from 
Canada  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  based 
upon  that  law  which  gives  to  the  dis 


CH.  VIII.]         FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH  CLAIMS  IN  THE  OHIO  VALLEY. 


221 


poses  of  the  French.  In  the  progress 
of  events,  however,  as  they  became 
acquainted  with  the  regions  beyond 
the  mountains,  and  as  they  penetrated 
into  those  beautiful  and  fertile  portions 
of  the  country  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio  and  its  tributaries,  the  English 
colonists  not  only  learned  the  value 
and  importance  of  the  vast  tracts  of 
territory  thus  far  unexplored,  but  also 
resolved  to  set  up  counter  claims  to 
the  right  over  the  soil.  The  French 
had  established  numerous  military  and 
trading  posts  from  the  frontiers  of 
Canada  even  to  the  city  of  New  Or 
leans,  and  in  order  to  establish  their 
claims  to  jurisdiction  over  the  country, 
they  had  carved  the  lilies  of  France  on 
the  forest  trees,  or  had  sunk  plates  of 
metal  in  the  ground  for  this  purpose.* 
The  French  claimed  as  discoverers,  and 
in  so  far  seemed  to  have  a  just  ground 
for  their  pretensions :  the  English,  on 
the  other  hand,  had  grants  of  territory 
extending  in  a  direct  line  westward  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  hence  they  claim 
ed  a  right  to  all  the  thousands  of  miles 
intervening  between  the  Atlantic  coast 
and  the  almost  illimitable  West.  Nei 
ther  party,  it  is  worth  noticing,  deemed 
it  necessary  to  pay  a  moment's  attention 
to  the  prior  claims  of  the  Indian  occu- 
pants.f  From  this  position  of  things, 
it  is  evident,  that  actual  collision  be- 


*  See  the  language  of  Mr.  Parkman  quoted  on  p. 
219,  and  more  fully  in  his  "  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac" 
pp.  85-126. 

f  In  November,  1749,  when  the  hardy  pioneer, 
Gist,  was  surveying  for  the  Ohio  Company  the  lands 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Ohio  River  as  far  down  as 
the  great  Kanawha,  an  old  Delaware  Chief,  observing 
what  he  was  about,  propounded  to  him  a  shrewd  in 
quiry  : —  "  The  French  claim  all  the  land  on  one  side  of 


tween  the  contending  parties  could  not 
much  longer  be  deferred. 

Shortly  after  the  peace  of  Aix-la 
Chapelle,  a  body  of  London  merchants 
and  Virginia  land  speculators,  known 
as  the  Ohio  Company,  obtained  in  Eng 
land  a  grant  of  six  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land  on  the  east  bank  of  that 
river,  with  exclusive  privileges  of  Indian 
traffic.  This  was  naturally  looked  upon, 
by  the  French,  as  an  encroachment,  they 
claiming  the  whole  region  watered  by 
the  tributaries  of  the  Mississippi.  The 
English  set  up  a  counter  claim,  in  the 
name  of  the  Six  Nations,  recognized  by 
the  treaties  of  Utrecht  and  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  as  under  British  protection, 
whose  empire,  so  it  was  said,  reached 
over  the  whole  eastern  portion  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley  and  the  basin  also  of 
the  lower  lakes.  As  the  principal  ob 
ject  of  the  Ohio  Company  was 
to  obtain  a  footing  on  the  soil, 
they  forthwith  proceeded  to  establish 
the  post  of  Redstone,  on  the  Mononga- 
hela  River — a  step,  of  course,  regarded 
as  an  aggression  by  the  French,  who 
built  a  ngw-  fort  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Erie,  anc^Were  evidently  preparing  to 
drive  ou£?ttll  gf^onents,  and  take  pos 
session  of  the  disputed  territory.  In 
anticipation  of  this  step,  Dinwiddie, 
lieutenant-governor  of  Virginia,  had  al 
ready  sent  out  a  messenger  in  the  guise 
of  a  trader,  to  ascertain  the  temper  of 
the  Indians,  and  to  spy  out  the  proceed- 


the  Ohio,  the  English  claim  all  the  land  on  the  other 
side : — tell  me  now,  where  does  the  Indians'  land 
lie  V  Poor  savages,  as  Mr.  Irving  well  says,  between 
their  "  fathers,''  the  French,  and  their  "  brothers,"  the 
English,  they  were  in  a  fair  way  of  being  most  lov 
ingly  shared  out  of  the  whole  country. 


1751. 


TftE  FOURTH  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


[BK.  II. 


ings  of  the  French.  The  English  gov 
ernment,  in  anticipation  of  a  war,  had 
urged  the  governor,  to  lose  no  time  in 
building  two  forts,  for  which  purpose 
artillery  and  munitions  were  sent  over ; 
but  the  French  had  been  beforehand 
with  them,  and  had  already  gathered  a 
considerable  force  to  act  according  as 
the  emergency  might  require.  It  was 
evident  that  active  measures  needed  to 
be  taken  at  once,  and  Dinwiddie 

1753.      ,    .          .       -,     .  , 

determined  to  send  a  messenger 
to  the  nearest  French  post,  aiijkdemand 
explanations,  as  also  the  rel4|pi  and  in 
demnification  of  certain  traders  cap 
tured  by  them  a  short  time  before. 
This  resolve  on  the  governor's  part 
brings  before  us,  for  the  first  time,  the 
man,  of  all  others,  whom  Americans 
most  love  to  honor.  It  is  but  right 
that  here  we  should  say  something  of 
the  family  from  which  he  sprang,  as 
also  of  his  early  life  and  training. 

Nearly  a  century  previous  to  the 
birth  of  the  illustrious  "  father  of  his 
country,"  two  brothers,  of  an  honorable 
family  in  England,  John  and  Andrew 
Washington,  emigrated  to  Virginia,  and 
settled  in  Westmoreland  County,  be 
tween  the  Potomac  and  Rappahannock 
Hivers.  The  grandson  of  John  Wash 
ington,  Augustine,  was  born  in  1694, 
and  inherited  the  family  estate,  situate 
on  Bridge's  Creek,  near  where  it  falls 
into  the  Potomac.  He  was  twice  mar 
ried  :  two  children  survived,  Lawrence 
and  Augustine,  and  the  mother  died  in 

O  i 

1728.  Two  years  later,  Augustine 
Washington  was  married  again ;  his 
bride  was  Mary  Ball,  a  celebrated 
beauty  of  that  day.  Six  children 
were  the  fruits  of  that  union :  four 


1732. 


sons  and  two  daughters.     The  familv 
*  .  * 

of  Washington  was  one,  which,  for  cen 
turies,  had  borne  itself  nobly  and  hon 
orably.  As  Mr.  Irving  finely  says-. 
"  hereditary  rank  may  be  an  illusion ; 
but  hereditary  virtue  gives  a  patent  of 
innate  nobleness  beyond  all  the  blazonry 
of  the  Herald's  College."* 

GEOEGE  WASHINGTON,  the  eldest  child 
of  his  mother,  was  born  on  the  22d  of 
February,  1732,  in  the  homestead  on 
Bridge's  Creek ;  but  not  a  ves 
tige  of  the  house  or  place  re 
mains.  Soon  after  George's  birth,  his 
father  removed  to  an  estate  in  Stafford 
County,  opposite  Fredericksburg.  This, 
too,  the  home  of  his  boyhood,  no  longer 
exists ;  a  few  fragments  of  bricks  and 
the  like,  are  all  that  remain.  George's 
eldest  brother,  Lawrence,  had  been  sent 
by  his  father  to  England,  and  enjoyed 
privileges  which  were  not  within  the 
reach  of  the  other  children.  George 
had  only  the  commonest  advantages  of 
the  day ;  no  language  but  his  own,  and 
simple  instruction  in  the  ordinary 
branches  of  an  English  education,  were 
the  extent  of  his  privileges.  When 
George  was  about  eight  years  old,  his 
brother  Lawrence  returned  from  Eng 
land,  an  accomplished  young  man,  and 
there  appears  to  have  been  formed  at 
once  a  warm  and  abiding  friendship, 
which  grew  with  their  growth,  and 
strengthened  with  their  strength,  so 
long  as  LaAvrence's  life  lasted.  On  the 
12th  of  April,  1743,  Augustine  Wash 
ington  died  after  a  short  illness : 

-,       .  1748. 

he  was  in  the  prime  and  vigor 

of  manhood,  and  enjoyed  the  reputa- 

*  Irvine's  "  Life  of  Washington,  vol.  i.  p.  18. 


CH.  VIII.] 


THE  BOYHOOD   OF   WASHINGTON. 


223 


tion  of  being  an  upright  and  honorable 
man.  His  death  was  peculiarly  afflic 
tive  to  a  young  and  growing  family, 
which  needed  all  a  father's  care  and 
counsel,  to  aid  in  preparing  them  for 
the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  life. 
By  this  sudden  and  great  loss,  MAKY, 
the  mother  of  George  Washington,  be 
came  his  guide  and  instructor,  and 
moulded  his  character  for  the  future 
eminence  which  he  attained.  She  was 
a  woman  of  great  energy  and  integrity, 
and  to  her  care  was  intrusted  the  man 
agement  of  the  large  property  left  to 
the  children  of  Augustine  Washington, 
against 'the  time  they  should  severally 
come  of  age.  She  proved  herself  en 
tirely  worthy  of  this  trust.  Her  plain, 
solid  sense;  her  decision  of  character; 
her  strict  but  not  severe  discipline ;  her 
conscientious  heed  to  the  religious  and 
moral  guidance  of  her  four  fatherless 
children ;  all  these  gave  her  authority 
and  respect  in  her  family,  which  were 
equalled  only  by  the  affection  with 
which  she  was  regarded  by  every  mem 
ber  of  her  household. 

Under  such  guidance,  and  favored 
with  constant  intercourse  with  his  bro 
ther  Lawrence  and  Lord  Fairfax  and 
family,  George  Washington  passed  his 
early  years.  From  a  child  fond  of  the 
mimic  sport  of  a  soldier's  life,  this  love 
of  adventure  grew  upon  him ;  and  when 
he  was  about  fourteen,  a  midshipman's 
warrant  was  obtained  for  him,  and  his 


1716. 


luggage  is  said   to   have  been 


actually  on  board  a  man-of- 
war,  when  his  mother's  heart  failed 
her,  and  George,  ever  obedient,  gave 
up  the  plan  of  seeking  for  fame  in 
the  Navy.  Humanly  speaking,  how 


vast  a  difference  would  it  have  made 
had  he  been  permitted  to  follow  his 
boyish  inclination ! 

Returning  to  school,  George  devoted 
his  attention  to  improvement  in  all 
those  branches,  especially  mathematics, 
calculated  to  fit  him  for  civil  or  mili 
tary  service.  Perseverance  and  com 
pleteness  marked  his  whole  course,  and 
the  habits  of  method,  order,  and  accu 
racy  which  were  then  established  ad- 
hered  to  him  through  life.  "He  found 
time  to  do  everything  and  to  do  it  well. 
He  had  acquired  the  magic  of  method, 
which,  of  itself,  works  wonders."  In 
short,  his  was  a  character  which,  even 
in  boyhood,  marked  him  out  to  be 
a  leader  and  guide  of  others.  His 
schoolfellows  appealed  to  him  to  de 
cide  their  little  differences,  and  his 
sincerity  and  strict  integrity  and  fair 
ness  gave  him  the  undoubted  ascen 
dancy  at  all  times.  Active,  energetic, 
delighting  in  athletic  games  and  exer 
cises,  prompt,  ready,  knowing  how  to 
obey  quite  as  well  as  how  to  command, 
conscientious,  ardent,  self-possessed, — 
these  qualities  might  well  have  raised 
him  above  his  fellows,  and  indicated, 
especially  to  a  mother's  prophetic  ken, 
the  greatness  and  nobleness  of  the  ca 
reer  before  him. 

After  he  left  school,  Washington 
continued  to  study  mathematics  and 
trigonometry,  examined  works  on  tac 
tics  and  military  topics,  became  expert 
in  the  use  of  arms,  and  kept  alive  the 
flame  of  ambition  for  warlike  deeds  by 
association  with  officers  who  had  served 
in  the  recent  wars.  But  he  could  not 
be  idle  and  enjoy  content;  hence  he 
was  ready  to  undertake  duties  of  an 


226 


THE  FOURTH   INTERCOLONIAL    WAR. 


[UK.  II. 


ton  did  not  reach  this  point  till  the  4th 
of  December.  Here  he  found  Joncaire, 
a  "  veteran  intriguer  of  the  frontier,"  as 
Mr.  Irving  styles  him,  and  after  some 
specimens  of  Joncaire's  ability  in  deal 
ing  with  the  Indians  in  Washington's 
company,  and  also  partaking  of  a  social 
entertainment,  during  which  the  French 
officers  gave  out  pretty  plainly  their 
designs  with  respect  to  the  Ohio  Val 
ley,  he  was  enabled  at  last  to  proceed 
and  meet  M.  de  St.  Pierre,  the  French 
commander,  at  a  post  about  fifteen  miles 
south  of  Lake  Erie. 

St.  Pierre  behaved  towards  the  youth 
ful  ambassador,  with  all  the  well-known 
courtesy  of  his  nation,  but  after  a  day 
or  two's  consideration,  informed  Wash 
ington,  that  he  was  not  able  to  enter 
tain  Governor  Dinwiddie's  proposal ;  he 
had  been  placed  at  the  post  he  occupied, 
by  the  governor  of  Canada,  and  he 
should  maintain  it  till  removed  by 
proper  authority.  Washington  was 
not  idle  while  this  matter  was  under 
discussion ;  he  used  his  eyes  to  good 
purpose,  and  obtained  all  the  informa 
tion  in  regard  to  strength,  position,  and 
plans  of  the  French,  which  was  open  to 
him.  On  the  15th  of  December,  he  re- 
ceived  from  St.  Pierre  a  sealed  reply  to 
Dinwiddie's  letter,  and  prepared  to  re 
turn  home  as  soon  as  possible.  He 
reached  Venango  again  on  the  22d, 
and  on  Christmas  Day  set  out  by  land 
on  his  route  homeward.  Of  the  dangers 
and  trials  of  that  return,  our  limits  do 
not-  allow  us  to  speak :  Mr.  Irving  has 
drawn  out  the  adventurous  story  in  his 
own  unsurpassed  style,  and,  noting  that 
Washington  reached  Williamsburg  on 
the  16th  of  January,  1754,  he  points 


1754. 


out  how  largely  the  youthful  hero's 
prudence,  sagacity,  resolution,  firmness, 
and  self-devotion  were  tested,  and  con 
cludes  most  justly,  that  this  "  expedition 
may  be  considered  the  foundation  of  his 
fortunes  :  from  that  moment  he  was  the 
rising  hope  of  Virginia."  His  journal, 
an  interesting  document,  was  printed, 
and  fully  roused  the  attention  of  both 
England  and  the  colonies  to  the  neces 
sity  of  prompt  measures  in  this  crisis 
of  no  ordinary  moment.* 

From  the  tenor  of  St.  Pierre's  com 
munication,  it  was  evident  that  steps 
of  some  kind  must  speedily  be  taken. 
Dinwiddie  was  anxious  to  raise 
funds  to  carry  on  offensive  war 
fare  ;  but  the  Assembly  were  not  so 
complaisant  to  his  demands  as  he 
thought  they  ought  to  be,  under  the 
circumstances.  Even  in  the  legislature 
itself,  doubts  were  expressed  as  to  the 
king's  claim  over  the  disputed  lands, 
and  though  the  sum  of  £10,000  was  ul 
timately  voted  for  "  the  protection  of 
the  settlers  in  the  Mississippi,"  it  was 
clogged  with  the  proviso,  that  commis 
sioners  should  be  appointed  to  watch 
over  its  appropriation.  The  other  col 
onies,  who  had  been  urgently  called 
upon  to  give  aid,  received  the  appeal 
with  great  unconcern,  and  held  out  but 
little  hope  of  assistance.  With  the 
means  at  his  disposal,  the  governor, 
however,  increased  the  military  force 
to  six  companies,  which  were  placed 
under  Colonel  Joshua  Fry,  Washington 
being  appointed  second  in  command, 
with  the  title  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

*  See  Marshall's  "Life  <\f  Washington,"  vol.  i. 
p.  461;  also,  fc  Washington's  Writings"  vol.  ii.  p. 
432-47. 


Cn.  VIII.] 


THE   AFFAIR   WITH  JUMONVILLE. 


227 


To  stimulate  the  zeal  of  his  troops, 
and  to  form  a  body  of  military  set 
tlers,  Dinwiddie  issued  a  proclamation, 
granting  to  them  two  hundred  thou 
sand  acres  on  the  Ohio — a  measure 
received  with  little  approbation  by  the 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  who  con 
sidered  that  they  had  counter-claims 
to  the  lands  in  question. 

A  party  of  forty-one  men,  under 
Captain  Trent,  had  already  been  sent 
to  the  Fork  of  the  Ohio,  and  had  com 
menced  building  a  fort  there  by  Wash 
ington's  advice.  Early  in  April,  he 
himself  marched  from  Alexandria  with 
two  companies,  and  arrived  on  the  20th 
at  Wills'  Creek.  Here  he  received  in 
telligence  that  the  French,  in  lar^e 

o  >  o 

force,  had  driven  out  his  men,  and 
had  themselves  gone  on  to  finish  the 
works,  which  they  named  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  after  the  governor  of  Canada. 
This  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  act 
of  open  hostility.  Washington,  having 
held  a  council  of  war,  and  having  dis 
patched  messengers  for  reinforcements, 
determined  to  advance  in  the  direction 
of  the  Ohio.  It  was  a  very  slow  and 
exceedingly  toilsome  advance.  An  en 
trenchment  was  thrown  up  at  the  Great 
Meadows,  which  Washington  purposed 
fortifying  more  carefully,  when  he 
learned  that  a  detachment  of  the 
French  was  only  a  few  miles  off, 
lurking  in  concealment,  evidently  with 
no  good  purpose.  He  promptly  re 
solved  to  seek  them  out,  and,  guided 
by  the  Indians,  he  soon  after  found 
them — May  28th — in  a  place  surround 
ed  by  rocks  and  trees,  where  they  had 
put  up  a  few  cabins  for  shelter  from 
the  rain.  The  moment  the  French 


discovered  the  presence  of  Washing- 
ton  and  his  men,  they  ran  to  arms; 
a  sharp  skirmish  ensued,  for  a  while ; 
the  balls  whistled  around  the  young 
commander's  head,  and  a  man  was 
killed  at  his  side.  Jumonville,  the 
leader  of  the  French,  fell  dead  ;  nine 
others  were  slain,  and  the  survivors 
yielded.*  La  Force,  a  person  of  great 
cunning,  and  considered  by  Washington 
to  be  a  very  dangerous  adversary,  was 
among  the  prisoners.  These,  amount 
ing  to  twenty-one  in  all,  were  sent  to 
Governor  Dinwiddie  at  Winchester. 

Blame  was  attempted  to  be  thrown 
upon  Wp^h^ton  for  the  sad  results 
of  this  encounter.  It  was  claimed 
that  Jumonville  was  entitled  to  the 
protection  due  to  the  character  and 
mission  of  an  ambassador,  since  he 
was  advancing  with  a  summons  to 
the  English  to  evacuate  the  territory 
of  the  French ;  and  Washington  was 
denounced  as  an  assassin.  The  truth, 
however,  was,  that  the  party  under  Ju 
monville,  as  was  proven  by  a  letter  of 
instructions  found  on  that  young  officer, 
were  engaged  in  outlying  occupation, 
in  ascertaining  everything  they  could 
about  the  country,  and  the  plans  of 
the  English,  and  in  sending  messages 
to  the  commander  at  Fort  Duquesne. 
And  they  had  acted  accordingly.  "  In 
stead  of  coming  in  the  public  and  open 
manner  of  ambassadors,"  to  use  Wash 
ington's  words  in  reply  to  the  foul 
aspersion,  "the  party  of  Jumonville 
came  secretly ;  they  sought  out  the 
most  hidden  retreats,  and  remained 


*  See    Mr.    Bancroft's   account,   "History   of   the 
United  States,"  vol.  iv.  p.  117-1',). 


228 


THE  FOURTH  INTERCOLONIAL   WAR. 


concealed  whole*  days  within  five  miles 
of  us.  After  sending  out  spies  to  re 
connoitre  our  position,  they  retreated 
two  miles,  from  whence  they  sent  mes 
sengers  to  M.  Contreeceur  with  the  re- 

o 

suits  of  their  reconnoisance." 

Colonel  Fry's  sudden  death,  at  Wills' 
Creek,  placed  the  burden  of  the  chief 
command  upon  Washington.*  His  po 
sition  was  perilous  in  the  extreme  ;  the 
French  force  was  very  much  larger 
than  his  own;  and  scarcity  of  pro 
visions  began  to  be  seriously  felt. 
Fort  Necessity  was  built  at  the  Great 
Meadows ;  and  leaving  the  South  Caro 
lina  company  under  Captain  Mackay 
in  charge  of  the  fort,  Washington  ad 
vanced  towards  Fort  Duquesne.  He 
was  soon  compelled,  however,  to  re 
treat,  and  the  French  and  Indians,  to 
the  number  of  fifteen  hundred,  coining 
upon  him  at  Fort  Necessity,  he  mads 
a  spirited  stand  for  some  hours,  but 
finally  agreed  to  an  honorable 
capitulation.  The  next  morn 
ing,  July  4th,  Washington  set  out  on 
his  return  to  Wills'  Creek,  where  his 
men  were  recruited,  and  where  also 
Fort  Cumberland  was  erected.f 

*  "William  Fairfax,  Washington's  paternal  adviser, 
had  recently  counselled  him  by  letter,  to  have  public 
prayers  in  his  camp ;  especially  when  there  were 
Indian  families  there.  This  was  accordingly  done  at 
the  encampment  in  the  Great  Meadows,  and  it  cer 
tainly  was  not  one  of  the  least  striking  pictures  pre 
sented  in  this  wild  campaign — the  youthful  com 
mander,  presiding  with  calm  seriousness,  over  a 
motley  assemblage  of  half  equipped  soldiery,  leathern 
clad  hunters  and  woodmen,  and  painted  savages 
with  their  wives  and  children,  and  uniting  them  all 
in  solemn  devotion  by  his  own  example  and  de 
meanor." — Irving1  s  "  Life  of  Washington,"  vol.  i.  p. 
128. 

t  Mr.  Irving  (vol.  i.  p.  13  -140)  enters  with  great 
particularity  Into  the  details-  of  this  whole  matter, 


1754. 


Although  this  campaign  was  thus 
unsuccessful,  it  was  felt  that  Washing 
ton  had  done  all  that  was  possible 
under  the  circumstances.  He  received 
the  thanks  of  the  Assembly,  and  ac 
quired  the  unbounded  confidence  and 
affection  of  the  soldiers  under  his  com 
mand.  Three  hundred  pistoles  —  about 
$1,100  —  were  distributed  among  the 
soldiers. 

While  Washington  was  engaged  in 
his  expedition  against  the  French,  a 
convention  was  held  at  Albany  of 
Committees  from  the  Colonial  As 
semblies  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  and  the  New  England  col 
onies.  This  was  in  June,  1754.  The 
principal  object  they  had  in 
view  was  to  renew  the  treaty 
with  the  Six  Nations,  whose  friend 
ship  at  this  crisis  was  of  grave  impor- 


1751 


union  and  confederation  of  the  colonies 
for  mutual  defence  came  up,  and  was 
decided  in  the  affirmative,  and  one 
delegate  from  each  colony  was  ap 
pointed  to  draw  up  a  plan  of  union. 
Franklin  sketched  such  a  plan,  which 
was  adopted  by  the  Convention,  the 
Connecticut  delegates  alone  dissenting 

o  o 

"  It  proposed  a  grand  Council  of  forty- 
eight  members  :  seven  from  Virginia  ; 

O  O 

seven  from  Massachusetts  ;  six  from 
Pennsylvania  ;  five  from  Connecticut  ; 
four  each  from  New  York,  Maryland, 
and  the  two  Carolines  ;  three  from 
New  Jersey  ;  and  two  each  from  New 


and  most  completely  exonerates  Washington  from 
any  blame  in  regard  to  M.  Jumonville's  death.  The 
reader  will  find  it  interesting  to  examine  also  tho 
account  given  by  Mr.  Sparks,  "Life  of  Washington" 
p.  36-5b. 


Cii. 


PLAN    FOIl   CONFEDERATION    OF  THE   COLONIES. 


229 


Hampshire  and  Rhode  Island ;  this 
number  of  forty-eight  to  remain  fixed ; 
no  colony  to  have  more  than  seven  nor 
less  than  two  members ;  but  the  ap 
portionment  within  those  limits  to  vary 
with  the  rates  of  contribution.  This 
Council  was  to  undertake  the  defence 
of  the  colonies  as  a  general  charge,  to 
apportion  quotas  of  men  and  money, 
to  control  the  colonial  armies,  to  enact 
ordinances  of  general  interest,  and  to 
provide  for  the  general  welfare.  It 
was  to  have  for  its  head  a  president- 
general  appointed  by  the  crown,  to 
possess  a  negative  on  all  acts  of  the 
Council,  the  appointment  of  all  mili 
tary  officers,  and  the  entire  manage 
ment  of  Indian  affairs.  Civil  officers 
were  to  be  appointed  by  the  Coun 
cil,  with  the  consent  of  the  president. 
Such  was  the  first  official  suggestion 
of  what  grew  afterwards  to  be  our 
present  Federal  Constitution."* 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  this 
plan  met  with  no  favor  from  either  the 
Colonial  Assemblies  or  the  Board  of 
Trade.  "  The  Assemblies,"  says  Frank 
lin,  speaking  of  it  some  thirty  years 
afterwards,  "  all  thought  there  was 
too  much  prerogative  in  it ;  and  in 
England  it  was  thought  to  have  too 
much  of  the  democratic  in  it."  The 
home  government,  too,  probably  felt 
suspicious  of  anything  like  united  ac 
tion  among  the  colonies,  since  it  might 
teach  them  their  strength  and  foster 
the  idea  of  independence.  It  was  de 
termined,  therefore,  as  best,  all  things 
considered,  to  carry  on  the  war  by 


*  Hildreth's  " History  of  the  United  States,"  vol. 
li.  p.  413. 


means  of  royal  troops,  the  colonies 
furnishing  such  help  as  they  might 
see  fit. 

There  being  every  appearance  of 
war  between  England  and  France,  the 
royal  governors  in  the  colonies  made 
applications  for  a  levy  of  militia,  which 
were  warmly  responded  to  by  the 
northern  colonies,  the  southern  dis 
playing  far  less  zeal.  As  it  was 
known  that  a  French  squadron,  des 
tined  to  carry  out  four  thousand 
troops,  under  Baron  Dieskau,  was 
preparing  to  sail  from  Brest,  Ad 
miral  Boscawen  was  sent  to  intercept 
it ;  but  the  greater  part  of  the  ships 
succeeded  in  throwing  their  forces  into 
Canada  and  Louisburg,  although  one 
or  two  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
English.  ISTo  formal  declaration  of 
war  had  as  yet  been  issued,  but 
meanwhile  each  was  en^aored  in  mea- 

O      O 

sures  to  annoy  and  injure  the  other. 
Dinwiddie  was  a  ^ood  deal  mortified 

O 

at  the  uncompliant  humor  of  the  As 
sembly,  and  he  gave  utterance  to 
no  light  complaints  in  his  dispatches. 
They  did,  however,  vote  a  respectable 
military  force,  in  which,  to  avoid  dis 
putes  about  rank  among  the  officers, 
a  general  order  gave  precedence  in 
all  cases  to  those  commissioned  by  the 
king  or  comrnander-in-chief,  over  such 
as  had  only  colonial  commissions.  This 
excited  disgust,  of  course,  in  the  minds 
of  men  like  Washington  and  his  fel 
low-officers  ;  and  self-respect  urged  him 
to  resign  his  commission  immediately. 
Having  done  this,  he  devoted  himself 
to  looking  after  his  private  affairs. 

General  Braddock  was  appointed 
Commander-in-chief,  and  early  in  1775 


Z30 


THE  FOURTH  INTERCOLONIAL  WAR. 


1755. 


was  dispatched  to  the  Chesapeake  with 
ivso  British  regiments.     Two  regiments 

O  O 

of  a  thousand  men  in  each 
were  ordered  to  be  raised  and 
officered  in  New  England,  and  three 
thousand  men  were  to  be  enlisted  in 
Pennsylvania  by  the  authority  of  the 
crown.  In  April,  Braddock  met  a 
convention  of  colonial  governors  at 
Alexandria,  where  three  expeditions 
were  determined  upon.  One,  com 
manded  by  himself,  was  to  proceed 
against  Fort  Duquesne,  and  expel  the 
French  from  the  Ohio ;  a  second,  under 
Shirley,  of  Massachusetts,  recently  ap 
pointed  major-general,  was  to  march 
against  Niagara;  and  a  third,  under 
Johnson,  a  man  of  vast  influence  among 
the  !Six  Nations,  was  to  undertake  the 
capture  of  Crown  Point,  on  the  western 
shore  of  Lake  Champlain.* 

Braddock  was  a  brave  soldier,  and 
had  served  with  credit  in  the  field ;  but 
he  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  peculi 
arities  of  warfare  in  the  New  World,  and 
what  was  worse,  was  determined  to  take 
no  advice  from  those  better  informed 
than  himself.  Vexed  at  the  delays  in 
the  means  of  transportation,  and  the 
malpractices  of  the  contractors,  he  in 
dulged  himself  in  no  measured  terms 
against  every  thing  and  every  body  in 
America,  and  became  less  and  less  dis 
posed  to  listen  to  any  advice.  Frank 
lin  visited  him  at  Fredericton,  osten 
sibly  in  discharge  of  his  duty  as 
post-master,  and  offered  his  interven- 


*  According  to  a  return  made  to  the  Board  of 
Trade,  the  population  of  the  colonies  amounted  at 
this  date  to  nearly  1.500,000,  of  which  not  quite 
300,000  were  blacks  The  population  of  New  France 
was  hardly  100,000 


[Bic.   II. 

tion  with  the  farmers  and  others,  in 
order  to  expedite  matters  for  the  gen 
eral's  proposed  campaign.  Braddock 
gladly  availed  himself  of  this  timely 
aid.  Franklin  also  ventured  to  hint 
the  possibility  of  danger  in  the  new 
kind  of  warfare  which  was  before  the 
royal  troops.  "In  conversation  witL 
him  one  day,"  says  Franklin,  "  he  was 
giving  me  some  account  of  his  intend 
ed  progress.  'After  taking  Fort  Du 
quesne,'  said  he,  'I  am  to  proceed  to 
Niagara ;  and  having  taken  that,  to 
Frontenac,  if  the  season  will  allow  time, 
and  I  suppose  it  will ;  for  Duquesne 
can  hardly  detain  me  three  or  four 
days  ;  and  then  I  see  nothing  that  can 
obstruct  my  march  to  Niagara.'  Hav 
ing  before  revolved  in  my  mind,"  con 
tinues  Franklin,  "  the  long  line  his  army 
must  make  in  their  march  by  a  very 
narrow  road,  to  be  cut  for  them  through 
the  woods  and  bushes,  and  also  what  I 
had  read  of  a  former  defeat  of  fifteen 
hundred  French,  who  invaded  the 
Illinois  country,  I  had  conceived  some 
doubts  and  some  fears  for  the  event  of 
the  campaign.  But  I  ventured  only  to 
say,  '  To  be  sure,  sir,  if  you  arrive  well 
before  Duquesne,  with  these  fine 
troops,  so  well  provided  with  artillery, 
the  fort,  though  completely  fortified, 
and  assisted  with  a  very  strong  gar 
rison,  can  probably  make  but  a  short 
resistance.  The  only  danger  I  appre 
hend  of  obstruction  to  your  march,  is 
from  the  ambuscades  of  the  Indians, 
who,  by  constant  practice,  are  dexter 
ous  in  laying  and  executing  them ;  and 
the  slender  line,  near  four  miles  lonsr, 

>  O  t 

which  your  army  must  make,  may  ex- 
j  pose  it  to  be  attacked  by  surprise  in  its 


Cn.  VIII.] 


BRADDOCK'S  EXPEDITION  AND  DEFEAT. 


231 


flanks,  and  to  be  cut  like  a  thread  into 
several  pieces,  which,  from  their  dis 
tance,  cannot  come  up  in  time  to  sup 
port  each  other.'  He  smiled  at  my 
ignorance,  and  replied,  '  These  savages 
may  indeed  be  a  formidable  enemy  to 
your  raw  American  militia ;  but  upon 
the  king's  regular  and  disciplined 
troops,  sir,  it  is  impossible  they  should 
make  any  impression.'  I  was  conscious 
of  an  impropriety  in  my  disputing 
with  a  military  man  in  matters  of  his 
profession,  and  said  no  more."*  The 
result  showed,  unhappily,  that  the 
philosopher,  on  this  occasion,  was 
able  to  judge  more  clearly  than  the 
man  trained  in  exact  European  mili 
tary  science,  and  full  of  prejudice  in 
."avor  of  established  routine. 

Washington,  at  Braddock's  earnest 
lequest,  was  prevailed  upon  to  serve  as 
lid-de-camp,  a  position  which  he  sup 
posed  would  give  him  facilities  for  study 
ing  the  art  of  war  under  a  strictly  scien 
tific  commander.  "  The  sole  motive 
which  invites  me  to  the  field,"  as  he  says 
in  a  letter  to  one  of  his  friends,  "  is  the 
laudable  ambition  of  serving  my  coun 
try,  not  the  gratification  of  any  am 
bitious  or  lucrative  plans.  This,  I  flat 
ter  myself,  will  appear  by  my  going  as 
^  volunteer,  without  expectation  of  re 
ward,  or  prospect  of  obtaining  a  com 
mand,  as  I  am  confidently  assured  it  is 
not  in  General  Braddock's  power  to 
give  me  a  commission  that  I  would  ac 
cept."  The  advice  of  Washington  was 
sought  by  the  perplexed  general,  who 
found  the  season  rapidly  passing  away, 
and  he  and  his  troops  advancing  at 


Autobiography  of  Franlclin,  p.  148. 


only  a  snail's  pace.  Washington  urged 
him  to  push  forward  with  a  light  armed 
division,  leaving;  the  rest  of  the  forces 

'  O 

to  follow  under  Colonel  Dunbar.  Brad- 
dock  acted  upon  this  suggestion,  and  set 
forth  with  twelve  hundred  men  and  ten 
field  pieces ;  but  he  treated  with  great 
contempt  the  advice  of  his  more  ex 
perienced  aid-de-camp,  as  to  the  need 
of  caution  in  regard  to  ambushes  of  the 
French  and  Indians,  It  was  getting 
late  in  the  month  of  June  ;  Washing 
ton  was  suddenly  taken  ill  of  a  fever, 


and  was  obliged  to  remain  be- 


1755. 


hind  at  Youghieny,  in  charge 
of  his  friend,  Dr.  Craik ;  but  eagei 
to  rejoin  the  army,  he  set  off,  weak  as 
he  was,  on  the  3d  of  July,  in  a  covered 
waggon,  and  reached  the  camp  on  the 
8th,  when  Braddock,  having  consumed 
a  month  in  marching  about  a  hundred 
miles,  was  now  within  fifteen  miles  of 
Fort  Duquesne. 

The  attack  was  to  be  made  the  next 
day.  Washington  again  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  send  out  the  Virginia  rangers 

o  o 

to  examine  the  dangerous  passes  yet  to 
be  gone  through ;  but  Braddock  per 
emptorily  and  angrily  refused.  It  was 
an  inspiriting  sight  to  see  the  pomp  and 
circumstance  of  parade  and  military  ex 
actness,  the  next  ino-rning,  the  9th  of 
July,  when  the  troops,  as  if  on  a  gala 
day,  set  out  to  ford  the  Monongahela, 
with  bayonets  fixed,  colors  flying,  and 
drums  and  fifes  beating  and  playing. 
Washington  was  in  raptures  with  the 
scene,  and  often,  in  later  days,  spoke 
of  it  as  the  most  beautiful  spectacle  he 
had  ever  witnessed.  It  was  nearly  two 
o'clock  when  the  troops  had  all  passed 
the  river.  They  were  ascending  a 


234 


PROGRESS    AND   CONCLUSION   OF   THE   WAR. 


question  of  moment  what  was  to  be 
done  \vith  the  French  colonists,  amount 
ing,  at  the  time,  to  some  twelve  or 
fifteen  thousand,*  settled  principally 
about  Beau  Bassin,  the  basin  of  Minas, 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  Annapolis. 
These  settlers,  who  had  doubled  in 
number  since  Nova  Scotia  became  a 
British  province,  were  still  French  in 
language,  religion,  and  attachments,  and 
receiving  their  priests  from  Canada, 
were  peculiarly  exposed  to  temptations 
to  violate  the  terms  of  the  neutrality, 
which  exempted  them  from  bearing 
arms  against  France.  Some  three  hun 
dred  of  the  young  men  were  taken  in 
arms  at  the  surrender  of  Beau  Sejour, 
and  as  it  would  be  highly  inexpedient 
to  send  the  whole  population  out  of  the 
country,  to  strengthen  Canada  or  Cape 
Breton,  it  was  necessary  to  dispose  of 
them  in  some  other  way.  Boscawen 
and  others  consulted  as  to  the  course 
to  be  pursued,  and  finally  resolved  up 
on  an  entire  expulsion  of  the  French 
colonists,  and  a  transportation  of  them 
to  the  various  British  provinces.  This, 
too,  notwithstanding  the  express  stipu 
lation  in  the  surrender  of  Beau  Sejour 
that  the  inhabitants  should  not  be  dis 
turbed.  But  honor  and  truth  were 
sacrificed,  and  cruelty  and  treachery 
prevailed.  Braddock's  defeat,  the  news 
of  which  had  just  reached  them,  hard 
ened  the  authors  of  this  scheme  in 
their  determination.  Keeping  their 
purpose  secret  until  the  Acadiens  had 
gathered  in  the  harvest,  the  English 
persuaded  them  to  assemble  at  their 

*  Murray  ("History  of  Briti»h  America,"  vol.  ii. 
p.  139,)  estimates  the  number  at  seventeen  or  eight 
een  thousand. 


parish  churches,  on  one  pretense  and 
another,  and,  having  surrounded  them 
with  troops,  pronounced  then  and  there 
the  fearful  doom  in  store  for  them.  At 
the  point  of  the  bayonet,  on  the  10th  of 
September,  they  were  hurried  on  board 
the  ships  assigned  for  their  transpoi 
tation.  "Wives  separated  from  thei? 
husbands  in  the  confusion  of  embark 
ing,  and  children  from  their  parents, 
were  carried  off  to  distant  colonies 
never  again  to  see  each  other !  Thei:. 
lands,  crops,  cattle,  every  thing,  ex 
cept  household  furniture,  which  they 
could  not  carry  away,  and  money,  of 
which  they  had  little  or  none,  were 
declared  forfeit  to  the  crown ;  and,  to 
insure  the  starvation  of  such  as  fled  to 
the  woods,  and  so  to  compel  their  sur 
render,  the  growing  crops  were  de 
stroyed,  and  the  barns  and  houses 
burned,  with  all  their  contents  !''* 
More  than  a  thousand  of  these  unhappy 
exiles  were  carried  to  Massachusetts, 
where  the  horror  of  popery  prevented 
their  being  allowed  even  the  consola 
tions  of  the  religion  in  which  they  had 
been  trained.  Every  colony  had  to  re 
ceive  a  portion  of  the  ill-used  Acadiens, 
a  burden  on  the  community  which  no 
one  was  disposed  quietly  to  bear.  Some 
made  their  way  to  France,  Canada,  St. 
Domingo,  and  Louisiana ;  but  these 
were  few  in  number:  the  greater  part 
died  broken-hearted  in  a  foreign  land.f 
Shirley,  meanwhile,  was  on  his  march 
from  Albany  to  Osvvego,  where  he  pur 
posed  embarking  for  Niagara.  It  was 


w  Hildreth's  "Ilititory  nf  the  United  States"  vol. 
ii.,  p.  458. 

f  Mr.  Longfellow  lias  drawn  inspiration  from  this 
theme  in  his  "  EVANGEI  INF.,  4  Tale  of  Ac-ad  ie." 


Cn.  IX.] 


EXPEDITION   AGAINST   CROWN   POINT. 


235 


1755. 


a  slow  progress,  owing  to  the  various 
hindrances  incident  to  a  region  where 
roads  were  to  be  cut,  and  rivers  cross 
ed.  Considerably  weakened  by  sick 
ness,  and  a  good  deal  cast  down  by  the 
news  of  Braddock's  defeat,  whose  death 
raised  Shirley  to  the  rank  of 
commander-in-chief,  the  latter 
part  of  August  was  spent  in  building 
two  strong  forts  at  Oswego,  fitting  out 
vessels,  and  making  great  preparations 
for  ad\7ancing  against  Niagara.  But 
nothing  was  accomplished,  and  the  en 
terprise  was  abandoned  for  the  season. 
Shirley  did  not  escape  censure,  on  the 
charge  of  inefficiency. 

Johnson,  who  had  command  of  the 
troops  sent  against  Crown  Point,  was, 
in  many  respects,  a  very  remarkable 
man.  He  was  Irish  by  birth  ;  he  was 
flexible  in  disposition,  tall  and  imposing 
in  person,  plausible  in  manner,  and  soon 
gained  an  immense  influence  over  the 
Indians,  whose  dress  he  adopted,  and 
whose  savage  life  he  seemed  greatly  to 
enjoy.  His  position  as  British  agent 
with  the  Five  Nations  gave  him  an  op 
portunity  for  dealing  with  the  Indians, 
not  only  for  the  good  of  his  country, 
but  for  his  own  personal  profit.  The 
following  story  will  illustrate  this  latter 
point.  There  was  a  famous  old  Mo 
hawk  chief,  commonly  called  King 
Hendrick,  who  was  as  shrewd  as  he 
was  brave.  lie  had  a  great  love  for 
finery,  and  to  gratify  his  desires,  he  en- 
t-M'cd  upon  a  contest  of  wits  with  John 
son.  Having  seen  at  Johnson's  castle, 
one  morning,  a  richly  embroidered 
coat,  he  determined  upon  a  cunning 
expedient  to  gain  possession  of  it. 
"  Brothei1.11  he  said  to  Sir  William,  as 


he  entered  one  morning,  "  me  dream 
last  night."  "  Indeed,"  answered  Sir 
William ;  "  what  did  my  red  brother 
dream  ?"  "  Me  dream  that  coat  be 
mine."  "  It  is  yours,"  promptly  re 
plied  Johnson.  Not  long  after,  he  was 
visited  by  the  baronet,  who,  looking 
abroad  upon  the  wide-spread  land 
scape,  quietly  observed  to  Hendrick: 
"  Brother,  I  had  a  dream  last  night." 
"What  did  my  English  brother 
dream?"  rejoined  the  sachem.  "I 
dreamed  that  all  this  tract  of  land 
was  mine,"  pointing  to  a  district  some 
twenty  miles  square  in  extent.  Hend 
rick  looked  very  grave,  but,  seeing  the 
dilemma  in  which  he  was  placed,  re 
plied  :  "  Brother,  the  land  is  yours — 
but  you  must  not  dream  again." 

The  troops  under  Johnson,  amount* 
ing  to  some  six  thousand  men,  ad 
vanced  to  Lake  George.  Baron  Dies- 
kau,  meanwhile,  had  ascended  Lake 
Champlain  with  two  thousand  men 
from  Montreal,  and  having  landed  at 
the  southern  extremity  of  that  lake, 
had  pushed  on  to  Fort  Lyman,  better 
known  as  Fort  Edward.  Changing  his 
purpose,  he  determined  to  attack  John 
son,  and  in  a  narrow  and  rugged  defile, 
about  three  miles  from  Johnson's  camp 
he  met  a  body  of  a  thousand  Massa 
chusetts  troops,  and  some  Mohawk  In 
dians,  Colonel  Williams  being  in  com 
mand.*  Dieskau,  without  difficulty, 
put  to  rout  this  force,  and  Williama 


*  Mr.  Hildreth  very  justly  records,  that  Williams 
secured  to  himself  a  better  monument  than  any  vic 
tory  could  have  given.  While  passing  through  Al 
bany,  he  made  a  will,  leaving  certain  property  to 
found  a  fret;  ^chool  for  Western  Massachusetts,  since 
grown  into  "  Williams  College." 


236 


PROGRESS   AND   CONCLUSION    OF  THE   WAR, 


[13K.  Il 


was  killed,  as  was  also  Hendrick,  the 
old  sachem.*  Dieskau  next  advanced 
to  attack  Johnson's  camp,  which,  pro 
tected  by  its  location,  and  fortified  by 
some  cannon,  brought  up  from  Fort 
Edward,  withstood  the  attack.  Dies 
kau  was  mortally  wounded,  and  taken 
prisoner,  and  his  men  fled  to  Crown 
Point.  The  French  are  said  to  have 
lost  a  thousand  men,  the  English  three 
hundred.  A  party  of  New  Hampshire 
troops  encountered  the  baggage  of  Di- 
eskau's  army,  and  captured  it.  These 
three  actions,  fought  on  the  same  day, 
are  known  as  the  battle  of  Lake 
George.  Johnson  received  knighthood, 
and  a  parliamentary  grant  of  £5,000  ; 
and  the  colonists  looked  upon  the  affair 
as  a  great  victory. 

Johnson  did  not,  however,  as  seemed 
to  be  expected  of  him,  advance  against 
Crown  Point.  The  New  Englanders 
charged  him  with  incapacity,  and  lack 

*  Hendrick  was  the  sou  of  a  Mohegan  chief,  by  a 
Mohawk  woman.  He  married  into  a  Mohawk  fa 
mily,  and  became  distinguished  among  the  Six  Na 
tions.  His  fame  extended  to  Massachusetts  ;  for  the 
commissioners,  in  1751,  consulted  him  on  the  great 
question  of  instructing  certain  youths  of  his  nation. 
In  this  battle  with  Dieskau,  he  commanded  throe 
hundred  Mohawks.  He  was  grave  and  sententious 
in  council,  and  brave  in  fight.  Some  of  his  sayings 
are  worth  mention.  When  it  was  proposed  to  send 
a  detachment  to  meet  the  enemy,  and  the  number 
being  mentioned,  he  replied:  "  If  they  are  to  fight, 
they  are  too  few  ;  if  they  are  to  be  killed,  they  are 
too  many."  When  it  was  proposed  to  send  out  the 
detachment  in  three  parties,  Hendrick  took  three 
sticks,  and  said,  "  put  them  together,  and  you  cannot 
break  them  ;  take  them  one  by  one,  and  you  will 
break  them  easily."  They  followed  the  advice  of 
the  old  warrior  in  this  ;  and  had  they  regarded  the 
precautions  he  suggested,  in  scorning  the  field  by  a 
flank  guard,  Williams  would  not  have  fallen  into  the 
ambuscade.  Hendrick  deserves  to  be  remembered 
among  the  friends  of  white  men,  who  now  and  then 
have  been  found  among  Indians. 


1735. 


of  energy,  but,  alleging  the  want  of 
provisions  and  means  of  transportation, 

he  accomplished  no  more  than  the 
building  of  Fort  William  Henry,  near 
the  late  field  of  battle,  and  disbanded 
his  troops  for  the  winter. 

The  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania.  Mary 
land,  and  Virginia,  were  exposed,  by 
Dunbar's  inglorious  retreat,  to  incur 
sions  from  the  Indians  under  French 
influence.  Governor  Morris,  of  Penn 
sylvania,  urged  the  Assembly  to  make 
provision  for  the  defence  of  the  fron 
tiers  ;  but  that  body  had  some  private 
disputes  to  settle,  in  regard  to  taxing 

-1  '  O  O 

the  proprietary  estates,  and 
also  professed  the  usual  Quaker 
scruples  against  war,  which  hindered 
their  proper  attention  to  the  governor';; 
request.  In  November,  however,  they 
voted  some  £50,000  for  public  defence. 
which  led  to  the  resignation  of  several 

O 

of  the  Quaker  members  of  the  Assem- 
bly. 

In  Virginia,  the  Assembly  voted 
£40,000  in  taxes,  and  issued  treasury 
notes  to  that  amount.  To  Washing 
ton,  for  his  gallant  conduct  at  Brad- 
dock's  defeat,  £800  were  voted,  with 
gratuities  to  the  other  officers  anil  the 
privates.  The  Virginia  regiment  was 
reorganized,  and  he  himself  was  placed 
at  its  head,  with  Stephens  as  lieutenant- 
colonel.  About  the  middle  of  Septem 
ber,  Washington  repaired  to  Winches 
ter,  where  he  fixed  his  head  quarteis: 
but,  during  the  next  winter,  he  was 

o 

compelled  to  make  a  journey  to  Boston, 
to  obtain  a  decision  from  Shirley  as  to 
some  vexed  points  of  precedence  and 
military  rank. 

The  year  1755  closed  with  little  sat- 


OSWEGO,  TAKEN    BY  THE  FRENCH. 


237 


isf  action  ;  no  one  of  the  ex]  editions 
had  resulted  as  had  been  pieviously 
hoped  and  expected.  And  when  Shir 
ley  met  a  convention  of  colonial  gover 
nors  at  New  York,  he  found  little  dis 
position  on  their  part  to  respond  to  his 
wishes,  in  regard  to  new  enterprises 
against  Fort  Dsquesne,  Niagara,  and 
Crown  Point.  Johnson  and  Delancey, 
of  New  York,  assailed  his  course  in 
the  late  campaign,  and  presently  after 
wards  Shirley  was  recalled. 

Washington,    on    his   return   to  his 

post,  found  the  whole  frontier  in  alarm 

from  the  Indians,  who  had  been  guilty 

of   outrages   of  a   very    trying 

IT5G 

character.  The  whole  soul  of 
the  youthful  commander  was  engaged 
in  his  work;  but  harassed  and  per 
plexed  by  want  of  efficient  support, 
and  pained  deeply  by  the  scenes  which 
he  was  compelled  to  witness,  he  ex 
claims,  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Din- 
widdie  :  "  The  supplicating  tears  of  the 
women,  and  moving  petitions  of  the 
men,  melt  me  into  such  deadly  sorrow, 
that  I  solemnly  declare,  if  I  know  my 
own  mind,  I  could  offer  myself  a  will 
ing  sacrifice  to  the  butchering  enemy, 
provided  that  would  contribute  to  the 
people's  ease."  Washington  spared  no 
effort  to  meet  the  emergency,  and  it 
was  felt  by  every  one  that  he  was  in 
deed  a  most  devoted  patriot,  and  an 
honor  to  his  native  Virginia. 

In  May,  1756,  war  was  formally  de 
clared  by  England  against  France ;  the 
French  court  soon  after  issued  a  counter 
declaration.  General  Abercrombie, 
who  had  acquired  some  reputation  on 
the  continent,  was  shortly  after  sent 
out  with  an  additional  force,  but  the 


Earl  of  Loudon,  the  new  commander- 
in-chief,  did  not  arrive  till  near  the  end 
of  July.  A  garrison  having  been  left 
in  Oswego,  to  reinforce  this  became  the 
immediate  object  of  solicitude.  Lieu 
tenant-Colonel  Bradstreet  was  detach 
ed  thither  with  a  small  body  of  forces, 
and  succeeded  in  making  his  way  in 
safety.  A  large  body  of  French  were 
sent  to  intercept  him,  but  Bradstreet 
was  too  prompt  and  active  for  their 
movements.  On  his  return  up  the 
river,  the  French  and  Indians  way 
laid  his  party ;  but  Bradstreet  repulsed 
them  after  a  sharp  conflict.  Shortly 
after  the  fight  was  over,  they  were 
joined  by  a  fresh  body  of  troops,  who 
descended  the  river  to  Oswego,  which, 
by  these  successive  reinforcements,  was 
placed  in  a  temporary  posture  of  de 
fence.  Bradstreet,  on  joining  Aber 
crombie,  warned  him  of  the  intentions 
of  the  French  to  seize  Oswego,  and 
fresh  troops  were  accordingly  dispatch 
ed  thither ;  but  their  departure  having 
been  delayed  by  the  procrastination  of 
Lord  Loudon,  and  the  refusal  of  Aber- 
crombie  to  take  the  responsibility  of 
active  measures,  the  movement  when 
made,  in  August,  was  found  to  be  too 

1  O  I 

late;  the  fort  had  already  been  sur 
rendered  to  the  French  under  Montcalm. 
Thus  more  than  a  thousand  men.  a 
hundred  and  thirty-five  pieces  of  ar 
tillery,  a  great  quantity  of  stores  and 
provisions,  and  a  fleet  of  boats  and  ves 
sels,  built  for  the  Niagara  expedition, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy ;  and 
the  British  troops  on  the  march,  under 
Webb,  fell  back  with  terror  and  pre 
cipitation  to  Albany. 

This  result  was  mainly  due   to  the 


238 


PROGRESS   AND   CONCLUSION   OF  THE    WAR, 


K.  II. 


increased  energy  infused  into  the  move 
ments  of  the  French  by  the  arrival  of  a 
new  coinmander-in-chief.  Louis  Joseph, 
Marquis  de  Montcalm  de  St.  Veran, 
was  born  at  the  Chateau  de  Candiac, 
near  Nismes,  in  1712,  of  a  family  illus 
trious  not  only  for  its  extraction,  but 
for  its  prowess.  Though  destined  for 
the  profession  of  arms,  he  had  received 
so  excellent  an  education,  that  he  ever 
afterwards  retained  a  taste  for  scientific 
and  literary  pursuits,  and  had  his 
career  not  been  suddenly  terminated, 
would  have  been  chosen  a  member  of 
the  French  Academy.  And  before  he 
was  chosen  as  commander-in-chief  of 
the  French  armies  in  North  America, 
he  had  distinguished  himself  in  many 
a  gallant  encounter.  Such  was  the 
general  who  now  arrived  at  Quebec 
with  a  large  reinforcement  of  troops, 
and  who,  after  sustaining  the  honor  of 

O 

the  French  arms  with  unexampled  suc 
cess,  fell  gloriously  on  the  field  of  battle, 
and  is  associated  with  Wolfe  in  an  en 
during  monument  of  fame  and  renown. 

With  the  exception  of  Armstrong's 
successful  attack  upon  Kittaning,  the 
principal  town  of  the  Indians  on  the 
Allegany  River,  the  whole  of  the  sea 
son  passed  away  without  any  results  of 
moment.  Sickness  caused  many  and 
severe  losses;  the  regulars  went  into 
winter  quarters  :  and  London's  greatest 
exploit  was  frightening  the  citizens  of 
New  York  into  obedience  to  his  de 
mand  for  gratuitous  quarters  for  his 
officers. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  next  year, 
1757,  a  council  was  held  at  Boston,  and 
it  was  concluded  to  defend  the  frontiers, 
and  send  an  expeditioi  against  Louis- 


1737. 


burg.  New  England  was  called  on  for 
four  thousand  men,  and  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  for  two  thousand. 
In  Pennsylvania  the  Quaker 
Assembly  voted  a  levy  of  £100,000, 
waiving  for  the  present  the  tax  on  the 
proprietary  estates ;  they  protested, 
however,  that  they  did  this  under 
compulsion,  and  sent  Franklin  to  Eng 
land  as  agent  to  urge  their  complaints. 
Washington,  in  Virginia,  did  what  he 
could  in  the  way  of  defence,  but  it  was 
plain  that  so  long  as  Fort  Duquesne 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  French,  no 
effectual  defence  could  be  maintained 
on  the  frontier.  Further  south  there 
were  troubles  likewise  with  the  Indians 
but  not  to  any  great  extent. 

Early  in  July,  Lord  London  sailed 
from  New  York  with  six  thousand 
regulars,  and  was  joined  at  Halifax  !>} 
a  fleet  of  eleven  sail  of  the  line,  under 
Admiral  Holborne,  with  six  thousand 
additional  soldiers  on  board.  But 
airain  London  was  too  late ;  seventeen 

o  ' 

French  ships  of  the  line  entered  the 
harbor  of  Louisburg,  and  with  the 
strong  garrison  there,  it  was  useless  to 
attack  it  with  such  a  force  as  he  had 
at  the  time:  all  that  he  could  do  was 
to  return  to  New  York. 

Montcalm,  with  characteristic  en 
ergy,  determined  to  strike  a  heavy 

O«/   '  v 

blow  while  London  was  engaged  against 
Louisburg.  Ascending  Lake  George, 
with  a  force  of  eight  thousand  men, 
he  laid  siege  to  Fort  William  Henrj, 
where  Colonel  Monro  was  in  command 
with  two  thousand  troops.  Webb  was 
at  Fort  Edward,  fourteen  miles  distant, 
with  four  thousand  men.  The  attack 
was  pressed  with  vigor :  the  ammuni- 


CH.  IX.J 


WILLIAM   PITT  PRIME  MINISTER. 


239 


tion  was  exhausted  ;  and  as  Webb  gave 
no  relief,  Monro  was  compelled  to  sur 
render.  The  garrison  was  to  be  allow 
ed  to  march  out  with  the  honors  of  war, 
and  they  and  their  baggage  to  be  pro 
tected  as  far  as  Fort  Edward.  The 
Indian  allies  with  Montcalm  were 
greatly  displeased  at  these  terms,  and 
greedy  of  the  plunder,  they  fell  upon 
the  unarmed  and  retreating  troops.  It 
must  always  remain  doubtful  how  far 
Montcalm  was  able  or  willing  to  re 
strain  the  savages  in  their  detestable 
act  of  treachery,  when  hundreds  fell 
victims  to  the  fury  of  the  red  men. 
u  The  fort,"  says  Israel  Putnam,  in 
speaking  of  this  dreadful  scene,  "  was 
entirely  demolished,  the  barracks,  and 
outhouses,  and  buildings,  were  a  heap 
of  ruins  ;  the  cannon,  stores,  boats,  and 
vessels,  were  all  carried  away.  The 
fires  were  still  burning:  the  smoke  and 

o  ' 

stench  offensive  and  suffocating.  In  nu 
meral.)!  e  fragments,  human  skulls,  and 
bones,  and  carcasses,  half  consumed, 
were  still  frying  and  broiling  in  the  de 
caying  fires.  Dead  bodies,  mangled 
with  scalping  knives  and  tomahawks, 
in  all  the  wantonness  of  Indian  fierce 
ness  and  barbarity,  were  everywhere 
to  be  seen.  More  than  one  hun 
dred  women,  butchered,  and  shock 
ingly  mangled,  lay  upon  the  ground, 
Ftill  weltering  in  their  gore.  Devasta 
tion,  barbarity,  and  horror,  everywhere 
appeared,  and  the  spectacle  presented 
was  too  diabolical  and  awful  either  to 
be  endured  or  described."  The  fall 
of  Fort  William  Henry  caused  great 

alarm  in  the  colonies.     Twenty 
\<y\*n 

thousand  militia  were  ordered 

out  in  Massachusetts  ;   but  Montcalm, 


satisfied  with  his  present  success,  re 
tired  to  Canada  without  further  trial 
of  strength  with  his  enemies. 

Thus,  after  three  campaigns,  and 
large  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  colon 
ists,  the  French  were  still  masters. 
Louisburg,  Crown  Point,  Ticorideroga,* 
Frontenac,  and  Niagara,  and  the  chain 
of  posts  thence  to  the  Ohio,  were  still 
in  their  hands.  They  had  destroyed 
the  forts  at  Oswego,  and,  compelling 
the  Six  Nations  to  neutrality,  were 
able  to  keep  up  a  devastating  warfare 
all  along  the  frontiers.  No  wonder 
that  discontent  prevailed  everywhere  ; 
no  wonder  that  it  was  deemed  hiirli 

o 

time  for  new  counsels,  and  more  vigor 
ous  measures  to  be  adopted. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  William 
Pitt,  afterwards  Earl  of  Chatham,  was 
called,  more  through  popular  urgency, 
than  from  any  liking  of  George  II.,  to 
the  entire  control  of  foreign  and  colo 
nial  affairs.  Conscious  that  he,  if  any 
man,  was  able  to  save  the  country,  his 
measures  were  characterized  with  a 
vigor  commensurate  with  the  necessity, 
while  the  agents  appointed  to  carry 
them  into  execution  were  se 
lected  with  wise  discrimination. 
His  plans  for  the  conquest  of  Canada 
infused  new  life  into  the  colonists,  and 
as  they  were  besides  to  be  repaid  for 
the  expense  of  their  levies,  large  forces 
of  provincials  were  very  soon  collected, 
while,  by  the  arrival  of  fresh  reinforce- 


*  Ticonderoga  is  a  corruption  of  Cheonderoga,  an 
Troquois  word,  signifying  sounding  waters,  and  was 
applied  by  the  Indians  to  the-  rushing  waters  of  the 
outlet  of  Lake  George  at  the  falls.  The  French  built 
a  fort  here  in  1756,  which  they  named  T'vrt  Caril 
lon. 


240 


PROGRESS   AND   CONCLUSION    OF  THE   WAR, 


[BK.  II. 


1758. 


ments  from  England,  Abercrombie,  • 
who  remained  comrnander-in-chief,  soon 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  force  of 
fifty  thousand  men,  a  number  greater 
than  the  whole  male  population  of 
New  France.  Louisburg,  Ticonderoga, 
and  Fort  Duquesne,  were  all  to  be  at 
tacked  at  once. 

The  first  blow  was  struck  at  Louis- 
burg.  Early  in  June,  Boscawen  made 
his  appearance  before  that  for 
tress  with  a  fleet  of  thirty-eight 
ships  of  war,  and  an  army  of  fourteen 
chousand  men  under  General  Amherst. 
The  garrison  at  Louisburg  was  three 
thousand  in  number,  and  eleven  ships 
of  war  were  in  the  harbor.  The  works 
were  considerably  out  of  repair,  and 
were  not  in  a  condition  to  stand  a  re 
gular  siege  ;  so  that  after  a  vigorous 
approach  on  the  part  of  the  English, 
and  severe  loss  on  the  side  of  the 
French,  the  garrison  was  compelled,  on 
the  27th  of  July,  to  capitulate.  Wolfe, 
who  was  destined  to  accomplish  so 
great  things  not  long  after,  was  promi 
nent  in  conducting  this  expedition  to 
its  successful  issue.  Thus  Louisburg, 
with  all  its  artillery,  provisions,  and 
military  stores,  as  also  St.  John's  Island 
(now  Prince  Edward's),  and  their  de 
pendencies,  were  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  English,  who,  without  farther  dif 
ficulty,  took  possession  of  the  island  of 
Cape  Breton.  The  conquerors  found 
two  hundred  and  twenty-one  pieces  of 
cannon,  and  eighteen  mortars,  with  a 
very  large  quantity  of  stores  and  am 
munition.  The  inhabitants  of  Cape 
Breton  were  sent  to  France  in  English 

O 

ships ;    but   the   garrison,   sea  officers, 
sailors,  and  marines,  amounting  collec 


tively  to  nearly  six  thousand  men,  were 
carried  prisoners  to  England.  Am 
herst  sailed  back  to  Boston  with  hig 
troops,  and  thence  marched  to  the 
western  frontier. 

Some  weeks  before  the  fall  of  Louis 
burg,  General  Abercrombie,  with  about 
sixteen  thousand  men,  embarked  at 
Foi't  William  Henry,  and. passed  down 
Lake  George,  to  commence  operations 
against  Ticonderoga.  Israel  Putnam, 
afterwards  famous  in  the  Revolution 
held  the  rank  of  major  at  the  time,  and 
commanded  a  company  of  well-knowr 
and  very  effective  rangers.  After  de 
barking  at  the  landing  place  in  a  cov  ? 
on  the  west  side  of  the  lake,  the  troops 
were  formed  into  four  columns,  the 
British  in  the  centre,  and  the  provin 
cials  on  the  flanks.  In  this  order  thej 
marched  toward  the  advanced  guard 
of  the  French,  which,  consisting  of 

'  o 

one  battalion  only,  posted  in  a  loggeo 
camp,  destroyed  what  was  in  their 
power,  and  made  a  precipitate  retreat. 
While  Abercrombie  was  continuing  hia 

O 

march  in  the  woods  towards  Ticonde 
roga,  the  columns  were  thrown  into 
confusion,  and  in  some  degree  entangled 
with  each  other.  At  this  juncture, 
Lord  Howe,  at  the  head  of  the  ri^ht 

O 

centre  column,  fell  in  with  a  part  of 
the  advanced  guard  of  the  enemy, 
which  had  been  lost  in  the  wood  in  re 
treating  from  Lake  George.  Accom 
panying  Putnam,  who  tried  to  dissuade 
him,  Howe  dashed  through  the  woods 
attacked  and  dispersed  the  French 
killing  a  considerable  number,  and 

o 

taking  one  hundred  and  forty-eight 
prisoners.  In  this  skirmish  the  gallant 
Howe  received  a  musket  shot  in  the. 


CH.  IX.] 


FORTS  FRONTENAC  AND  DUQUESNE  TAKEN. 


241 


breast,  and  fell  dead  upon  the  field.* 
Ticonderoga  was  held  by  some  two 
thousand  Frenchmen.  Having  learned 
that  reinforcements  were  expected  to 
arrive  soon,  Abercrombie  resolved  on 
an  assault  without  waiting  for  his  ai  til- 

o 

lery.  The  troops  having  received  or 
ders  to  advance  briskly,  to  rush  upon 
the  enemy's  fire,  and.  reserve  theii  own 
till  they  had  passed  the  breastwork, 
marched  to  the  assault  with  great  in 
trepidity.  Unlooked-for  impediments, 
however,  occurred.  In  front  of  the 
breastwork,  to  a  considerable  distance, 
trees  had  been  felled  with  their  bran 
ches  outward,  many  of  which  were 
sharpened  to  a  point,  by  means  of 
vhich  the  assailants  were  not  only  re 
tarded  in  their  advance,  but  becoming 
entangled  among  the  boughs,  were  ex 
posed  to  a  very  galling  and  destructive 
fire.  Finding  it  impossible  to  pass  the 
breastwork,  which  was  nine  feet  high, 
and  much  stronger  than  had  been  re 
presented,  Abercrombie,  after  a  con 
test  of  four  hours,  abandoned  the  at 
tack,  and  the  next  day  made  a  hasty 
retreat  to  Fort  William  Henry.  His 
conduct  was  regarded  with  so  little 
favor,  that  he  was  superseded,  and 
Amherst  was  appointed  commander-in- 
chief. 

*  No  one  of  th?  royal  officers  was  so  popular  and 
so  universally  admired  as  Lord  Howe,  and  his  death 
was  regarded  as  a  public  calamity.  It  is  in  regard  to 
him  that  the  story  is  told  of  the  rioted  Stark,  the  hero 
of  Bsnniugton,  who  knew  him,  and  loved  him  well. 
Stark  is  said  to  have  declared  hi?  apprehension  that, 
had  Howe  lived,  he  could  not  have  been  a  true  whis 
in  the  Revolution  ; — so  great  an  influence  was  exer 
cised  by  this  accomplished  and  brave  young  noble 
man.  Massachusetts  erected  a  fitting  monument,  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  to  testify  their  unfeigned  sorrow 
in  losing  him. 
VOL.  I.— 33 


1T58. 


No  farther  attempt  was  made  on 
Ticonderogu,  at  the  present.  As  some 
compensation,  however,  for  this 
defeat,  Colonel  Bradstreet,  with 
three  thousand  men,  marched  to  Os- 
wego,  and  embarking  in  vessels  already 
provided,  ascended  the  lake,  and  land 
ed,  August  25th,  at  Fort  Frontenac, 

/  CJ  I  I 

(now  Kingston).  The  place  was  feebly 
garrisoned,  and  as  the  attack  was  en 
tirely  unexpected,  its  success  was  speedy 
and  certain.  Nine  armed  vessels  were 
taken,  and  the  fort,  with  a  large  store 
of  provisions,  was  destroyed.  Brad- 
street  lost  bin  few  men  in  the  attack, 
but  sickness  carried  off  some  five  hun 
dred  of  his  troops.  On  the  return,  the 
soldiers  aided  in  building  Fort  Stanwix, 
on  the  site  where  the  village  of  Koine 
is  now  situate. 

The  expedition  against  Fort  Du- 
queene,  was  put  under  the  command  of 
Genera!  Forbes.  His  force  consisted 
of  seven  thousand  men,  including  the 
Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  troops,  and 
the  Royal  Americans  from  South  Caro 
lina.  Great  delay  occurred  in 
consequence  of  General  Forbes 
not  following  the  advice  of  Washington, 

O  O  t 

to  advance  by  the  road  already  opened 
by  Braddock,  and  ordering  a  new  one 
to  be  cut  from  Raystown,  on  the  Juniata. 
The  vanguard  to  whom  this  work  was 
committed,  had  been  nearly  cut  off,  like 
Braddock's,  by  a  sudden  surprise,  hav 
ing  lost  two  hundred  men,  when  Forbes, 
on  November  8th,  came  up  with  the 
remainder  of  the  forces.  With  fifty 
miles  of  road  to  open  across  the  forests, 
the  winter  rapidly  approaching,  and 
the  disheartened  troops  beginning  to 
desert,  it  was  contemplated  to  retrace 


1758. 


242 


PROGRESS  AND   CONCLUSION   OF  THE   WAR, 


11 


their  steps,  and  abandon  the  enterprise, 
when,  by  the  accidental  capture  of 
some  prisoners,  they  learned  the  weak 
ness  and  distress  of  the  French  garrison. 
Nerved  by  this  intelligence,  they  de 
termined  on  making  a  vigorous  effort 
to  gain  possession  of  Fort  Duquesne 
before  it  could  be  reinforced.  Leaving 
their  artillery  behind,  and  pushing  into 
the  trackless  forest,  through  which 
with  their  utmost  efforts  they  were  not 
able  to  advance  more  than  a  few  miles 
a  day,  they  had  advanced  within  a 
few  hours'  march  of  the  place,  (Novem 
ber  24th^)  when  the  French  garrison, 
reduced  to  less  than  five  hundred  men, 
having  set  m-e  to  the  works,  retreat 
ed  down  the  Ohio.  The  abandoned 
fort  now  received  an  English  garrison, 
and  its  name  was  changed  from  Du- 

O 

quesne  to  Pitt:  the  rest  of  the  army 
retraced  their  steps,  and  the  harassed 
frontiers  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and 
Pennsylvania  were  now  freed  from  the 
incursions  of  the  Indians.  On  the 
eastern  frontier,  Fort  Pownall  was 
built  on  the  Penobscot,  to  hold  the 
Indians  in  check,  and  cut  off  their 
communication  with  Canada. 

The  campaign  of  1758,  proving  thus 
successful,  Pitt  found  parliament  both 
ready  and  eager  to  further  his  wishes 
in  carrying  on  the  war  against  Canada. 
The  colonial  Assemblies  acted  prompt 
ly  and  with  energy,  for  nearly  a  mil 
lion  of  dollars  had  been  reimbursed  to 
them  on  account  of  the  year's  expenses. 
Twenty  thousand  colonial  troops 
were  ready  for  service  in  the 
spring  of  1759,  and  high  hopes  were 
entertained  of  brilliant  success. 

The  plan  now  adopted  was  substan 


tially  the  same  as  that  which  Phipps 
and  Warren  had  successively  failed  to 
execute.  Amherst  was  to  advance  by 
way  of  Lake  Champlain,  with  twelve 
thousand  regulars  and  provincials  ;  and 
General  Prideaux  was  to  proceed  to 
the  reduction  of  Niagara.  Ticonderoga, 

o  O     / 

Crown  Point,  and  Niagara  >  being  dis- 

/  O  O 

posed  of,  Amherst  and  Prideaux  with 
their  forces  were  to  co-operate  witli 
Wolfe  against  Quebec.  This  heroic 
officer*  had  sailed  early  in  the  spring 
from  England,  and  had  made  his  ap 
pearance  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  in  June, 
with  an  army  of  eight  thousand  regu 
lar  troops,  in  three  brigades,  under 
Monckton,  Townshend,  and  Murray. 

Various  delays  occurred  to  hinder 
the  progress  of  General  Amherst ;  and 
it  was  the  latter  part  of  July,  when  he 
appeared  before  Ticonderoga.  As  the 
naval  superiority  of  Great  Britain  had 
prevented  France  from  sending  out 
reinforcements,  none  of  the  posts  in  this 
quarter  were  able  to  withstand  so  great 


*  James  Wolfe,  the  second  son  of  a  colonel  who 
had  served  under  Marlborough,  was  born  at  the  vie 
arage  of  Westerham,  in  Kent,  on  the  2d  of  Jan 
uary,  1727.  When  first  he  entered  the  army  in  his 
father's  company,  he  was  a  lad  of  fourteen,  and  so 
delicate  that  he  was  obliged  to  be  landed  at  Ports 
mouth.  On  his  recovery,  he  joined  the  troops,  was 
engaged  at  Dettingon  and  Fontenoy,  and  at  the  en 
gagement  of  La  Feldt  was  publicly  thanked  by  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  on  the  battle-field.  His  re 
markable  merit  soon  attracted  the  eye  of  Pitt,  who, 
overleaping  the  ordinary  rules  of  the  service,  made 
him  a  brigadier-general,  and  associated  him  with 
Amherst  in  the  expedition  against  Louisburg.  His 
natural  character  displayed  a  union  of  qualities  but 
seldom  united  ;  delicate  in  frame,  excitable  in  tem 
perament,  refined  in  tastes,  and  with  a  "_ove  of 
domestic  enjoyments,  he  was  no  less  daring,  ener 
getic,  and  desirous  of  obtaining  distinction  in  the 
service  of  his  country. 


TICONDEROGA  AND  NIAGARA  TAKEN. 


213 


a  force  as  that  under  Amlierst.  Ticon- 
deroga  was  immediately  abandoned ; 
the  example  was  followed  at  Crown 
Point ;  and  the  only  way  in  which  the 
French  seemed  to  think  of  preserving 
their  province  was  by  retarding  the 
English  army  with  shows  of  resistance 
till  the  season  of  operation  should  be 
past,  or  till,  by  the  gradual  concentra 
tion  of  their  forces,  they  should  become 
numerous  enough  to  make  an  effectual 
stand.  A  succession  of  storms  upon 
the  lake,  and  the  want  of  vessels,  ren 
dered  it  impossible  for  Amherst  to 
carry  out  the  portion  of  the  plan  de 
pendent  on  him,  and  instead  of  joining 
Wolfe  or  advancing  upon  Montreal,  he 
was  compelled  to  go  into  winter  quar 
ters  at  Crown  Point.  The  New  Hamp 
shire  Rangers,  under  Major  Rogers,  in 
September  and  October,  made  a  suc 
cessful  foray  against  the  Indian  village 
of  St.  Francis,  which  they  destroyed 
completely,  and  thus  relieved  the  New 
England  frontier  of  the  dreaded  attacks 
from  that  noted  spot. 

General  Prideaux,  early  in  July, 
reached  Niagara  with  a  considerable 
force.  While  directing  the  operations 
of  the  siege,  he  was  killed  by  the  burst 
ing  of  a  gun,  and  the  command  devolved 
on  Sir  William  Johnson.  That  general, 
prosecuting  with  judgment  and  vigor 
the  plan  of  his  predecessor,  pushed  the 
attack  of  Niagara  with  an  intrepidity 
that  soon  brought  the  besiegers  within 
a  hundred  yards  of  the  covered  way. 
Meanwhile,  the  French,  alarmed  at  the 
danger  of  losing  a  post  which  was  a 
key  to  their  interior  empire  in  America, 
had  collected  a  large  body  of  regular 
troops  from  the  neighboring  garrisons 


1759. 


of  Detroit,  Venango,  and  Presqu'ile, 
with  which,  and  a  party  of  Indians, 
they  resolved,  if  possible,  to  raise  the 
siege.  But  they  were  totally  routed, 
and  a  large  part  taken  prisoners.  The 
fort  surrendered  the  next  day,  and  six 
hundred  men  with  it ;  these  were  car 
ried  to  New  York.  According  to  the 
plan  marked  out,  Johnson  ought  now 
to  have  advanced  to  co-operate  with 
Amherst  and  Wolfe  on  the  St.  Law 
rence  ;  but  the  want  of  proper  shipping 
and  scarcity  of  provisions,  put  this  quite 
out  of  his  power.  Thus,  as  it  happened, 
Wolfe  was  left  to  carry  on  the  siege 
and  reduction  of  Quebec  single  handed. 
As  we  have  stated  above,  Wolfe,  on 
the  26th  of  June,  arrived  off  the  Isle  of 
Orleans.  Quebec,  that  Gibraltar 
of  America  as  it  has  been  termed, 
was  defended  by  the  Marquis  de  Mont- 
calm,  with  a  force  of  two  thousand  regu 
lars  and  several  thousand  militia  and 
Indians.  The  attack  having  been  long 
foreseen,  as  Murray  relates,  in  his  His 
tory  of  British  America,*  full  time  was. 
allowed  Montcalm  to  entrench  and 
strengthen  his  position,  but  the  supply 
of  provisions  was  very  limited.  An 
attempt  was  first  made  to  destroy  the 
British  fleet  by  fire-ships;  but  these 
were  caught  with  grappling  irons, 
towed  aside,  and  allowed  to  burn  out 
without  doing  any  injury.  Brigadier- 
general  Monckton  then  occupied  Point 
Levi,  opposite  Quebec,  which  was 
thence  bombarded  with  vigor;  but, 
though  a  number  of  houses  were  de 
stroyed,  the  defences  remained  almost 
uninjured.  The  place  therefore  could 

*  Vol.-  i.,  p.  175-178. 


244 


PROGRESS  AND   CONCLUSION   OF  THE  WAR. 


[Bir.  U 


only  be  carried  by  storming  the  en 
trenchments  which  the  French  had 
thrown  up  in  front  of  it.  This  bold 
measure  Wolfe  resolved  to  adopt,  and 
on  the  31st  of  July  he  effected  a  landing. 
The  boats,  however,  had  met  with  an 
accidental  delay;  the  grenadiers,  it  is 
said,  rushed  forward  with  too  blind  and 
impetuous  a  valor :  Montcalm,  strongly 
posted  between  Quebec  and  Montmor- 
enci,  poured  in  upon  them  a  destructive 
fire ;  the  Indian  rifle  told  with  fatal  ef 
fect  ;  and  the  assailants  were  finally  re 
pulsed  with  the  loss  of  five  hundred  men. 
Wolfe  felt  this  disappointment  so 
deeply  that  his  delicate  frame  was 
thrown  into  a  violent  fever ;  and  in  a 
despatch  to  Mr.  Pitt  he  afterwards  ex 
pressed  the  apprehension  under  which 
he  labored.  The  fleet,  his  strongest 
arm,  could  not  act  against  the  wall  of 
rock  on  which  Quebec  is  seated ;  and 
with  his  weakened  force  he  had  to 
storm  fortified  positions,  defended  by 
troops  almost  as  numerous  as  his  own. 
So  soon,  however,  as  his  health  permit 
ted,  he  called  a  council  of  war,  desired 
the  general  officers  to  consult  together ; 
and,  it  is  said,  proposed  to  them  a 
second  attack  on  the  French  lines, 
avoiding  the  errors  which  had  led  to 
the  failure  of  the  first.  They  were 
decidedly  of  opinion  that  this  was  in 
expedient  ;  but  on  the  suggestion,  as 
is  now  believed,  of  Brigadier-ffeneral 

O  o 

Townshend,  the  second  in  command, 
they  proposed  to  attempt  a  point  on  the 
other  side  of  Quebec,  where  the  enemy 
were  yet  unprepared,  and  whence  they 
might  gain  the  Heights  of  Abraham, 
which  overlooked  the  city.  Wolfe  as 
sented,  and  applied  all  his  powers  to 


the  accomplishment  of  this  plan.  Such 
active  demonstrations  were  now  made 
against  Montcalin's  original  position, 
that  he  believed  it  still  the  main  object ; 
and  though  he  observed  detachments 
moving  up  the  river,  merely  sent  De 
Bougainville  with  fifteen  hundred  men 
to  Cape  Rouge,  a  position  too  distant, 
being  nine  miles  above  Quebec. 

On  the  night  of  the  12th  of  Septem 
ber,  in  deep  silence,  the  troops  were 
embarked  and  conveyed  in  two  di 
visions  to  the  place  now  named  Wolfe's 
Cove.  The  precipice  here  was  so  steep, 
that  even  the  general  for  a  moment 
doubted  the  possibility  of  scaling  it 
but  Fraser's  Highlanders,  grasping  the 
bushes  which  grew  on  its  face,  soon 
reached  the  summit,  and  in  a  short  time 
he  had  his  whole  army  drawn  up  in 
regular  order  on  the  plains  above 
Montcalm,  struck  by  this  unexpected 
intelligence,  at  once  concluded  that 
unless  the  English  could  be  driven  from 
this  position,  Quebec  was  lost ;  and, 
hoping  probably,  that  only  a  detach 
ment  had  yet  reached  it,  pushed  for 
ward  at  once  to  the  attack.  About 
fifteen  hundred  light  infantry  and  In 
dians  arrived  first,  and  began  a  desul 
tory  fire  from  among  the  bushes  ;  but 
the  British  reserved  their  shot  for  the 
main  body,  which  was  seen  advancing 
behind.  They  came  forward  in  good 
order,  and  commenced  a  brisk  attack  ; 
yet  no  general  fire  was  opened  in  re 
turn  till  they  were  within  forty  yards, 
when  it  could  be  followed  up  by  the 
bayonet.  The  first  volley  was  decisive ; 
Wolfe  and  Montcalm  both  fell  almost 
at  the  same  moment;  the  French  in 
stantly  gave  way  in  every  quarter ;  and 


CH.  IX.] 


WOLFE  AND   MONTCALM   FALL  IN   BA1TLE. 


245 


repeated  charges,  in  which  the  Highland 
broadsword  was  pow  ^ully  wielded, 
soon  completed  the  victory.  As  soon 
as  Wolfe  received  his  mortal  wound, 
he  said,  "  Support  me !  let  not  my 
brave  soldiers  see  me  drop."  He  was 
carried  to  some  distance  in  the  rear, — 
and  hearing  the  cry  "  They  run !"  he 
asked  "  Who  run  ?"  Being  told  "  The 
enemy,"  he  gave  some  short  directions, 
and  then  said :  "  Now,  God  be  praised, 
I  die  happy !" 

We  cannot  forbear  quoting  the  sim- 
ole  and  feeling  observations  of  Gen 
eral  Townshend  respecting  hia.  heroic 
friend,*  whose  fate  threw  so  affecting 
a  lustre  on  this  memorable  victory  :  "  I 
am  not  ashamed  to  own  to  you,  that 
my  heart  does  not  exult  in  the  midst 
of  this  success.  I  have  lost  but  a  friend 
in  General  Wolfe ;  our  country  lias 
lost  a  sure  support  and  a  perpetual 
honor.  If  the  world  were  sensible  at 
how  dear  a  price  we  have  purchased 
Quebec  in  his  death,  it  would  damp  the 
public  joy.  Our  best  consolation  is, 
that  Providence  seemed  not  to  promise 
that  he  should  remain  lonsr  amons;  us. 

O  O 

He  was  himself  sensible  of  the  weak 
ness  of  his  constitution,  and  determined 
to  crowd  into  a  few  years  actions  that 
would  have  adorned  length  of  life."f 


*  But  see  Mr.  Bancroft's  account,  (vol.  iv.,  p.  339) : 
he  speaks  strongly  of  Townshend's  meanness  in  re 
spect  to  this  battle. 

f  The  body  of  Wolfe  was  conveyed  for  sepulture 
to  England,  and  a  monument  was  erected  to  his 
memory  in  Westminster  Abbey.  A  small  pillar 
marks  the  spot  where  he  fell,  on  the  plains  of  Abra 
ham  ;  and  a  pyramid  since  raised  upon  the  heights 
of  the  city,  simply  bearing  the  names  of  "  WOLFE  " 
and  "  MONTCALM,"  is  destined  to  perpetuate  the 
common  memory  of  these  gallant  chiefs,  and  of  the 
memorable  battle  in  which  they  gloriously  fell. 


1760. 


The  battle  had  scarcely  closed  when 
De  Bougainville  appeared  in  the  rear, 
but  on  seeing  the  fortune  of  the  day, 
immediately  retreated.  On  the  17th,  a 
flag  of  truce  came  out,  and  on  the  18th, 
a  capitulation  was  concluded  on  honor 
able  terms  to  the  French,  who  were 
not  made  prisoners,  but  conveyed  home 
to  their  native  country. 

Canada  was,  however,  not  yet  con 
quered.  The  winter  had  arrested  the 
farther  advance  of  Amherst  and  John 
son  ;  and  General  de  Levi,  who  had  as 
sembled  at  Montreal  upwards  of  ten 
thousand  men,  conceived  the  design  of 
recapturing  Quebec  in  the  spring,  be 
fore  it  could  obtain  succors,  either  by 
sea  or  land.  Being  baffled  in  his  pro 
jects  to  carry  it  by  a  coup  de  main, 
he  landed  his  army,  on  the  27th 
of  April,  1760,  advanced  to  the 
Heights  of  Abraham,  and  prepared  to 
carry  on  a  regular  siege.  General 
Murray  had  been  left  with  a  garrison 
of  six  thousand  men ;  but  a  severe  at 
tack  of  scurvy  had  reduced  to  half 
that  number  those  who  were  capable 
of  "bearing  arms.  This  officer,  dreading 
that  the  place  was  unfit  to  stand  a 
siege,  and  hoping  much  from  the 
bravery  of  his  troops,  attacked  the 
enemy,  on  the  28th  of  April,  at  Sillery ; 
but,  being  overpowered  by  superior 
numbers,  he  was  defeated  with  great 
loss.  If  guilty  here  of  any  rashness, 
he  atoned  for  it  by  the  activity  with 
which  he  placed  Quebec  in  a  state  of 
defence,  and  held  out  the  town  till  the 
15th  of  May,  when  a  fleet,  under  Ad 
miral  Swan  ton,  arrived  and  raised  the 
siege. 

The  Flinch,  army  then  concentrated 


PROGRESS  AND   CONCLUSION    OF  THE    WAR. 


.  II. 


his  further  progress.  (June  27th.) 
In  doing  so  he  had  to  pass  through  a 
hollow  valley  covered  with  brushwood, 
through  which  ran  a  muddy  river  with 
clay  banks.  To  scour  this  dangerous 
pass,  Colonel  Morrison  advanced  with 
a  company  of  Rangers,  when  the  Indi 
ans,  suddenly  springing  from  their  am 
bush,  killed  him  at  the  first  shot,  with 
several  of  his  men.  The  light  infantry 
beinsr  now  moved  forward,  a  warm  fire 

O  / 

was  kept  up  on  both  sides,  but  the  In 
dians  still  maintained  the  post  without 
flinching,  till,  threatened  in  the  flank 
by  a  movement  of  the  agile  Highland 
ers,  they  slowly  fell  back  and  reluc 
tantly  yielded  the  pass,  posting  them 
selves  upon  a  hill,  to  watch  the  move 
ments  of  their  invaders.  Supposing 
that  Montgomery  was  advancing  to 
wards  Etchoe,  they  ran  to  give  the 
alarm  to  their  wives  and  children,  and 
prepare  for  a  still  more  desperate  re 
sistance.  But  the  English  commander, 
deeming  it  not  prudent  to  attempt 
anything  further,  retired  to  Charleston 
and  prepared  to  leave  for  the  north, 
in  obedience  to  orders.  The  Upper 
Cherokees  now  beleaguered  Fort  Lou- 

O 

don,  the  garrison  of  which,  almost  in  a 
starving  condition,  under  promise  of 
safe  conduct  had  surrendered,  early  in 
August.  But  the  promise  was  not  kept. 
A  few  miles  from  the  fort  they  were 
surrounded  by  a  body  of  Indians,  who 
opened  a  heavy  fire  upon  them,  which 
killed  Captain  Demere,  the  command 
ant,  and  nearly  thirty  others,  and  car 
ried  off  the  remainder  into  captivity. 
The  Cherokees,  who  could  now  muster 
three  thousand  warriors,  continued  to 
ravage  the  frontiers,  and  inspired  such 


1761. 


fear,  that  Amherst  was  earnestly  solic 
ited  to  send  back  the  troops  he  had 
withdrawn.  The  conquest  of  Canada 
being  now  achieved,  the  High 
land  regiment  commanded  by 
Colonel  Grant  returned  to  Carolina; 
reinforced  by  the  colonial  militia  and 
scouts  dressed  in  Indian  costume,  Grant 
advanced,  with  two  thousand  six  hun 
dred  men,  to  the  spot  where  Montgom 
ery  had  been  repulsed,  (June  10th.) 
The  Cherokees  bravely  maintained  the 
struo^le  for  several  hours,  but  were  at 

OO  ' 

length  entirely  defeated ;  their  towns 
and  magazines  destroyed,  their  corn 
fields  ravaged,  and  they  themselves 
forced  to  retreat  into  the  desolate  re 
cesses  of  their  mountains.  Their  re 
sources  being  thus  cut  off,  they  were 
compelled  to  sue  for  peace.  In  order 
to  obtain  it,  they  were  at  first  required 
to  deliver  four  warriors  to  be  shot  at 
the  head  of  the  army,  or  to  furnish 
four  green  Indian  scalps  within  twenty 
days;  a  degrading  and  brutal  condi 
tion,  from  which  they  were  relieved  by 
the  personal  application  of  one  of  their 
aged  chiefs  to  Governor  Bull. 

Notwithstanding  the  exulting  feeling 
prevalent,  everywhere,  on  account  of 
the  triumph  of  English  arms  in  Amer 
ica,  there  was  no  lack  of  evidence  how 
jealously  the  colonists  regarded  any 
invasion,  real  or  supposed,  of  their 
rights  and  privileges.  The  question 
respecting  "writs  of  assistance,1'  is  a 
significant  illustration  of  this  fact. 
Pownall,  early  in  August,  1700,  had 
been  succeeded  as  Governor  of  Mass 
achusetts  by  Francis  Bernard.  This 
latter  held  high  notions  of  the  author 
ity  of  the  mother  country  over  the 


Cn.  IX.] 


OTIS  AND  WRITS   OF  ASSISTANCE. 


249 


colonies.  His  zealous  efforts  to  pro 
mote  the  objects  of  tlie  ministry  at 
home,  were  warmly  seconded  by 
Thomas  Hutchinson,  who  had  lately 
been  appointed  lieutenant-governor, 
and  also  chief  .justice,  to  the  disap 
pointment  of  Otis,  who  had  been 
promised  a  seat  on  the  bench  by  Pow- 
nall.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that, 
owing  to  a  trade  opened  by  the  colon 
ists  with  the  French  islands,  by  which 
they  obtained  supplies,  orders  had  been 
given  by  the  English  ministry  for  the 
stricter  enforcement  of  the  acts  of 
trade,  already  so  odious  to  the  mercan 
tile  interest  and  the  people  at  large. 
To  prevent  evasion  of  the  law,  orders 
were  sent  to  apply  to  the  judicature  for 
"  writs  of  assistance,"  that  is,  for  per 
mits  to  break  into  and  search  any  sus 
pected  place.  It  was  not  long  before 
the  custom-house  officers  applied  for  the 
issue  of  the  writs,  to  which  the  mer 
chants  determined  to  offer  the  most 
strenuous  opposition,  and  retained 
Thatcher  and  James  Otis,  son  of  the 
speaker,  to  plead  on  their  behalf.  Otis, 
as  advocate  of  the  Admiralty,  was 
bound  to  argue  in  favor  of  the  writs, 
but  urged  by  patriotic  zeal,  he  resigned 
his  office,  and  accepted  the  retainer  of 
the  merchants.  On  the  day  appointed 
tor  the  trial,  the  council-chamber  of  the 
old  town-house  in  Boston,  was  crowded 
with  the  officers  of  government  and  the 
principal  inhabitants  of  the  city.  The 
case  was  opened  by  the  advocate  for 
the  crown,  who  founded  his  long  and 
elaborate  argument  on  the  principle, 
that  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain  is 
supreme  legislator  of  the  British  em 
pire.  Thatcher,  who  was  one  of  the 

VOL.  I.— 3-1 


first  lawyers  of  the  city,  replied  in  an 
ingenious  and  able  speech,  resting  his 
arguments  upon  considerations  purely 
legal  and  technical.  But  Otis,  who 
followed  him,  was  not  to  be  restrained 
within  these  narrow  and  inconvenient 
limits.  He  assailed  the  acts  of  trade 
as  oppressive  and  even  unconstitutional, 
and  with  a  fire  and  vehemence  which 
carried  everything  before  them,  he 
roused  the  Bostonians  and  the  public 
at  large,  to  a  consideration  of  ques 
tions  soon  to  assume  a  position  of  the 
gravest  importance.  "  Otis  was  a 
flame  of  fire,"  says  John  Adams,  in  his 
sketch  of  the  scene.  "  With  a  prompt 
itude  of  classical  allusion,  a  depth  of 
research,  a  rapid  summary  of  historical 
events  and  dates,  a  profusion  of  legal 
authorities,  a  prophetic  glance  into  fu 
turity,  and  a  rapid  torrent  of  impetuous 
eloquence,  he  hurried  away  all  before 
him.  The  seeds  of  patriots  and  heroes 
were  then  and  there  sown.  Every  man 
of  an  immensely  crowded  audience  ap 
peared  to  me,  to  go  away,  as  I  did,  ready 
to  take,  arms  against '  writs  of  assistance/ 
Then  and  there  was  the  first  scene  *)f  the 
first  act  of  opposition  to  the  arbitrary 
claims  of  Great  Britain.  Then  and 
there,  the  child  Independence  was  born. 
In  fifteen  years,  that  is,  in  1776,  he  grew 
up  to  manhood,  and  declared  himself 
free."  The  influence  of  Otis's  fervid 
eloquence  was  widely  felt  in  the  ap 
proaching  dispute  with  the  mother 
country.  He  himself  was  elected  a 
representative  from  Boston,  and  became 
a  leading  member  of  the  House.  The 
"  writs  of  assistance,"  although  granted, 
were  too  unpopular  to  be  used,  except 
in  rare  cases. 


250 


PROGRESS  AND   CONCLUSION    OF  THE  WAR. 


K.  a 


1762. 


Canada  having  been  conquered,  the 
British  arms  were  next  directed  against 
the  French  West  India  Islands,  General 
Monckton,  in  November,  1761,  sailed 
from  New  York,  with  two  line-of-bat- 
tle  ships,  a  hundred  transports  and 
twelve  thousand  regular  and  colonial 
troops.  Among  liis  officers  were  Gates 
and  Montgomery,  afterwards  celebrated 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  expe 
dition  was  completely  successful,  and 
all  the  islands  then  in  possession  of  the 
French,  were  wrested  from  them.  A 
family  compact  between  the  different 
branches  of  the  house  of  Bourbon,  had 
engaged  Spain  to  side  with  France,  and 
declare  war  against  Great  Britain.  To 
humble  this  new  enemy  was  the  next 

object  of  her  arms,  and  an  ex. 

pedition  was  shortly  afterwards 
sent  out,  which,  in  August,  1762, 
wrested  Havana  from  Spain.  The 
arms  of  England  were  every  where  tri 
umphant,  her  cruisers  swept  the  seas, 
and  her  rivals  were  obliged  to  consent 
to  a  humiliating  peace/""  On  the  3d 
of  November,  1762,  the  preliminaries 
of  peace  were  signed  at  Fontainebleau, 
by  which  the  whole  of  North  America, 
from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Atlantic, 
was  ceded  to  Great  Britain.  The 
island  and  city  of  New  Orleans  were 
ceded  to  Spain,  with  all  Louisiana  west 


*  "  The  present  contest  for  territorial  arid  commer 
cial  supremacy  had  extended  even  to  the  East  In 
dies,  thus,  as  it  were,  encircling  the  globe.  A  twenty 
years'  struggle  in  Hindostan,  between  Ihe  French 
and  English  East  India  Companies,  had  ended  in  the 
complete  triumph  of  the  English,  securing  to  them 
the  dominion  of  the  Carnatic  and  Bengal ;  the  be 
ginning  of  that  career  of  territorial  aggrandizement 
in  India,  since  so  remarkably  carried  out." — Hildreth's 
"•History  of  the  United  /States,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  501. 


1763. 


of  the  Mississippi,  then  almost  in  a 
state  of  nature.  Havana  Avas  also  re 
stored  to  her  in  lieu  of  Florida,  which, 
divided  into  East  and  West  Florida, 
now  became  provinces  of  the  British 
empire  in  America.  On  the 
10th  of  February,  1763,  the 
peace  of  Paris  was  publicly  ratified,  be 
tween  the  contending  powers. 

It  was  in  this  same  year  that  a  wide 
spread  combination  among  the  Indians, 
led  to  fearful  ravages  on  their  part. 
The  Delawares  and  Shawanese,  now 
occupying  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum, 
Sciota,  and  Miami,  provoked  by  being 
crowded  rudely  by  the  settlers  fast 
pouring  across  the  Alleganies,  and  per 
haps  incited  by  the  artful  representa 
tion  of  French  fur  traders,  made  a  sim 
ultaneous  attack,  in  June,  along  the 
whole  frontier  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia.  The  noted  Pontiac,  a  man 
of  superior  ability,  was  the  moving 
spirit  of  this  confederation,  and  it 
tasked  to  the  utmost,  the  powerful  in 
fluence  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  to  keep 
the  Six  Nations  from  joining  Pontiac 
against  the  white  men.*  The  English 
traders  were  plundered  and  slain,  and 
the  posts  between  the  Ohio  and  Lake 
Erie,  Avere  surprised  and  taken.  Only 
Niagara,  Detroit,  and  Fort  Pitt  held 
out,  the  two  latter  being  closely  block 
aded  ;  and  the  troops  Avhich  Amherst 
sent  to  relieve  them  did  not  reach  their 
destination  Avithout  severe  encounters. 
This  onslaught  provoked  a  bloody 


*  As  our  limits  do  not  admit  of  details,  we  must 
refer  the  reader  to  Mr.  Parkman's  admirably  written 
volume,  "  History  of  the  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  and 
the  War  of  the  North  American  Tribes  against  tJ  t 
English  Colonies,  after  the  Conquest  of  Canada.'1'' 


On.  X.J 

retaliation  on  the  part  of  a  body  of 
Scotch  and  Irish  settlers  in  Paxton 
township,  Pennsylvania.  They  attack 
ed  a  friendly  and  harmless  tribe,  living 
undei  the  guidance  of  some  Moravian 
missionaries,  murdered  men,  women, 
and  children  indiscriminately,  forced 
their  way  into  Lancaster  workhouse, 
where  some  of  the  fugitives  had  taken 
refuse,  and  killed  them,  and  then 

O     '  ' 

inarched  down  to  Philadelphia,  in  Jan 
uary,  1764,  to  exterminate  a  body  of 
Indians  who  had  fled  to  that  city.  It 
was  with  much  difficulty  that  Franklin 
succeeded  in  forming  a  body  of  militia, 
to  defend  the  city,  and  in  compelling  the 


PROGRESS  OF  SETTLEMENTS. 


251 


"  Paxton  boys,"'  as  they  were  called,  to 
retire  without  further  shedding  of 
blood.  It  was  a  disgraceful  and  scan- 

O 

dalous  outrage,  but  unhappily,  there 
was  no  power  in  the  province  sufficient 
to  punish  these  murderers. 

General  Gage,  the  new  commander- 
in-chief  in  America,  called  for  levies  o^ 
troops  to  aid  in  putting  an  end  to 
this  war  with  the  Indians.  Two 
expeditions  were  sent  out,  one  by  way 
of  Pittsburg,  and  the  other  along  the 
lakes.  The  Indians  finding  themselves 
thus  vigorously  pressed,  deemed  it  ex 
pedient,  soon  after,  to  consent  to  terms 
of  peace. 


1764. 


CHAPTER    X. 

1764  —  1766, 


ENGLAND      BEGINS     THE     CONTEST. 

Progress  of  settlements  —  Advances  in  -wealth,  learning,  and  art  —  Recuperative  energies  of  the  colonies  —  The  flame 
of  liberty  —  How  the  collision  was  hastened  on  —  Causes  -which  led  to  the  contest  —  M.  Guizot's  philosophical 
remarks — Policy  of  the  English  government  in  having  ten  thousand  troops  in  America  —  Authority  of  parlia 
ment  over  the  colonies  —  Not  quite  clear  -what  it  "was — Walpole's  view  as  to  taxation  —  George  Gren- 
ville's  plan  —  How  the  news  was  received  in  America — Resolution  of  the  General  Court  in  Massachusetts  — 
Instructions  to  the  Agent  in  England  —  Otis's  bold  pamphlet — Action  in  the  other  colonies  —  Reasons  for 
Grenville's  delay  in  not  pressing  the  passage  of  the  stamp  act  —  View  of  the  colonists  on  this  point — Excite 
ment  in  regard  to  it;  but  urged  forward  —  Ignorance  in  England  of  America's  true  condition — Taxation  and 
Representation  inseparable  —  Townshend's  inquiry  —  Colonel  Barre's  eloquent  rejoinder  —  The  bill  passed  — 
Franklin's  letter  to  Thompson  —  The  "Quartering  Act"  —  Patrick  Henry  and  the  Virginia  Assembly  —  Resolu- 
,ions  —  Violent  debate — Henry's  speech  —  COLONIAL  CONGRESS  recommended — Popular  outbreaks  in  various 
places  against  the  stamp  tax  —  Assembling  of  the  Colonial  Congress  in  New  York  —  Its  acts  —  No  stamps 
allowed  to  be  used  — Riot  in  New  York  —  The  stamp  act  treated  with  general  contempt  —  "Sons  of  Liberty" 

—  Change  in  the  English  ministry —  Parliament  of  1706  — Pitt's  great  speech  —  Grenville's  speech  — Pitt's  elo 
quent  reply  —  Franklin's  evidence  before  the  House  of  Commons — Repeal  of  the  stamp  act  proposed  and  carried 

—  Saving  clause  in  regard  to  its  repeal  —  Camden's  views  —  The  king's  assent  —  General  joy  in  England  at  thii 
res-lit     APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  X.  —  I.  Franklin's  Letter  to  W.  Alexander,  Esq. — II.  The  Stamp  Act 


THE  subjugation  of  Canada  and  the 
Indian  tribes  in  the  north-east,  gave  a 
fresh  and  vigorous  impulse  to  the  settle 
ments  in  Maine,  which  although  among 


the  oldest  in  North  America,  had  been 
very  seriously  retarded  by  successive 
wars  with  the  Indians.  New  settlers 
began  to  occupy  the  Lower  Kennebec, 


252 


ENGLAND  BEGINS  THE  CONTEST. 


and  to  extend  alone:  the  coast  towards 

O 

the  Penobscot.  Emigrants  from  New 
England,  partially  filled  up  the  places 
vacated  by  the  exiled  Acadiens.  The 
Upper  Connecticut,  also  began  to  be 
settled,  and  many  families  pushed  for 
ward  across  the  Green  Mountains,  to 
wards  Lake  Chaniplain.  Emigrants 
from  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Vir 
ginia,  continued  to  pour  over  the  moun 
tains,  despite  a  royal  proclamation 
tending  to  restrain  them,  and  occupied 
largely  the  lands  on  the  Monongahela, 
claimed  by  the  Six  Nations  as  their 
property.  In  South  Carolina,  liberal 
inducements  were  held  out  to  encour 
age  free  white  laborers,  from  Ireland 
and  Germany,  principally,  to  settle  in 
the  upper  districts  of  that  province. 
Georgia,  too,  was  rapidly  increasing  in 
population,  Governor  Wright  having 
proved  the  agricultural  value  of  the 
swamps  and  low  lands,  along  the  rivers 
and  coast;  and  in  1763,  the  Georgia 
Gazette,  the  first  newspaper  in  that 
colony,  was  commenced.  East  and 
West  Florida,  likewise  began  to  in 
crease  in  population,  and  the  resources 
of  that  region  began  to  be  developped 
during  the  ten  years  following,  more 
than  had  been  done  during  the  whole 
time  of  the  Spanish  occupation.  Some 
emigrants  from  Canada  settled  in  I  <"kii'~ 
iana,  which  was  still  unde"  v^e  French 
administration,  although  by  the  terms 
of  the  treaty  of  Fontainebleau,  the 
island  and  city  of  New  Orleans,  and 
all  of  Louisiana  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
had  been  ceded  to  Spain.  We  may 
mention  here,  that  the  Spanish  domina 
tion  was  by  no  means  acceptable  to  the 
Louisianians.  They  did  everything  in 


1761. 


their  power  to  manifest  their  unwilling 
ness  and  disgust,  even  proceeding  to  a 
show  of  force ;  but  it  was  of  no  avail ; 
the  transfer  to  the  Spanish  rule  took 
place  in  1769  * 

In  the  older  settlements,  there  was, 
likewise,  evident  signs  of  advancement 
in  wealth  and  population.  Mr. 
Hildreth  terms  this,  "  the  golden 
age"  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  South 
Carolina,  whose  population  and  pro 
ductions  were  increasing  at  a  rate 
never  before  or  since  equalled.  "  Nor 
folk  and  Baltimore  be^an  to  assume 

O 

the  character  of  commercial  towns  t 
Philadelphia  and  New  York,  sole  ports 
to  a  vast  back  country,  were  growing 
fast ;  Boston  had  been  stationary  for 
twenty-five  years,  and  continued  so  for 
twenty-five  years  to  come,  chiefly  owing 
to  the  fact,  that  the  trade  and  naviga 
tion,  for  a  long  time  almost  engrossed 
by  Boston,  was  now  shared  by  other 
towns  fast  springing  up  along  the  sea 
coast  of  New  England.  The  harshness 
and  bigotry  of  former  times  were 
greatly  relaxed.  A  taste  for  literature, 
science,  and  social  refinement  began  to 
be  developped.  The  six  colonial  col 
leges  received  an  accession  of  students 
By  the  efforts  of  Drs.  Shippen  and 
Morgan,  both  natives  of  Pennsylvania, 
«  medical  school  was  added  to  the 
Pennsylvania  College,  the  first  institu 
tion  of  the  kind  in  America.f  Even 


*  We  must  beg  leave  here,  to  refer  again  to  Mr, 
Gayarre's  "  History  of  Louisiana"  vols.  ii.  and  ;ii. 
The  patriotic  spirit  of  the  writer,  gives  a  charm  to 
his  "work,  which  commends  it  at  once  to  the  regard  of 
the  reader. 

f  It  is  but  proper,  in  this  connection,  to  state,  m 
the  language  ol  Dr  Francis,  that,"  New  York  is  the 


CH.  X.] 


ENERGY  AND  ABILITY   OF  THE   COLONIES. 


253 


the  fine  arts  were  not  without  native 
votaries.  West  and  Copley,  fathers  of 
American  art,  both  born  the  same  year, 
had  commenced  as  portrait  painters, 
the  one  in  New  York,  the  other  in 
Boston ;  but  they  soon  sought  in  Lon 
don,  a  wider  field  and  more  extended 
patronage."  Mr.  Hildreth  also  notes, 
that  the  law  had  assumed  the  rank  of 
a  distinct  profession  at  this  date. 
Henry,  Otis,  Dickinson,  and  others, 
among  lawyers,  were  already  enrolling 
themselves  amons:  the  most  vigorous 

o  o 

opponents  of  those  who  invaded  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  the  colonists; 
and  their  influence  was  felt  sensibly 
in  the  colonial  Assemblies.* 

We  have  enlarged  upon  these  mat 
ters  not  only  on  account  of  their  inter 
est  in  a  historical  point  of  view,  but 
also  because  of  their  importance  at  the 
present  crisis  in  American  affairs.  The 
recuperative  energies  of  the  colonies 
were  remarkably  displayed ;  and  their 
ability  to  assert  forcibly  their  rights, 
and  to  maintain  them  manfully,  became 
more  and  more  evident  to  themselves, 
if  not  to  those  in  power  in  England. 
The  feeling  of  self  reliance  was  engen- 

city  in  which  the  first  organization  of  a  complete 
medical  faculty  was  created  during  our  colonial  re 
lationship  with  Great  Britain."  King's  College,  in 
1767-8,  was  the  first  institution  in  America  which 
conferred  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  See 
Dr.  Francis's  interesting  Address,  at  the  Anniversary 
of  the  "  Woman's  Hospital,"  February,  1856. 

*  At  this  date,  "  North' Carolina  contained  about 
95,000  white  inhabitants ;  Virginia,  about  70,000 
whites,  and  100,000  negroes  ;  Maryland,  nearly 
70,000  whites ;  Pennsylvania,  (supposed)  280,000 
souls  ;  New  Jersey,  more  than  60,000 ;  Connecticut 
contained,  1-11,000  whites,  about  4,500  blacks,  and 
930  Indians ;  Massachusetts,  about  240.000  inhabit 
ants.  Canada  contained  about  100,000  souls." — 
Holmes's  "Annals,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  117. 


dered  on  all  hands ;  and  it  seemed 
to  be  almost  demonstrable,  that  tlu 
Americans  were  competent  for  anj 
emergency  which  might  arise  in  tht 
progress  of  their  social,  political,  or 
even  military  affairs.  "  In  the  bosoms 
of  this  people,"  as  John  Quincy  Adams 
eloquently  says,  "  there  was  burning, 
kindled  at  different  furnaces,  but  all 
furnaces  of  affliction,  one  clear,  steady 
flame  of  LIBERTY.  Bold  and  daring 
enterprise,  stubborn  endurance  of  pri 
vation,  unflinching  intrepidity  in  facing 
danger,  and  inflexible  adherence  to  con 
scientious  principle,  had  steeled  to  en 
ergetic  and  unyielding  hardihood  the 
characters  of  the  primitive  settlers  of 
all  these  colonies.  Since  that  time  two 
or  three  generations  of  men  had  passed 
away — but  they  had  increased  and 
multiplied  with  unexampled  rapidity; 
and  the  land  itself  had  been  the  re 
cent  theatre  of  a  ferocious  and  bloody 
seven  years'  war,  between  the  two  most 
powerful  and  most  civilized  nations  of 
Europe,  contending  for  the  possession 
of  this  continent.  Of  that  strife  the  vic 
torious  combatant  had  been  Britain. 
She  had  conquered  the  provinces  of 
France.  She  had  expelled  her  rival 
totally  from  the  continent  over  which, 
bounding  herself  by  the  Mississippi, 
she  was  thenceforth  to  hold  divided 
empire  only  with  Spain.  She  had  ac 
quired  undisputed  control  over  the  In 
dian  tribes,  still  tenanting  the  forests 
unexplored  by  the  European  man. 
She  had  established  an  uncontested 
monopoly  of  the  commerce  of  all  her 
colonies.  But,  forgetting  all  the  warn 
ings  of  preceding  ages,  foigetting  the 
lessons  written  in  the  blood  of  her  own 


254 


ENGLAND  BEGINS  THE  CONTEST. 


.  R 


children,  through  centuries  of  departed 
time,  she  undertook  to  tax  the  people 
of  the  colonies  without  their  consent" 

This  led  to  inevitable  collision ;  this 
hastened  on  the  struggle  for  chartered 
rights  and  liberties;  this,  persisted  in 
as  it  was,  and  attempted  to  be  estab 
lished  by  force,  roused  the  colonists  to 
risk  their  all  in  contending  for  what 
was  dearer  to  them  than  even  life 
itself.  A  brief  review  of  the  causes 
which  led  to  the  contest  with  the 
mother  country,  will  demonstrate  the, 
truth  of  what  has  just  been  stated. 

England,  under  the  ministry  of  Pitt, 
had  attained  a  preeminence  in  military 
renown,  unequalled  in  her  history ;  she 
had  subdued  her  enemies,  had  come 
off  victorious  in  every  contest,  and  was 
now  the  acknowledged  mistress  of  the 
seas,  and  superior  over  all  her  compet 
itors.  Gratifying  as  was  this  success, 
however,  it  had  not  been  attained  with 
out  vast  expenditure  of  means;  and 
now,  victorious  as  she  was,  she  found 
herself  saddled  with  a  debt  almost  fear 
ful  to  contemplate,  and  com 
pelled  to  lay  burdens  upon  the 
people,  well  nigh  beyond  all  possibility 
of  endurance.*  It  was  but  natural, 
that,  following  out  the  suggestion  of 
Pitt  in  reference  to  this  matter,  so  soon 
as  the  war  was  concluded,  some  steps 
should  be  taken  to  obtain  revenue  from 
the  colonies.  It  was  but  natural,  like 
wise,  that  the  colonists  should  view 
with  suspicion,  any  scheme  calculated 
to  trench  upon  what  they  held  to  be 
their  inalienable  right,  not  to  grant 

*  The  national   debt   at  this   date,  amounted   to 
£140,000,000,  i.  o.,  nearly  $700,000,000. 


1763. 


money  except  by  or  through  their  own 
representatives.  The  seven  years'  war 
had  not  been  carried  on  without  great 
effort  and  sacrifices  on  the  part  of  the 
colonists.  Thirty  thousand  of  their 
soldiers  had  fallen  in  the  struggle, 

oO       / 

either  in  battle  or  by  disease.  Sixteen 
millions  of  dollars  had  been  expended, 
of  which,  only  about  five  millions  had 
been  reimbursed  by  Parliament.  Mass 
achusetts  had  burdened  herself  with 
an  oppressive  debt,  as  also  had  Con 
necticut,  New  York,  and  Virginia. 
And  the  colonists  could  not  but  feel 
that  their  importance  was  vastly  in- 
:reased  by  the  results  of  that  war, 
which  they  had  materially  aided  in 
bringing  to  its  successful  conclusion. 
They  were  now,  no  longer  weak  and 
inexperienced  children:  they  had  grown 
up  to  a  vigorous  youth  and  manhood  ; 
and  they  were  prepared  to  manifest  the 
fact  whenever  it  might  be  necessary. 
It  became  a  settled  determination  with 
them,  to  assert  their  claims  as  sons,  as 
children  in  the  family,  and  as  entitled 
to  all  the  privileges  and  rights  of  sons 
and  this  was  only  what  was  to  be  ex 
pected  from  sons  who  boasted  of  the 
origin  which  they  enjoyed. 

"  It  is  the  honorable  distinction  of 
England,"  says  M.  Guizot,*  "to  have 
given  to  her  colonies,  in  their  infancy. 
the  seminal  principle  of  their  liberty 
Almost  all  of  them,  either  at  the  time 
of  their  being  planted  or  shortly  after 
received  charters  which  conferred  upou 
the  colonists  the  rights  of  the  mother 
country.  And  these  charters  were  no4 


*  "  Essay  on  the  Character  and  Influence  of 
ington?  from  the  French,  po.  1  4-2-1 


CH. 


ORIGIN   OF  COLONIAL  RIGHTS  AND  PRIVILEGES. 


255 


a  mere  deceptive  form,  a  dead  letter, 
for  they  either  established  or  recognized 
those  powerful  institutions,  which  im 
pelled  the  colonists  to  defend  their 
liberties  and  to  control  power  by  di 
viding  it ;  such  as  the  laying  of  taxes 
by  vote,  the  election  of  the  principal 
public  bodies,  trial  by  jury,  and  the 
right  to  meet  and  deliberate  upon  af 
fairs  of  general  interest.  Thus  the 
history  of  these  colonies  is  nothing  else 
than  the  practical  and  sedulous  devel 
opment  of  the  spirit  of  liberty,  expand 
ing  under  the  protecting  influence  of 
the  laws  and  traditions  of  the  country. 
Such,  indeed,  was  the  history  of  Eng 
land  itself.  ...  In  the  infancy 
of  the  English  colonies,  three  different 
powers  are  found,  side  by  side,  with 
their  liberties,  and  consecrated  by  the 
same  charters, — the  crown,  the  pro 
prietary  founders,  whether  companies 
or  individuals,  and  the  mother  country. 
The  crown,  by  virtue  of  the  monarchical 
principle,  and  with  its  traditions,  derived 
from  the  Church  and  the  Empire.  The 
proprietary  founders,  to  whom  the  ter 
ritory  had  been  granted,  by  virtue  of 
the  feudal  principle  which  attaches  a 
considerable  portion  of  sovereignty  to 
the  proprietorship  of  the  soil.  The 
mother  country,  by  virtue  of  the  co 
lonial  principle,  which,  at  all  periods 
and  among  all  nations,  by  a  natural  con 
nection  between  facts  and  opinions,  has 
given  to  the  mother  country  a  great  in 
fluence  over  the  population  proceeding 
from  its  bosom. 

"From  the  very  commencement,  as 
well  in  the  course  of  events  as  in  the 
charters,  there  was  great  confusion 
among  these  various  powers,  by  turns 


exalted  or  depressed,  united  or  divided, 
sometimes  protecting,  one  against  an 
other,  the  colonists  and  their  franchises, 
and  sometimes  assailing  them  in  con 
cert.  In  the  course  of  these  confused 
changes,  all  sorts  of  pretexts  were  as 
sumed,  and  facts  of  all  kinds  cited,  in 
justification  and  support  either  of  their 
acts  or  their  pretensions. 

"  In  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  the  monarchical  prin 
ciple  was  overthrown  in  England,  in 
the  person  of  Charles  the  First,  one 
might  be  led  to  suppose,  for  a  moment, 
that  the  colonies  would  take  advantage 
of  this  to  free  themselves  entirely  from 
its  control.  In  point  of  fact,  some  of 
them,  Massachusetts  especially,  settled 
by  stern  Puritans,  showed  themselves 
disposed,  if  not  to  break  every  tie  which 
bound  them  to  the  mother  country,  at 
least  to  govern  themselves,  alone,  and 
by  their  own  laws.  But  the  Long  Par 
liament,  by  force  of  the  colonial  prin 
ciple,  and  in  virtue  of  the  rights  of  the 
crown  which  it  inherited,  maintained, 
with  moderation,  the  supremacy  of 
Great  Britain.  Cromwell,  succeeding 
to  the  power  of  the  Long  Parliament, 
exercised  it  in  a  more  striking  manner, 
and,  by  a  judicious  and  resolute  prin 
ciple  of  protection,  prevented  or  re 
pressed,  in  the  colonies,  both  Royalist 
and  Puritan,  every  faint  aspiration  for 
independence.  This  was  to  him  an  easy 
task.  The  colonies,  at  this  period,  were 
feeble  and  divided.  Virginia,  in  1640, 
did  not  contain  more  than  three  or  four 
thousand  inhabitants,  and  in  1660  hard 
ly  thirty  thousand.  Maryland  had  at 
most  only  twelve  thousand.  In  these 
two  provinces,  the  royalist  party  had 


2f>6 


ENGLAND  BEGINS  THE   CONTEST. 


[BK.  II. 


the  ascendency,  and  greeted  with  joy 
the  Restoration. '  In  Massachusetts,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  general  feeling  was 
republican ;  and  when  the  local  govern 
ment  were  compelled  to  proclaim 
Charles  the  Second  as  king,  they  for 
bade,  at  the  same  time,  all  tumultuous 
assemblies,  all  kinds  of  merry-making, 
and  even  the  drinking  of  the  king's 
health.  There  was,  at  that  time,  nei 
ther  the  moral  unity,  rior  the  physical 
strength,  necessary  to  the  foundation 
of  a  state. 

"After  1688,  when  England  was 
finally  in  possession  of  a  free  govern 
ment,  the  colonies  felt  but  slightly 
its  advantages.  The  charters,  which 
Charles  the  Second  and  James  the 
Second  had  either  taken  away  or  im 
paired,  were  but  imperfectly  and  par 
tially  restored  to  them.  The  same 
confusion  prevailed,  the  same  strug 
gles  arose  between  the  different  powers. 
The  greater  part  of  the  governors, 
coming  from  Europe,  temporarily  in 
vested  with  the  prerogatives  and  pre 
tensions  of  royalty,  displayed  ,them 
with  more  arrogance  than  power,  in  an 
administration,  generally  speaking,  in 
consistent,  irritating,  seldom  successful, 
frequently  marked  by  grasping  selfish 
ness,  and  a  postponement  of  the  interests 
of  the  public  to  petty  personal  quar 
rels.  Moreover,  it  was  henceforth  not 
the  crown  alone,  but  the  crown  and  the 
mother  country  united,  with  which  the 
2olonies  had  to  deal.  Their  real  sov 
ereign  was  no  longer  che  king,  but  the 
king  and  the  people  of  Great  Britain, 
represented  and  mingled  together  in 
Parliament.  And  the  Parliament  re 
garded  the  colonies  with  nearly  the 


same  eyes,  and  held,  in  respect  to  them, 
nearly  the  same  language,  as  had  lately 
been  used  towards  the  Parliament  itself, 
by  those  kings  whom  it  afterwards  over 
came.  An  aristocratic  senate  is  the  most 
intractable  of  masters.  Every  member 
of  it  possesses  the  supreme  power,  and 
no  one  is  responsible  for  its  exercise. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  the  colonies  were 
rapidly  increasing  in  population,  in 
wealth,  in  strength  internally,  and  in 
importance  externally.  Instead  of  a 
few  obscure  establishments,  solely  oc 
cupied  with  their  own  affairs,  and  hard 
ly  able  to  sustain  their  own  existence 
a  people  was  now  forming  itself,  whose 
agriculture,  commerce,  enterprising  spi 
rit,  and  relative  position  to  other  states, 
were  giving  them  a  place  and  con 
sideration  among  men.  The  mother 
country,  unable  to  govern  them  well, 
had  neither  the  leisure  nor  the  ill  will 
to  oppress  them  absolutely.  She  vexed 
and  annoved  them  without  checking 

»/  O 

their  growth." 

As  a  part  of  the  policy  of  the  Eng 
lish  ministry,  it  was  proposed  to  main 
tain  in  America  ten  thousand  regular 
troops,  as  a  peace  establishment,  for  the 
defence  of  the  colonies.  Probably  also, 
there  was  had  in  view  the  importance 
of  such  a  force  as  this,  to  help 
to  sustain  the  authority  of  the 
crown  in  the  colonies.  So  soon  as 
peace  was  established,  the  successors  of 
Mr.  Pitt  in  the  ministry,  in  accordance 
with  the  proposal  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  some  years  before,  detennined  to 
try  the  scheme  of  taxation  by  the  su 
preme  ordinance  of  Parliament. 

That  Parliament  had  authority  over 
the  colonies,  was  admitted  on  all  hands, 


1763. 


CH.  X.] 


THE   POWER  OF  PARLIAMENT  TO   LEVY  TAXES. 


257 


but  just  what  it  was,  or  how  far  it  ex 
tended,  was  not  quite  so  clear.  Al 
though  the  colonists  had  unwillingly 
yielded  to  the  exercise  of  power  by 
Parliament  in  'matters  of  trade,  still 
they  had  yielded  submission,  and  had 
suffered  legislation  to  extend  to  a  num 
ber  of  other  matters  beside  trade.  Par 
liament  had  regulated  colonial  trade  for 
the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  mother 
country  for  a  long  time,  and  had  ap 
pointed  custom-house  officers,  and  insti 
tuted  admiralty  courts  in  the  colonies : 
it  is  true,  these  were  systematically 
evaded  and  resisted ;  nevertheless,  what 
had  been  done  and  submitted  to,  had 
given  Parliament  a  sort  of  legal  vested 
right  in  all  points  of  the  kind.  But, 
let  it  be  noted,  Parliament  had  never 
exercised  the  power  of  levying  taxes 
for  revenue.  The  minor  matters  of 
regulating  the  postage  on  letters,  and 
certain  duties  on  "  enumerated  articles," 
were  mere  trifles;  and  however  the 
question  might  stand  as  to  the  power 
of  Parliament  to  levy  taxes  upon  the 
colonists,  it  was  certain  that  it  had 
never  yet  been  attempted  to  be  exer 
cised.  When  the  English  ministry  ven 
tured  to  make  the  trial,  the  contest,  al 
most  at  once,  involved  in  itself  the  very 
essentials  of  life  and  liberty. 

That  astute  minister,  Sir  Robert 
Walpole,  when  a  suggestion  was  made 
to  him  to  levy  a  direct  tax  upon  the 
colonies  as  we  have  noted  in  a  former 
chapter,  had  declined  making  so  dan 
gerous  an  experiment :  "  I  shall  leave 
this  operation  to  sorr.e  one  of  my  suc 
cessors,  who  may  possess  more  courage 
than  I,  and  have  less  regard  for  the 
commercial  interests  of  England.  My 

VOL.  L— 35 


opinion  is,  that,  if  by  favoring  the  trade 
of  the  colonies  with  foreign  nations, 
they  gain  £500,000.  at  the  end  of  two 
years,  fully  one  half  of  it  will  have  come 
into  the  royal  exchequer,  by  the  in 
creased  demand  for  English  manufac 
tures.  This  is  a  mode  of  taxing  them 
more  agreeably  to  their  own  constitution 
and  laws,  as  well  as  our  own."  But  there 
was  not  the  same  political  sagacity  in 
some  of  Walpole's  successors ;  and  they 
ventured  to  try  what  he  had  declined ; 
they  determined  to  tax  the  colonies.* 

George  Grenville  enjoys  the  reputa 
tion  of  having  given  origin  to  the 
scheme  which  resulted  in  the  well 
known  Stamp  Act.  He  was  in  some 

*  "  The  disposition  to  tax  the  Americans,  unless 
they  would  tax  themselves  equal  to  the  wishes  of  the 
ministry,  was  undoubtedly  strengthened  by  the  re 
ports  of  their  gaiety  and  luxury  which  reached  the 
mother  country  ;  it  was  also  said,  that  the  planters 
lived  like  princes,  while  the  inhabitants  of  Britam 
labored  hard  for  a  tolerable  subsistence.  The  offi 
cers  lately  returned,  represented  them  as  rich 
wealthy,  and  even  overgrown  in  fortune.  Their 
opinion  might  arise  from  observations  made  in  the 
American  cities  and  towns  during  the  war,  while 
large  sums  were  spent  in  the  country,  for  the  support 
of  fleets  and  armies.  American  productions  were 
then  in  great  demand,  and  trade  flourished.  The 
people,  naturally  generous  and  hospitable,  having  a 
number  of  strangers  among  them,  indulged  them 
selves  in  many  uncommon  expenses.  When  the 
war  was  terminated,  and  they  had  no  further  appre 
hension  of  danger,  the  power  of  the  late  enemy  in  the 
country  being  totally  broken, — Canada,  and  the  back 
lands  to  the  very  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  with  the 
Fioridas,  being  ceded  to  Great  Britain, — it  was 
thought  they  could  not  well  make  too  much  of  those 
who  had  so  contributed  to  their  security.  Partly  to 
do  honor  to  them,  and  partly,  it  is  to  be  feared,  to 
gratify  their  own  pride,  they  added  to  their  show  of 
plate,  by  borrowing  of  neighbors,  and  made  a  great 
parade  of  riches  in  their  several  entertainments.  The 
plenty  and  variety  of  provision  and  liquors  enabled 
them  to  furnish  out  an  elegant  table,  at  a  compara 
tively  trifling  expense." — Gordon's  "History  of  tlie 
American  Revolution"  vol.  i.,  p,  157 


258 


ENGLAND  BEGINS  THE   CONTEST. 


.  U 


considerable  doubt  as  to  the  propriety 
of  taxing  the  colonies  without  allowing 

o  o 

(hem  representatives ;  yet,  as  Mr.  Ban 
croft  says,1*  he  loved  power  and  the 
favor  of  Pa  lament,  and  contemplating 
the  immense  debt  of  England  with  a 
sort  of  terror,  he  was  ready  to  insist 
upon  the  colonies  helping  to  bear  the 
burden ;  and  so,  forgetting  the  wise 
caution  of  Walpole,  he  brought  forward 
in  Parliament,  a  proposition  to  impose 
upon  the  colonists  the  payment  of  a 
stamp  tax  on  all  bills,  bonds,  notes, 
leases,  policies  of  insurance,  legal  papers, 
of  various  kinds,  etc.  It  was  at  first 
laid  before  Parliament  more  for  infor 
mation  and  notice,  than  with  any  pur 
pose  of  pressing  its  passage. 

The  next  year,  Grenville,  now  prime 
minister,  proposed  several  resolutions 
tending  to  develop  his  plan  for 
taxing  America,  f  such  as  ad 
ditional  duties  on  imports  into  the  col 
onies  from  foreign  countries,  on  sugar, 
indigo,  coffee,  etc.,  it  being  openly 
avowed  that  the  object  had  in  view 
was,  to  "  raise  a  revenue  for  defraying 
the  expenses  of  defending,  protecting, 
and  securing  his  majesty's  dominions  in 
America."  These  resolutions  passed 
the  House  without  much  debate  or 
notice,  it  being  resolved,  without  a 
division,  "  that  Parliament  had  a  right 
to  tax  the  colonies."  Among  the  reso 
lutions  proposed  by  Grenville,  was  one 
imposing  "  certain  stamp  duties  on  the 
colonies :"  but  he  declared  to  the  House, 
his  desire  that  it  should  not  be  acted 
upon  until  the  next  session  of  Par- 

*  See   Mr.    Bancroft's   "  History  of   the    United 
Stales,1'  vol.  v.,  p.  156. 

*  Ibid.  p.  186. 


1TC4. 


liament.  It  was  foreseen  that  the  lav- 
would  be  disregarded,  if  extraordinary 
measures  were  not  adopted  to  enforce 
it,  and  provision  made  that  penalties 
for  violating  it,  and  all  other  revenue 
laws,  might  be  recovered  in  the  ad 
miralty  courts.  The  judges  of  these 
courts  were  dependent  solely  on  the 
king,  and  decided  the  causes  brought 
before  them  without  the  intervention 
of  a  jury. 

The  colonial  agents  in  London  sent 
copies  of  the  resolutions  to  their  re 
spective  colonies.*  As  soon  as  the  in 
telligence  of  these  proceedings  reached 
America,  they  were  considered  as  the 
commencement  of  a  system  of  oppres 
sion,  which,  if  not  vigorously  resisted, 
would  eventually  deprive  them  of  the 
liberty  of  British  subi  ects.  The 

1764 

General  Court  of  Massachu 
setts,  at  their  session  in  June,  took  this 
law  into  consideration.  The  House  of 
Representatives  resolved,  "  That  the 
sole  right  of  giving  and  granting  the 
money  of  the  people  of  that  province 
was  vested  in  themselves,  and  that  the 
imposition  of  taxes  and  duties  by  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  upon  a 
people  who  are  not  represented  in  Par 
liament,  is  absolutely  irreconcilable 
with  their  rights."  "  If  our  trade  may 
be  taxed,"  was  their  argument,  in  the 
words  of  that  eminent  patriot,  Samuel 
Adams,  "  why  not  our  lands,  why  not 
the  produce  of  our  lands,  and  every 
thing  we  possess  or  use  ?  This,  we  COL. 
ceive,  annihilates  our  charter-rights  to 
govern  and  tax  ourselves.  It  strikes 
at  our  British  privileges,  which,  as  wa 

*  See  Apppendix  T.,  at  the  end  af  the  present  chap 
ter- 


Cn.  X.] 


AMERICAN  VIEWS   AS  TO  THE  STAMP  TAX. 


259 


have  never  forfeited,  we  hold  in  com 
mon  with  our  fellow  subjects  who  are 
natives  of  Britain.  If  taxes  are  laid 
upon  us  without  our  having  a  legal 
representation  where  they  are  laid,  we 
are  reduced  from  the  character  of  free 
subjects  to  the  state  of  tributary 
slaves."  The  House  also  dispatched 
an  energetic  letter  to  Mr.  Mauduit,  the 
agent  in  England,  declaring,  "if  we 
are  not  represented,  we  are  slaves !" 
and,  together  with  the  letter,  sent  a 
copy  of  the  recently  issued  pamphlet 
of  Otis,  "The  Rights  of  the  British 
Colonies  Asserted."  The  ground  taken 
by  Otis  was  bold,  and  clearly  set  forth 
that  this  whole  matter  was  one  of  prin 
ciple  with  the  colonists  ;  yet  there  was 
no  hint  of  forcible  resistance  to  the 
claims  of  Parliament.  Indeed,  lawyer- 
like,  Otis  maintained  the  supremacy  of 
Parliament  and  its  acts,  denouncing 
resistance  as  high  treason.  The  col 
onists  were  not  yet  ready  to  array 
themselves  in  arms  against  the  doings 
of  Parliament ;  but  there  was  no  dispo 
sition,  on  the  other  hand,  to  any  thing 
like  servile  submission  to  injustice. 
Tracts  similar  to  that  of  Otis  were  put 
forth  in  Rhode  Island,  "  by  authority ;" 
in  Maryland,  by  Dulany,  the  secretary 
of  the  province;  and  in  Virginia,  by 
Bland,  a  leading  member  of  the  House 
of  Burgesses. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year,  pe 
titions  to  Parliament  were  drawn  up  in 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  which 
were  somewhat  moderated  in 
tone,  owing,  in  the  case  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  to  the  influence  of  Hutchin- 
son.  New  York  agreed  to  a  petition 
much  more  strongly  worded,  as  did  also 


1764. 


Rhode  Island.  In  the  Virginia  House 
of  Burgesses,  a  petition  to  the  king,  a 
memorial  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  a 
remonstrance  to  the  Commons,  were 
drawn  up  by  a  Committee  consisting  of 
Richard  Henry  Lee  and  other  eminent 
leaders  of  the  aristocracy.  The  tone 
adopted  was  moderate,  and  the  hard 
ship  of  pressing  a  measure  like  the  one 
proposed,  was  dwelt  upon. 

Grenville  had  a  reason  for  delay,  in 
not  urging  the  stamp  tax  forward.  His 
notion  was,  that  the  colonies,  finding 
that  the  revenue  must  be  paid  in  some 
way  by  them,  and  particularly  disliking 
the  form  in  which  it  was  proposed  by 
stamp  duties,  would  suggest  some  other 
mode,  and  then  he  would  take  them  at 
their  word,  and  the  revenue  would  be 
raised  without  further  trouble.  "If 
they  think  any  other  mode  of  taxation 
more  convenient  to  them,"  were  his 
plausible  words,  "  and  make  any  prop 
osition  of  equal  efficacy  with  the  stamp 
duty,  I  will  give  it  all  due  considera 
tion."  But  to  do  this  thing,  he  was 
resolved:  "if  you  object  to  the  Ameri 
cans  being  taxed  by  Parliament,  save 
yourself  the  trouble  of  the  discussion, 
for  I  am  determined  on  the  measure." 
Many  in  England,  says  M.  Botta,  and 
possibly  the  agents  of  the  colonies 
themselves,  attributed  this  conduct  of 
the  minister  to  moderation;  but  be 
yond  the  Atlantic  it  found  a  quite  dif 
ferent  reception,  all  with  one  voice  ex 
claiming  that  this  was  an  interested 
charity.  For  they  thought,  that  how 
ever  civil  his  offers,  the  minister  would 
nevertheless  exact,  to  a  penny,  the  en 
tire  sum  he  desired,  which  in  substance 
was  saying,  that  willingly  or  otherwise, 


260 


ENGLAND  BEGINS  THE   CONTEST. 


[BK.  Ii. 


they  must  submit  to  his  good  pleasure ; 
and,  consequently,  his  complaisance  was 
but  that  of  an  accomplished  robber.  It 
was  known  that  he  would  not  be  satis 
fied  with  less  than  £300,000  sterling  a 
year,  the  sum  considered  necessary  for 
the  support  of  the  army  it  was  resolved 
to  maintain  in  the  colonies  for  their  de 
fence.  No  one  of  the  agents  was  au 
thorized  to  comply.  Two  only  alleged 
they  were  commissioned  to  declare  that 
their  provinces  were  ready  to  bear  their 
proportion  of  the  duty  upon  stamps, 
when  it  should  be  established  accord 
ing  to  ancient  usages.  The  minister, 
therefore,  having  heard  no  proposal 
that  appeared  to  him  acceptable,  re 
solved  to  pursue  the  design  of  a  stamp 
tax.  Meanwhile,  the  fermentation  in 
America  was  violent,  not  only  among 
private  citizens,  but  also  among  the 
members  of  public  and  corporate 
bodies;  and  all  were  of  one  mind,  in 
asserting  that  the  Parliament  had  no 
right  to  tax  the  colonies.  In  all  places, 
political  circles  and  clubs  were  formed ; 
the  subject  of  all  conversations  was  the 
fatal  tax.  Every  day,  every  hour,  di 
minished  the  respect  and  affection  of 
the  Americans  towards  the  British  na 
tion,  and  increased  their  disposition  to 
resist.  Supported,  too,  as  they  knew, 
by  some  of  the  purest  patriots  of  the 
mother  country,  they  earnestly  de 
claimed  against  the  injustice  of  any 
such  proceeding,  as  laying  a  tax  upon 
them  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  a 
standing  army  in  America.  The  mur 
murs  which  had  arisen  from  every  quar 
ter  against  this  proposal  were  alarming, 
and  ought  to  have  proved  a  note  of 
warning  to  the  ministry.  But  none  of 


these  complaints  were  of  any  avail 
The  course  to  be  pursued  was  decided 
upon,  and  the  ministry  went  forward 
with  their  plan.  The  memorials,  the 
remonstrances,  the  petitions,  the  resolu 
tions  of  the  Americans,  were  rejected, 
and  the  bill  for  imposing  a  stamp  duty 
was  submitted  to  Parliament,  at  its  ses 
sion,  in  1T65. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine  the  kind 
of  discussion  which  then  took  place. 
Few  of  the  members  of  the  House 
knew  or  cared  aught  for  America,  save 

as   it    seemed  to  open   a  new 

•u  1 1      i?65 

source  whence    revenue   could 

be  drawn;  and  were  it  not  a  well-es 
tablished  fact,  it  would  seem  incredible, 
that  there  could  have  been  so  remark 
able  a  state  of  ignorance  and  blindness 
as  to  the  actual  position  and  import 
ance  of  the  colonies,  and  their  power 
of  asserting  and  defending  their  rights, 
On  the  one  side,  it  was  contended  that 
taxation  and  representation  are  insep 
arable,  and  that  the  imposition  of  this 
tax  would  be  as  impolitic  as  it  was  un 
just,  for  the  Americans  would  not  sub 
mit  to  it.  On  the  part  of  the  ministry, 
it  was  claimed  that  the  colonies  were 
in  fact  virtually  as  much  represented 
by  the  actual  members,  as  were  the 
great  proportion  of  the  English,  who 
themselves  enjoyed  no  vote ;  that  the 
right  of  taxing  the  colonists  was  de 
rived  from  the  responsibility  and  ex 
pense  of  defending  them;  that  the 
colonists  must  either  be  entirely  de 
pendent  upon  England,  or  entirely  sep 
arated  from  her.  The  inconsistency 
of  allowing  a  duty  to  be  placed  upon 
.heir  exports,  while  they  refused  to  sub 
mit  to  one  upon  stamps,  was  artfully 


CH.  X.] 


BARRE'S  ELOQUENT  WORDS. 


261 


pointed  out.  Finally,  after  ostentatious 
ly  enumerating  the  advantages  derived 
by  America  from  her  connection  with 
Great  Britain,  and  leaving  out  of  sight 
the  counterbalancing  restraints  upon 
her  commerce,  which  had  all  along 
been  so  unwillingly  acquiesced  in,  Mr. 
Charles  Townshend,  one  of  the  minis 
ters,  propounded  this  inquiry : — "  And 
now,  will  these  Americans,  children 
planted  by  our  care,  nourished  up  by 
our  indulgence,  till  they  are  grown  to 
a  degree  of  strength  and  opulence, 
and  protected  by  our  arms — will  they 
grudge  to  contribute  their  mite  to  re 
lieve  us  from  the  heavy  weight  of  that 
burden  which  we  lie  under  ?" 

Instantly  Colonel  Isaac  Barre  arose 
to  reply.  He  had  before  spoken,  and 
was  one  of  the  very  few  who  knew 
how  to  appreciate  the  Americans.  His 
words  were  listened  to  with  the  atten 
tion  they  deserved.  Taking  up  Towns- 
hend's  interrogation,  he  exclaimed : 

"  They  planted  fy  YOUR  care  !  No ; 
your  oppressions  planted  them  in  Amer 
ica.  They  fled  from  your  tyranny,  to 
a  then  uncultivated  and  inhospitable 
country,  where  they  exposed  them 
selves  to  all  the  hardships  to  which 
human  nature  is  liable,  and,  amons; 

ii  O 

others,  to  the  cruelties  of  a  savage  foe, 
the  most  subtle,  and  I  will  take  upon 
me  to  say,  the  most  formidable  of  any 
people  upon  the  face  of  God's  earth ; 
yet,  actuated  by  principles-  of  true 
English  liberty,  they  met  all  hardships 
with  pleasure,  compared  with  those 
they  suffered  in  their  own  country, 
from  the  hands  of  those  who  should 
have  been  their  friends. 
"  Tliey  nourished  up  by  YOUR  indul 


gence  !  They  grew  by  your  neglect  of 
them.  As  soon  as  you  began  to  care 
for  them,  that  care  was  exercised  in 
sending  persons  to  rule  them  in  one 
department  and  another,  who  were, 
perhaps,  the  deputies  of  deputies,  to 
some  members  of  this  House,  sent  to 
spy  out  their  liberties,  to  misrepresent 
their  actions,  and  to  prey  upon  them — 
men  whose  behavior,  on  many  occa 
sions,  has  caused  the  blood  of  those 
sons  of  liberty  to  recoil  within  them — 
men  promoted  to  the  highest  seats  of 
justice ;  some  who,  to  my  knowledge, 
were  glad,  by  going  to  a  foreign  coun 
try,  to  escape  being  brought  to  the  bar 
of  a  court  of  justice  in  their  own. 

"  TJiey  protected  ly  YOUR  arms ! 
Those  sons  of  liberty  have  nobly  taken 
up  arms  in  your  defence,  have  exerted 
their  valor  amidst  their  constant  and 
laborious  industry  for  the  defence  of  a 
country  whose  frontier  was  drenched  in 
blood,  while  its  interior  parts  yielded 
all  its  little  savings  to  your  emolument. 
And  believe  me — remember,  I  this  day 
told  you  so, — that  same  spirit  of  free 
dom  which  actuated  that  people  at 
first,  will  accompany  them  still ; — but 
prudence  forbids  me  to  explain  myself 
further.  God  knows,  I  do  not  at  this 
time  speak  from  any  motives  of  party 
heat ;  what  I  deliver  are  the  genuine 
sentiments  of  my  heart.  However  su 
perior  to  me,  in  general  knowledge  and 
experience,  the  respectable  body  of  this 
House  may  be,  yet  I  claim  to  know 
more  of  America  than  most  of  you, 
having  seen  and  been  conversant  with 

O 

that  country.  The  people,  I  believe, 
are  as  truly  loyal  as  any  subjects  the 
king  has,  but  a  people  jealous  of  their 


202 


ENGLAND   BEGINS  THE  CONTEST. 


[BR.  1L 


1765. 


liberties,  and  who  will  vindicate  them, 
if  ever  they  should  be  violated.  But 
the  subject  is  too  delicate — I  will  say 
no  more." 

Barrels  eloquence  had  its  effect,  but 
it  was  only  momentary ;  the  bill  passed 
by  a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  forty- 
five  to  forty-nine :  there  was  no  division, 
or  the  slightest  opposition  in  the  Lords ; 
and,  on  the  22d  of  March,  the  royal 
assent  was  given,  and  the  Stamp  Act 
became  a  law.*  Barre's  words  had 
been  heard  in  the  gallery  by 
an  American,  who  wrote  them 
out,  sent  them  across  the  Atlantic,  and 
by  midsummer,  they  were  as  familiar 
as  household  words  to  the  Americans, 
and  the  name  of  SONS  OF  LIBERTY 
cheered  and  strengthened  the  hearts 
of  thousands  to  dare  and  do  in  behalf 
of  their  rights.  Franklin,  on  the  very 
night  of  the  passage  of  the  bill,  wrote 
to  his  friend,  Charles  Thomson,  after 
wards  secretary  of  Congress :  "  the  sun 
of  liberty  is  set ;  the  Americans  must 
light  the  lamps  of  industry  and  econ 
omy."  "Be  assured,"  was  Mr.  Thom 
son's  response  soon  after:  "we  shall 
light  torches  of  a  very  different  sort," — 
a  significant  allusion  to  what  would  in 
evitably  follow  any  attempt  to  carry 
out  so  unjust  and  impolitic  a  scheme, 
as  that  of  the  English  ministry. 

In  the  Annual  Mutiny  Act,  there 
was  a  clause  inserted,  which  was  to 
3arry  out  another  part  of  the  minis 
terial  plans,  by  authorizing  as  many 
troops  to  be  sent  to  America  as  the 
ministers  might  see  fit.  For  these 

*  gke  Appendix  II.,  at  the  end  of  (he  present  chap 
ter 


1765. 


troops,  by  a  special  enactment,  as  Mi 
Hildreth  notes,  known  as  the  "  Quarter 
ing  Act,"  the  colonies  in  which  these 
troops  might  be  stationed,  were  re 
quired,  to  find  quarters,  fire-wood,  bed 
ding,  drink,  soap,  and  candles. 

The  Virginia  Assembly  was  in  ses 
sion,  in  May,  when  the  news  arrived  of 
the  passage  of  these  acts.  The  feel 
ings  of  the  people  had  been  gradually 
becoming  more  and  more  ex 
cited;  the  minister's  plan  of 
employing  only  Americans  to  act  as 
executors  of  the  Stamp  tax,  gave  no 
satisfaction  or  promise  of  its  being 
quietly  yielded  to ;  and  although  the 
aristocracy  might  hesitate  in  a  case  liko 
this,  where  so  many  interests  seemed 
to  be  at  stake,  the  mass  of  the  people 
found  their  fit  champion  in  Patrick 
Henry.  He  had  already  distinguished 
himself  in  Virginia,  in  1763,  where, 
contrary  to  the  law,  and  notwithstand 
ing  the  most  clear  legal  rights  of  the 
plaintiffs,  (the  colonial  clergy),  he  had 
succeeded,  by  the  mere  force  of  his 
eloquence,  in  carrying  the  jury,  and  the 
whole  court,  in  favor  of  his  clients,  the 
defendants.*  Chosen  a  member  of  the 
Assembly,  Henry  now,  when  others 
hesitated,  stepped  forth,  and  proposed 
these  stirring  Resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  the  first  adventurers, 
settlers  of  this  his  Majesty's  colony  and 
dominion  of  Virginia,  brought  with 
them  and  transmitted  to  their  poster 
ity,  and  all  other  his  Majesty's  subjects, 
since  inhabiting  in  this  his  Majesty's 
said  colony,  all  the  privileges,  fran- 


t  See  Wirt's  ^  Life  of  Patrick  Henry,"  pp.  37-49 
also  Hildreth,  vol.  U.  p,  508,  9. 


••••••••••••Mil 


-£i       :T          S. 


ClT.    X.] 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  THE  COLONIAL  CONGRESS. 


265 


be  distributed ;  but  on  receiving  assur- 

*  O 

ance  that  there  was  no  such  intention, 
they  quietly  returned.  All  the  bells  in 
Portsmouth,  Newcastle,  and  Greenland, 
were  tolled,  to  denote  the  decease  of 
Liberty  ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  day, 
notice  was  given  to  her  friends  to  at 
tend  her  funeral.  A  coffin,  neatly 
ornamented,  and  inscribed  with  "  LIB 
ERTY,  aged  CXLV.  years,"  was  prepared 
for  the  funeral  procession,  which  began 
from  the  state  house,  attended  with 
two  unbraced  drums ;  minute  guns 
were  fired  until  the  corpse  arrived 
at  the  grave,  when  an  oration  was  pro 
nounced  in  honor  of  the  deceased ;  but 
scarcely  was  the  oration  concluded, 
when,  some  remains  of  life  having  been 
discovered,  the  corpse  was  taken  up; 
and  the  inscription  on  the  lid  of  the 
coffin  was  immediately  altered  to  "  LIB 
ERTY  EEVIVED;"  the  bells  suddenly 
struck  a  cheerful  sound,  and  joy  ap 
peared  again  in  every  countenance.  In 
Connecticut,  Mr.  Ingersoll,  the  consti 
tuted  distributer  of  stamps,  was  exhib 
ited  and  burnt  in  effigy  in  the  month 
of  August ;  and  the  resentment  at 
length  became  so  general  and  alarming, 
that  he  resigned  his  office. 

In  the  midst  of  this  wide-spread  ex 
citement,  on  the  Yth  of  October,  com 
mittees  from  nine  of  the  colonies 
assembled  in  New  York.  As 
surances  of  support  and  co-operation 
were  received  from  other  colonies,  not 
represented  by  committees  at  the  Con 
gress.  Timothy  Kuggles,  of  Massachus 
etts,  was  appointed  president,  and  among 
the  members  were  Otis,  Johnson,  Dick 
inson,  Gadsden,  etc.,  all  subsequently 
distinguished  in  the  history  of  the 

VOL.  I.— 36 


Revolution.  "  In  the  course  of  a  three 
weeks'  session,"  says  Mr.  Hildreth,  u  a 
Declaration  of  the  rights  and  grievances 
of  the  colonies  was  agreed  to.  All  the 
privileges  of  Englishmen  were  claimed 
by  this  declaration,  as  the  birthright 
of  the  colonists — among  the  rest,  the 
right  of  being  taxed  only  by  their  own 
consent.  Since  distance  and  local  cir 
cumstances  made  a  representation  in 
the  British  Parliament  impossible,  these 
representatives,  it  was  maintained,  could 
be  no  other  than  the  several  colonial 
legislatures.  Thus  was  given  a  flat 
negative  to  a  scheme  lately  broached 
in  England  by  Pownall  and  others,  for 
allowing  to  the  colonies  a  representation 
in  Parliament,  a  project  to  which  both 
Otis  and  Franklin  seemed  at  first  to 
have  leaned.  A  petition  to  the  king, 
and  memorials  to  each  house  of  Parlia 
ment  was  also  prepared,  in  which  the 
cause  of  the  colonies  was  eloquently 
pleaded.  Kuggles  refused  to  sign  these 
papers,  on  the  ground  that  they  ought 
first  to  be  approved  by  the  several  As 
semblies,  and  should  be  forwarded  to 
England  as  their  acts.  Ogden,  one  of 
the  New  Jersey  delegates,  withheld  his 
signature  on  the  same  plea.  The 
delegates  from  New  York  did  not  sign, 
because  they  had  no  special  authority 
for  their  attendance ;  nor  did  those  of 
Connecticut  or  South  Carolina,  their 
commissions  restricting  them  to  a  re 
port  to  their  respective  Assemblies. 
The  petition  and  memorials,  signed  by 
the  other  delegates,  were  transmitted, 
early  in  November,  to  England  for 
presentation.  The  several  colonial  As 
semblies,  at  their  earliest  sessions,  gave 
to  the  proceedings  a  cordial  approval; 


266 


ENGLAND   BEGINS  THE  CONTEST. 


[BK.  H 


The  conduct  of  Ruggles,  in  refusing 
his  signature,  was  severely  censured 
by  the  Massachusetts  representatives. 
Ogden  was  burned  in  effigy  by  the 
people  of  New  Jersey."* 

The  first  of  November  was  the  day 
appointed  for  the  Stamp  Act  to  go  in 
operation ;  but  no  stamps  were  any 
where  to  be  seen  on  that  day.  The 
stamp  distributer  in  New  York  had 
resigned,  and  the  obnoxious  act  was 

O  / 

contemptuously  cried  about  the  streets, 
labelled,  "  The  Folly  of  England  and 
Ruin  of  America 7"  Lieut.-Governor 
Golden  took  every  precaution  to  secure 
the  stamp  papers,  but  many  of  the  in 
habitants  of  the  city,  offended  at  the 
conduct  and  disliking  the  political  sen 
timents  of  the  governor,  having  assem 
bled  on  the  evening  of  November  1st, 
broke  open  his  stable,  and  took  out  his 
coach ;  and  after  carrying  it  through 
the  principal  streets  of  the  city,  marched 
to  the  common,  where  a  gallows  was 
erected,  on  one  end  of  which  they  sus 
pended  his  effigy,  with  a  stamped  bill 
of  lading  in  one  hand,  and  a  figure  of 
the  devil  in  the  other.  When  the 
effigy  had  hung  a  considerable  time, 
they  carried  it  in  procession,  suspended 
to  the- gallows,  to  the  gate  of  the  fort, 
whence  it  was  removed  to  the  bowling 
green,  under  the  very  muzzles  of  the 
guns,  and  a  bonfire  made,  in  which 
everything,  including  the  coach,  was 
consumed,  amidst  the  acclamations  of 
several  thousand  spectators.  The  next 
day,  the  people  insisting  upon  having 
the  stamps,  it  was  agreed  that  they 


*  Hildreth's  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol. 
ii.,  p.  530. 


should  be  delivered  to  the  corporation, 
and  they  were  deposited  in  the  city 
hall.  Ten  boxes  of  stamps,  which  ar 
rived  subsequently,  were  committed  to 
the  flames.  Satirical  pamphlets  and 
cutting  articles  in  the  journals,  con 
stantly  added  fresh  fuel  to  the  flame. 
One  of  those  published  at  Boston  bore 
for  its  title,  "  The  Constitutional  Cour 
rier,  or  Considerations  important  to 
Liberty,  without*being  contrary  to  Loy 
alty"  But  the  device  adopted  was  most 
original,  representing  a  serpent  cut  into 
eight  pieces,  the  head  bearing  the  ini 
tials  of  New  England,  and  the  other 
pieces  those  of  the  other  colonies  as 
far  as  Carolina,  the  whole  being  sur 
mounted  by  the  significant  inscription, 
in  large  letters,  "  UNITE  OR  DIE."  Sim 
ilar  striking  demonstrations  of  the  pop 
ular  feeling  in  regard  to  the  stamp 
tax,  occurred  in  Philadelphia,  and  in 
Maryland  and  Virginia. 

Notwithstanding  the  Stamp  Act  was 
to  go  into  operation  on  the  first  of 
November,  yet  legal  proceedings  were 
carried  on  in  the  courts  just  the  same 
as  before.  Vessels  entered  and  left  the 
ports  without  stamped  papers.  The 
printers  boldly  issued  their  newspa 
pers,  and  found  a  sufficient  number  of 
readers,  though  they  used  common 
paper,  in  defiance  of  the  act  of  Parlia 
ment.  In  most  departments,  by  com 
mon  consent,  business  was  carried  on 
as  though  no  Stamp  Act  had  existod. 
This  was  accompanied  by  spirited1  reso 
lutions  to  risk  all  consequences,  rather 
than  submit  to  use  the  paper  required 
by  law.  While  these  matters  were  in 
agitation,  the  colonists  entered  into 
associations .  against  importing  British 


Cn.  X.] 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  STAMP   TAX. 


manufactures  till  the  Stamp  Act  should 
be  repealed.  In  this  manner  British 
liberty  was  made  to  operate  against 
British  tyranny.  Agreeably  to  the 
free  constitution  of  Great  Britain,  the 
subject  was  at  liberty  to  buy,  or  not 
to  buy,  as  he  pleased.  By  suspending 
their  future  purchases  till  the  repeal 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  the  colonists  made  it 
the  interest  of  merchants  and  manufac 
turers  to  solicit  for  that  repeal.  They 
had  usually  purchased  so  great  a  pro 
portion  of  British  manufactures,  that 
the  sudden  stoppage  of  all  their  orders, 
amounting  annually  to  several  mil 
lions  sterling,  threw  some  thousands  in 
England  out  of  employment,  and  in 
duced  them,  from  a  regard  to  their 
own  interest,  to  advocate  the  measures 
wished  for  by  America.  The  petitions 
from  the  colonies  were  seconded  by  pe 
titions  from  the  merchants  and  manu 
facturers  of  Great  Britain.  What  the 
former  prayed  for  as  a  matter  of  right, 
the  latter  solicited  from  motives  of  in 
terest.  The  colonists  showed  their 
spirit  by  encouraging  domestic  manu 
factures.  Coarse,  common  cloths  came 
into  use  in  preference  to  those  imported 
from  the  mother  country.  Foreign 
elegancies  were  dispensed  with.  The 
zeal  of  the  women  surpassed  that  of 
the  men,  and  they  agreed  to  forego 
ornaments  and  luxuries  to  support  the 
good  cause.  This  was  bringing  the 
question  to  a  point;  the  English  ar 
tisans  and  others  felt  the  effect  imme 
diately,  and  many  of  them  were  re 
duced  to  great  distress  by  there  being 
no  work  for  them  to  do.  The  Sons 
of  Liberty  entered  into  an  agreement 
by  which  they  bound  themselves  "to 


march  with  the  utmost  expedition,  at 
their  own  proper  cost  and  expense, 
with  their  whole  force,  to  the  relief  of 
those  that  should  be  in  danger  from 
the  Stamp  Act,  or  its  promoters  and 
abettors,  or  anything  relative  to  it, 
on  account  of  anything  that  may  have 
been  done  in  opposition  to  its  obtain 
ing." 

A  change  in  the  English  ministry 
took  place  in  July  of  'this  year,  the 


news  of  which  encouraged  the 


1765. 


Americans  in  the  stand  they 
had  taken.  The  Marquis  of  Rocking- 
ham  became?  the  new  prime  minister, 
and  was  liberally  disposed.  Parliament 
met  in  January,  1766,  and  the  colonial 
affairs  at  once  occupied  its  attention. 
In  the  speech  from  the  throne 
the  king  declared  "  his  firm  con 
fidence  in  the  wisdom  and  zeal  of  the 
members,  which  would,  he  doubted  not, 
guide  them  to  such  sound  and  prudent 
resolutions  as  might  tend  at  once  to 
preserve  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
British  legislature  over  the  colonies, 
and  to  restore  to  them  that  harmony 
and  tranquillity  which  had  lately  been 
interrupted  by  disorders  of  the  most 
dangerous  nature."  The  correspond 
ence  of  the  colonial  governors,  and 
other  papers,  were  produced.  Numer 
ous  petitions  also  from  British  mer- 
chants  were  presented  to  the  two 
Houses.  The  ex-ministers,  who  were 
now  in  the  opposition,  defended  their 
line  of  policy  and  their  acts.  Pitt, 
who  was  not  connected  with  either  the 
Grenville  or  the  Rockingham  ministry, 
and  who  had  taken  but  little  part  of 
late  in  public  affairs,  owing  to  ill  health, 
now  appeared  in  his  place  in  the  House 


268 

and  strongly  advocated  the  repeal  of 
the  Stamp  Act. 

"  It  is  a  long  time,  Mr.  Speaker,"  he 
said,  "  since  I  have  attended  in  Parlia 
ment  when  the  resolution  was  taken 
in  this  House  to  tax  America,  I  was  ill 
in  bed.  If  1  could  have  endured  to 
have  been  carried  in  my  bed,  so  great 
was  the  agitation  of  my  mind  for  the 
consequences,  I  would  have  solicited 
some  kind  hand  to  have  laid  me  down 
on  this  floor  to  have  borne  my  testi 
mony  against  it.  It  is  my  opinion  that 
this  kingdom  has  no  right  to  lay  a  tax 
upon  the  colonies.  At  the  same  time, 
I  assert  the  authority  of  this  kingdom 
to  be  sovereign  and  supreme  in  every 
circumstance  of  government  and  legis 
lature  whatsoever.  Taxation  is  no  part 
of  the  governing  or  legislative  power ; 
and  taxes  are  a  voluntary  gift  and 
grant  of  the  commons  alone.  The  con 
currence  of  the  peers  and  of  the  crown 
is  necessary  only  as  a  form  of  law. 
This  House  represents  the  commons 
of  Great  Britain.  When  in  this  House 
we  give  and  grant,  therefore,  we  give 
and  grant  what  is  our  own  ;  but  can 
we  give  and  grant  the  property  of  the 
commons  of  America  ?  It  is  an  ab 
surdity  in  terms.  There  is  an  idea  in 
some,  that  the  colonies  are  virtually 
represented  in  this  House.  I  would 
fain  know  by  whom  ?  The  idea  of 
virtual  representation  is  the  most  con 
temptible  that  ever  entered  into  the 
head  of  man ;  it  does  not  deserve  a 
serioas  refutation.  The  commons  in 
America,  represented  in  their  several 
Assemblies,  have  invariably  exercised 
this  constitutional  light  of  giving  and 
granting  their  own  money ;  they  would 


ENGLAND   BEGINS  THE  CONTEST. 


I!. 


have  been  slaves  if  they  had  not  en- 
jo}^ed  it.  At  the  same  time  this  king 
dom  has  ever  possessed  the  power  of 
legislative  and  commercial  control. 
The  colonies  acknowledge  your  au 
thority  in  all  things,  with  the  sole 
exception  that  you  shall  not  take  their 
money  out  of  their  pockets  without 
their  consent.  Here  would  I  draw  the 
line — quam  ultra  citraque  nequit  con- 
sistere  rectum.'1'' 

A  profound  silence  succeeded  these 
words,  and  for  a  time  no  one  seemed 
disposed  to  advocate  the  cause  of  the 
late  ministry.  At  length,  Grenville* 
himself,  a  man  of  no  mean  powers,  rose 
and  said :  "  protection  and  obe.die.nce 
are  reciprocal ;  Great  Britain  protects 
America.  America  is  therefore  bound 
to  yield  obadience.  If  not.  tell  mo 
when  were  the  Americans  emanci 
pated  ?1'  Looking  significantly  at  Mr. 
Pitt,  he  exclaimed,  "  The  seditious 
spirit  of  the  colonies  owes  its  birth  to 
the  factions  in  this  house  !  Gentlemen 
are  careless  what  they  say,  provided  it 
serves  the  purposes  of  opposition.  We 
were  told  we  trod  on  tender  ground ; 
we  were  bid  to  expect  disobedience: 
what  is  this  but  telling  America  to 


*  Grenville  was  the  brother-in-law  of  Pitt,  and  ^ 
received  at  his  hands  a  sobriquet  that  annoyed  him 
not  a  little.  On  one  occasion,  in  the  course  of  de 
bate,  he  had  called  on  the  gentleman  opposite  to  him 
to  say  where  an  additional  tax  could  be  laid.  "  Let 
them  tell  me  where,"  he  repeated,  fretfully.  "  I  say. 
sir,  let  them  tell  me  where.  I  repeat  it,  sir,  I  am 
entitled  to  say  to  them,  tell  me  where."  Pitt,  \viio 
was  in  the  House  that  evening,  in  a  whining  tone, 
resembling  Grenville's,  hummed  a  line  of  a  well- 
known  song,  "  Gentle  shepherd,  tell  me  where." 
Grenville  was  in  a  rage,  but  the  House  laughed 
heartily.  The  nickname,  Gentle  Shepherd,  stuck  to 
him,  and  it  was  long  before  it  was  forgotten. 


CH.  X.] 


209 


stand  out  against  the  law  ?  to  encour 
age  their  obstinacy  with  the  expectation 
of  support  here?  Ungrateful  people 
of  America !  The  nation  has  run  itself 
Into  an  immense  debt  to  give  them 
protection ;  bounties  have  been  extend 
ed  to  them ;  in  their  favor  the  Act  of 
Navigation,  that  palladium  of  British 
commerce,  has  been  relaxed ;  and  now 
that  they  are  called  upon  to  contribute 
a  small  share  towards  the  public  ex 
pense,  they  renounce  your  authority, 
insult  your  officers,  and  break  out,  I 
might  almost  say,  into  open  rebellion !" 
The  insinuation  was  not  to  be  borne 
for  an  instant.  Every  one  yielded  at 
once  to  Pitt,  who  repelled  the  attack 
with  characteristic  intrepidity.  "Sir, 
a  charge  is  brought  against  gentlemen 
sitting  in  this  House  of  giving  birth  to 
sedition  in  America.  The  freedom 
with  which  they  have  spoken  their 
sentiments  against  this  unhappy  Act  is 
imputed  to  them  as  a  crime ;  but  the 
imputation  shall  not  discourage  me.  It 
is  a  liberty  which  I  hope  no  gentleman 
will  be  afraid  to  exercise  ;  it  is  a  liberty 
by  which  the  gentleman  who  calumni 
ates  it  might  have  profited.  He  ought 
to  have  desisted  from  his  project.  We 
are  told  America  is  obstinate — America 
is  almost  in  open  rebellion.  Sir,  /  re 
joice  America  has  resisted  •  three  mil 
lions  of  people  so  dead  to  all  the  feel 
ings  of  liberty,  as  voluntarily  to  sub 
mit  to_  be  slaves,  would  have  been  fit 
instruments  to  make  slaves  of  all  the 
rest.  I  came  not  here  armed  at  all 
points  with  law  cases  and  acts  of  Par 
liament,  with  the  statute  book  doubled 
down  in  dogs-ears,  to  defend  the  cause 
of  liberty ;  but  for  the  defence  of  lib 


erty  upon  a  general  constitutional  prin 
ciple,  it  is  a  ground  on  which  I  dare 
meet  any  man.  I  will  not  debate 
points  of  law ;  but  what,  after  all,  do 
the  cases  of  Chester  and  Durham  prove, 
but  that  under  the  most  arbitrary  reigns 
Parliament  were  ashamed  of  taxing  a 
people  without  their  consent,  and 
allowed  them  representatives?  A 
higher  and  bett-?"  example  might  have 
been  taken  froin  Wales ;  that  princi 
pality  was  never  taxed  by  Parliament 
till  it  was  incorporated  with  England. 
We  are  told  of  many  classes  of  persons 
in  this  kingdom  not  represented  in 
Parliament ;  but  are  they  not  all  virtu 
ally  represented  as  Englishmen  within 
the  realm  ?  Have  they  not  the  option, 
many  of  them  at  least,  of  becoming 
themselves  electors  ?  Every  inhabitant 
of  this  kingdom  is  necessarily  included 
in  the  general  system  of  representation. 
It  is  a  misfortune  that  more  are  not 
actually  represented.  The  honorable 
gentleman  boasts  of  his  bounties  to 
America.  Are  not  these  bounties  in 
tended  finally  for  the  benefit  of  this 
kingdom?  If  they  are  not,  he  has 
misapplied  the  national  treasures.  I 
am  no  courtier  of  America.  I  maintain 
that  Parliament  has  a  right  to  bind, 
to  restrain  America.  Our  legislative 
power  over  the  colonies  is  sovereign 
and  supreme.  The  honorable  gentle 
man  tells  us  he  understands  not  the 
difference  between  internal  and  external 
taxation ;  but  surely  there  is  a  plain 
distinction  between  taxes  levied  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  a  revenue  and  duties 
imposed  for  the  regulation  of  commerce. 
'When,'  said  the  honorable  gentleman, 
'  were  the  colonies  emancipated  2'  At 


ENGLAND   BEGINS  THE  CONTEST. 


I 


time,  say  I,  in  answer,  were  they 
made  slaves  ?  I  speak  from  actual 
knowledge  when  I  say  that  the  profit 
to  Great  Britain  from  the  trade  of  the 
colonies,  through  all  its  branches,  is  two 
millions  per  annum.  This  is  the  fund 
that  carried  you  triumphantly  through 
the  war;  this  is  the  price  America 
pays  you  for  her  protection ;  and  shall 
a  miserable  financier  come  with  a  boast 
that  he  can  fetch  a  peppercorn  into  the 
exchequer  at  the  loss  of  millions  to  the 
nation  ?  I  know  the  valor  of  your 
troops,  I  know  the  skill  of  your  officers, 
f  know  the  force  of  this  country ;  but 
in  su<  h  a  cause  your  success  would  be 
hazardous.  America,  if  she  fell,  would 
fall  like  a  strong  man :  she  would  em 
brace  the  pillars  of  the  state,  and  pull 
down  the  constitution  with  her.  Is  this 
your  boasted  peace  ?  not  to  sheathe  the 
sword  'IL.  the  scabbard,  but  to  sheathe 
it  in  the  bowels  of  your  countrymen? 
The  Americans  have  been  wronged, 
they  have  been  driven  to  madness  by 
injustice.  Will  you  punish  them  for 
the  madness  you  have  occasioned  ?  No, 
let  this  country  be  the  first  to  resume 
its  prudence  and  temper  ;  I  will  pledge 
myself  for  the  colonies,  that,  on  their 
part,  animosity  and  resentment  will 
cease.  Upon  the  whole,  I  will  beg 
leave  to  tell  the  house  in  a  few  words 
what  is  really  my  opinion.  It  is  that 
the  Stamp  Act  be  repealed  absolutely, 
totally,  and  immediately.  At  the  same 
time  let  the  sovereign  authority  of  this 
couptry  o  ^erthe  colonies  be  asserted  in 
ai  strong  terms  as  can  be  devised,  and 
be  made  to  extend  to  every  point  of 
legislation  whatsoever ;  that  we  may 
bind  their  trade,  confine  their  manufac- 


J  760. 


tures,  and  exercise  any  power  whatso 
ever,  except  that  of  taking  their  money 
out  of  their  pockets  without  tneir  eon. 
sent." 

It  was  while  this  important  debate 
was  going  on,  that  Franklin,  early  in 
February,*  was  summoned  to  give  his 
evidence  before  the  House  of  Commons. 
Franklin's  fame  induced  an  un 
usual  attendance  in  the  galler 
ies,  and  his  replies  to  the  questions  pro 
pounded  had  an  important  bearing 
upon  the  final  settlement  of  the  mat 
ter  before  Parliament.  He  was  asked 
whether,  in  his  opinion,  the  people  of 
America  would  submit  to  the  stamp 
duty  if  it  was  moderated:  he  answered 
emphatically,  "No,  never,  unless  com 
pelled  by  force  of  arms."  To  the  ques 
tion,  "  What  was  the  temper  of  America 


*  About  a  month  previous  to  this,  Franklin,  writinp 
from  London  to  a  friend,  thus  expresses  himself:  "  !n 
my  own  private  judgment,  !  think  an  immediate  re 
peal  of  the  Stamp  Act  would  be  the  best  measure  for 
this  country  ;  but  a  suspension  of  it  for  three  years, 
the  best  for  that.  The  repeal  would  fill  them  \viih 
joy  and  gratitude,  re-establish  their  respect  and  ven 
eration  for  Parliament,  restore  at  once  'their  ancient 
and  natural  love  for  this  country,  and  their  regard  for 
every  thins  that  comes  from  it  hence  ;  the  trade  would 
be  rene.ved  in  all  its  branches  ;  they  would  again  in 
dulge  in  all  the  expensive  superfluities  you  supply 
them  with,  and  their  own  new  assumed  home  indus 
try  would  languish.  But  the  suspension,  though  it 
might  continue  their  fears  and  anxieties,  would  at  the 
same  time  keep  up  their  resolutions  of  industry  and 
frugality,  which,  in  two  or  three  years,  would  grow 
into  habits,  to  their  lasting  advantage.  However,  as 
the  repeal  will  probably  not  now  be  agreed  to,  from 
what  I  now  think,  a  mistaken  opinion,  that  the  honor 
and  dignity  of  government  is  better  supported  hv  pel 
sistinir  in  a  wrong  measure  once  entered  into,  than  by 
rectifying  an  error  as  soon  as  it  is  discovered  ;  we 
must  allow  the  next  best  thing  for  the  advantage  of 
i  both  countries,  is,  the  sutpension.  For,  as  to  execut- 

in"  the  act  bv  force,  it  is  madness,  and  will  be  ruin 

» 

to  the  whole." 


CH.  X.] 


REPEAL    OF    THE    STAMP  -ACT. 


271 


towards  Great  Britain,  before  the  year 
1763?"  lie  replied,  ''The  best  in  the 
world.  They  submitted  willingly  to 
the  government  of  the  crown,  and  paid, 
in  their  courts,  obedience  to  acts  of 
Parliament.  Numerous  as  the  people 
are  in  the  several  old  provinces,  they 
cost  you  nothing  in  forts,  citadels,  gar 
rison^,  or  armies,  to  keep  them  in  sub 
jection.  They  were  governed  by  this 
country  at  the  expense  only  of  a  little 
pen,  ink,  and  paper ;  they  were  led  by 
a  thread.  They  had  not  only  a  respect, 
but  an  affection  for  Great  Britain, — for 
its  laws,  its  customs,  and  manners, — and 
even  a  fondness  for  its  fashions,  that 
greatly  increased  the  commerce.  Na 
tives  of  Britain  were  always  treated 
with  particular  regard ;  to  be  an  Old 
England  man  was,  of  itself,  a  character 
of  some  respect,  and  gave  a  kind  of 
rank  among  us." — "  And  what  is  their 
temper  now  ?"  it  was  asked.  "  0,  very 
much-  altered,"  he  replied.  "Did  you 
ever  hear  the  authority  of  Parliament 
to  make  laws  for  America  questioned 
till  lately  ?"  "  The  authority  of  Parlia 
ment,"  said  he,  "  was  allowed  to  be 
\Talid  in  all  laws,  except  such  as  should 
lay  internal  taxes.  It  was  never  dis 
puted  in  laying  duties  to  regulate  com 
merce."  To  the  question,  u  Can  you 
name  any  act  of  Assembly,  or  public 
act  of  any  of  your  governments,  that 
made  such  distinction?"  he  replied,  "I 
do  not  know  that  there  was  any;  I 
think  there  was  never  an  occasion  to 
mak'^  such  an  act,  till  now  that  you 
have  attempted  to  tax  us ;  that  has  oc 
casioned  resolutions  of  Assembly,  de 
claring  the  distinction,  in  which  I  think 
every  Assembly  on  the  continent,  and 


every  member  in  every  Assembly,  have 
been  unanimous."* 

The  sentiments  of  Washington  were 

O 

in  accordance  with  those  expressed  by 
Franklin.  He  spoke  of  the  Stamp  Act 
as  "  unconstitutional,  and  a  direful  at 
tack  on  the  liberties  of  the  colonists." 
And  not  long  after,  when  the  obnoxious 
act  had  been  repealed,  he  thus  wrote  in 
a  letter  to  a  friend :  "  The  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  to  whatever  cause  owing, 
ought  much  to  be  rejoiced  at ;  for,  had 
the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  resolved 
upon  enforcing  it,  the  consequences,  I 
conceive,  would  have  been  more  direful 
than  is  generally  apprehended,  both  to 
the  mother  country  and  her  colonies. 
All,  therefore,  who  were  instrumental 
in  procuring  the  repeal,  are  entitled  to 
the  thanks  of  every  British  subject,  and 
have  mine  cordially."f 

On  the  22d  of  February,  General 
Conway,  who  had  opposed  from  the 
first,  the  attempt  to  enforce  the  Stamp 
Act,  now  brought  in  a  bill  for  its  total 

O 

repeal.  The  debate  upon  it  was 
long  and  interesting;  but,  as 
Burke  said  afterwards,  "  the  House,  by 
an  independent,  noble-spirited,  and  un 
expected  majority,  in  the  teeth  of  all 
the  old  mercenary  Swiss  of  the  state, 
in  despite  of  all  the  speculators  and 
augurs  of  political  events,  in  defiance 
of  the  whole  embattled  legion  of  vet 
eran  pensioners  and  practised  instru 
ments  of  court,  gave  a  total  repeal  to 
the  Stamp  Act,  and  if  the  scheme  of  tax 
ing  the  colonies  had  been  totally  aban- 

O  * 

doned,  there  would  have  been  a  lasting 


*  Franklin's  Works,  vol.  iv.,  p.  109. 

j  Sparks's  "  Ttife  of  Washington,"1  p.  107 


1TG6. 


272 


ENGLAND   BEGINS  THE  CONTEST. 


peace  to  the  whole  empire."  The  mo 
tion  was  carried  by  two  hundred  and 
seventy-five  against  one  hundred  and 
sixty-seven.  During  the  debate,  as  this 
eloquent  advocate  of  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act  further  says,  "  the  trading 
interest  of  the  empire  crammed  into 
the  lobbies  of  the  House  of  Commons 
with  a  trembling  and  anxious  expecta 
tion,  and  waited,  almost  to  a  winter's 
return  of  light,  their  fate  from  the  reso 
lution  of  the  House.  When,  at  length, 
that  had  determined  in  their  favor,  and 
the  doors  thrown  open,  showed  them 
the  figure  of  their  deliverer  in  the  well- 
earned  triumph  of  his  important  vic 
tory,  from  the  whole  of  that  grave  mul 
titude  there  arose  an  involuntary  burst 
of  gratitude  and  transport.  They  j  ump- 
ed  upon  him.  like  children  on  a  long 
absent  father.  They  clung  about  him 
as  captives  about  their  redeemer.  All 
England  joined  in  his  applause.  Nor 
did  he  seem  insensible  to  the  best  of 
all  earthly  rewards,  the  love  and  ad 
miration  of  his  fellow-citizens.  Hope 
elevated  and  joy  brightened  his  crest." 

The  ministry,  however,  were  by  no 
means  disposed  to  go  the  length  of 
Pitt  on  this  point*  They  placed  the 
repeal  on  the  ground  of  expediency, 
not  of  right  and  justice,  and  they  caused 
another  bill  to  be  previously  passed,  in 
which  it  was  declared,  that  "  Parliament 
had,  and  of  right  ought  to  have,  power 
to  bind  the  colonies  in  all  cases  what 
soever." 

In  the  House  of  Lords,  the  highest 
legal  authorities  differed  on  the  ques 
tion.  The  celebrated  Lord  Mansfield 
maintained'  that  the  sovereign  power 


of  Parliament  included   the 


right 


of 


taxation:  on  the  other  hand,  Lord 
Camden,  formerly  chief-justice  Pratt, 
expressed  himself  in  these  strong 
words :  "  My  position  is  this — I  repeat 
it ;  I  will  maintain  it  to  the  last  hour — 
taxation  and  representation  are  insep 
arable.  The  position  is  founded  in  the 
law  of  nature.  It  is  more ;  it  is  itself  an 
eternal  law  of  nature.  For  whatsoever 
is  a  man's  own,  it  is  absolutely  his  own. 
No  man  has  a  right  to  take  it  from  him 
without  his  consent.  Whoever  attempts 
to  do  it,  attempts  an  injury.  Whoever 
does  it,  commits  a  robbery."* 

The  king  was  opposed  to  the  repeal, 
but  was  loth  to  proceed  to  force :  others 
of  the  peers,  including,  it  is  said,  most 
of  the  bishops,  were  in  favor  of  com 
pelling  obedience  at  all  hazards.  The 
bill  was  finally  passed,  by  a  vote  ot 
a  hundred  and  five  against  seventy 
one.  On  the  19th  of  March,  the  king, 
having  repaired  to  the  House  of  Peers, 
gave  his  assent  to  the  Act  of  Repeal, 
and  that  of  the  Dependence  of  the  col 
onies  towards  Great  Britain.  The 
American  merchants  at  that 

T        ,  .  17C6. 

time  in  London,  went,  in  a 
body,  to  testify  their  joy  and  gratitude 
upon  this  occasion.  The  ships  which 
lay  at  anchor  in  the  Thames,  displayed 
their  colors  in  token  of  felicitation. 
The  houses  were  illuminated  in  all 
parts  of  the  city ;  salutes  were  heard, 
and  bonfires  were  kindled  in  all  quar 
ters.  In  a  word,  none  of  the  public 
demonstrations,  usual  on  similar  occur 
rences,  were  omitted,  to  celebrate  the 
goodness  of  the  king,  and  the  wisdom 
of  Parliament. 

*  See  Bancroft,  vol.  v.,  p.  446-8. 


Co.  X.J 


FRANKLIN'S   LETTER  TO   W.   ALEXANDER. 


27?, 


APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    X. 


I.— FRANKLIN'S  LETTER  TO   W.   ALEXANDER. 

DEAR  SIR,  P«r,  lfo«4  isa*.  ma. 

In  the  pamphlet  you  were  so  kind  as  to  lend 
me,  there  is  one  important  fact  mis-stated,  appa 
rently  from  the  writer's  not  having  been  furnished 
with  good  information  ;  it  is  the  transaction  be 
tween  Mr.  Grenville  and  the  colonies,  wherein  he 
understands  that  Mr.  Grenville  demanded  of  them 
a  specific  sum.  that  they  refused  to  grant  any 
thing,  and  that  it  was  on  their  refusal  only  that 
he  made  a  motion  for  the  Stump  Act.  No  one  of 
these  particulars  is  true.  The  fact  was  this  : — • 

Some  time  in  the  winter  of  1763-4,  Mr.  Gren 
ville  called  together  the  agents  of  the  several 
colonies,  and  told  them  that  he  purposed  to  draw 
a  revenue  from  America,  and  to  that  end  his  in 
tention  was  to  levy  a  stamp  duty  on  the  colonies 
by  act  of  Parliament  in  the  ensuing  session,  of 
which  he  thought  it  fit  that  they  should  be  imme 
diately  acquainted,  that  they  might  have  time  to 
consider,  and  if  any  other  duty  equally  productive 
would  be  more  agreeable  to  them,  they  might  let 
him  know  it.  The  agents  were  therefore  directed 
to  write  this  to  their  respective  Assemblies,  and 
communicate  to  him  the  answers  they  should  re 
ceive  :  the  agents  wrote  accordingly. 

I  was  a  member  in  the  Assembly  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  when  this  notification  came  to  hand.  The 
observations  there  made  upon  it  were,  that  the 
ancient,  established,  and  regular  method  of  draw 
ing  aids  from  the  colonies  was  this.  The  occasion 
was  always  first  considered  by  their  sovereign  in 
his  privy  council,  by  whose  sage  advice,  he  direct 
ed  his  secretary  of  state  to  write  circular  letters 
to  the  several  governors,  who  were  directed  to 
lay  them  before  their  Assemblies.  In  those  letters 
the  occasion  was  explained  for  their  satisfaction, 
with  gracious  expressions  of  his  majesty's  confi 
dence  in  their  known  duty  and  affection,  on  which 
he  relii-d,  that  they  would  grant  such  sums  as 

You       —37 


should  be  suitable  to  their  abilities,  loyalty,  and 
zeal  for  his  service.  That  the  colonies  had  al 
ways  granted  liberally  on  such  requisitions,  and 
so  liberally  during  the  late  war,  that  the  king, 
sensible  they  had  granted  much  more  than  their 
proportion,  had  recommended  it  to  Parliament, 
five  years  successively,  to  make  them  some  com 
pensation,  and  the  Parliament  accordingly  re 
turned  them  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  a-year 
to  be  divided  among  them.  That  the  proposition 
of  taxing  them  in  Parliament  was  therefore  both 
cruel  and  unjust.*  That  by  the  constitution  of 
the  colonies  their  business  was  with  the  king  in 
matters  of  aid  ;  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  any 
financier,  nor  he  with  them  ;  nor  were  the  agents 
the  proper  channels  through  which  requisitions 
should  be  made  ;  it  was  therefore  improper  tor 
them  to  enter  into  any  stipulation,  or  make  any 
proposition  to  Mr.  Grenville  about  laying  taxes 
on  their  constituents  by  Parliament,  which  had 
really  no  right  at  all  to  tax  them,  especially  as 
the  notice  he  had  sent  them  did  not  appear  to  be 
by  the  king's  order,  and  perhaps  was  without  his 
knowledge  ;  as  the  king,  when  he  would  obtain 
any  thing  from  them,  always  accompanied  his 
requisition  with  good  words  ;  but  this  gentleman, 
instead  of  a  decent  demand  sent  them  a  menace, 
that  they  should  certainly  be  taxed,  and  only  left 
them  the  choice  of  the  manner.  But  all  this  not 
withstanding,  they  were  so  far  from  refusing  to 
grant  money,  that  they  resolved  to  the  following 
purpose  :  "That  they  always  had,  so  they  always 
should,  think  it  their  duty  to  grant  aid  to  the 
crown,  according  to  their  abilities,  whenever  re 
quired  of  them  in  the  usual  constitutional  manner." 
I  went  soon  after  to  England,  and  took  with  mo 


*  "There  is  neither  king,  nor  sovereign  lo*rd  on  earth, 
who  has  beyond  his  own  domain,  power  to  lay  one  farthing 
on  the  subjects,  without  the  grant  und  consent  of  those  who 
pay  it ;  unless  he  does  it  by  tyranny  und  violonoo."— 
Philippe  de  Oommines,  Ctap.  108. 


274 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  X. 


IL 


an  authentic  copy  of  this  resolution,  which  I  pre 
sented  to  Mr.  Grenville  before  he  brought  in  the 
Stamp  Act.  I  asserted  in  the  House  of  Commons 
(Mr.  Grenville  being  present)  that  I  had  done  so, 
and  he  did  not  deny  it.  Other  colonies  made 
similar  resolutions.  And  had  Mr.  Grenville,  in 
stead  of  that  act,  applied  to  the  king  in  council 
for  such  rcquisitional  letters  to  be  circulated  by 
the  secretary  of  state,  I  am  sure  he  would  have 
obtained  more  money  from  the  colonies  by  their 
voluntary  grants,  than  he  himself  expected  from 
his  stamps.  But  he  chose  compulsion  rather  than 
persuasion,  and  would  not  receive  from  their 
good-will  what  he  thought  he  could  obtain  with 
out  it.  And  thus  the  golden  bridge  which  the 
ingenious  author  thinks  the  Americans  unwisely 
and  unbecomingly  refused  to  hold  out  to  the  min 
ister  and  Parliament,  was  actually  held  out  to 
them,  but  they  refused  to  walk  over  it.  This  is 
the  true  history  of  that  transaction  ;  and  as  it  is 
probable  there  may  be  another  edition  of  that 
excellent  pamphlet,  I  wish  this  may  be  commu 
nicated  to  the  candid  author,  who  I  doubt  not 
will  correct  that  error. 

I  am  ever,  with  sincere  esteem,  dear  sir,  your 
most  obedient,  humble  servant, 

'       B.  FKANKLIN. 


IL— THE  STAMP   ACT. 

WHEREAS,  by  an  act  made  in  the  last  session 
of  Parliament,  several  duties  were  granted,  con 
tinued,  and  appropriated  towards  defraying  the 
expenses  of  defending,  protecting,  and  securing 
the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America  ; 
and  whereas  it  is  first  necessary,  that  provision  be 
made  for  raising  a  further  revenue  within  your 
majesty's  dominions  in  America,  towards  defray 
ing  the  said  expenses  ;  we,  your  majesty's  most 
dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  the  Commons  of  Great 
Britain,  in  Parliament  assembled,  have  therefore 
resolved  to  give  and  grant  unto  your  majesty  the 
several  rights  and  duties  hereinafter  mentioned  ; 
and  do  most  humbly  beseech  your  majesty  that  it 
may  be  enacted,  And  be  it  enacted  by  the  king's 
most  excellent  majesty,  by  and  with  the  advice 
and  consent  of  the  lords  spiritual  arid  temporal, 
and  commons,  in  this  present  Parliament  assem 
bled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  from 
and  after  the  first  day  of  November,  one  thousand 


seven  hundred  and  sixty-five,  there  shall  be  raised, 
levied,  collected,  and  paid  unto  his  majesty,  his 
heirs  and  successors,  throughout  the  colonies  and 
plantations  in  America,  which  now  are,  or  here 
after  may  be,  under  the  dominion  of  his  majesty, 
his  heirs  and  successors, 

1.  For  every  skin  of  vellum  or  parchment,  or 
sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall  be  en 
grossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  declaration,  plea, 
replication,  rejoinder,  demurrer,  or  other  pleading, 
or  any  copy  thereof,  in  any  court  of  law  within 
the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America, 
a  stamp  duty  of  three  pence. 

2.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written  or  printed,  any  special  bail, 
and  appearance  upon  such  bail  in  any  such  court, 
a  stamp  duty  of  two  shillings. 

3.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  may  be 
engrossed,  written  or  printed,  any  petition,  bill 
or  answer,  claim,  plea,  replication,  rejoinder,  de 
murrer,  or  other  pleading  in  any  court  of  chan 
cery  or  equity  within  the  said  colonies  and  plant 
ations,  a  stamp  duty  of  one   shilling   and   six 
pence. 

4.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written  or  printed,  any  copy  of  any 
petition,  bill,  answer,  claim,  plea,  replication,  re 
joinder,  demurrer,  or  other  pleading,  in  any  such 
court,  a  stamp  duty  of  three  pence. 

5.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written  or  printed,  any  monition, 
libel,  answer,  allegation,  inventory,  or  renuncia 
tion  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  in  any  court  of  pro 
bate,  court  of  the  ordinary,  or  other  court  exer 
cising  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  within   the  said 
colonies  and   plantations,  a  stamp  duty  of  one 
shilling. 

6.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written  or  printed,  any  copy  of  any 
will,  (other  than  the  probate  thereof,)  monition, 
libel,  answer,  allegation,  inventory,  or  renuncia 
tion,  in  ecclesiastical  matters,  in  any  such  court,  a 
stamp  duty  of  sixpence. 

7.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written  or  printed,  any  donation, 


CH.  X.] 


THE  STAMP   ACT. 


275 


presentation,  collation,  or  institution,  of  or  to  any 
benefice,  or  any  writ  or  instrument  for  the  like 
purpose,  any  register,  entry,  testimonial,  or  cer 
tificate  of  any  degree  taken  in  any  university, 
academy,  college,  or  seminary  of  learning,  within 
the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp  duty  of 
two  pounds. 

8.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  monition, 
libel,  claim,  answer,  allegation,  information,  letter 
of  ivquest,  execution,  renunciation,  inventory,  or 
other  pleading  in  any  admiralty  court  within  the 
said  colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp  duty  of  one 
shilling. 

9.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of.  paper,  on  which  any 
copy  of  any  such  monition,  libel,  claim,  answer, 
allegation,  information,  letter  of  request,  execu 
tion,  renunciation,  inventory,  or  other  pleading 
shall  be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  a  stamp 
dnt)  of  sixpence. 

10.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be    engrossed,  written,  or   printed,  any  appeal, 
writ  of  error,  writ  of  dower,  ad  quod  dainnnm, 
certiorari,  statute  merchant,  statute  staple,  attest 
ation,  or  certificate,  by  any  officer,  or  exemplifi 
cation  of  any  record  or  proceeding,  in  any  court 
whatsoever,  within  the  said  colonies  and  planta 
tions,  (except  appeals,  writs  of  error,  certiorari, 
attestations,  certificates,  and  exemplifications,  for, 
or  relating  to,  the  removal  of  any  proceedings  from 
before  a  single  justice  of  the  peace,)  a  stamp  duty 
of  ten  shillings. 

11.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch- 
•  ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 

be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  writ  of 
covenant,  for  levying  fines,  writ  of  entry  for  suf 
fering  a  common  recovery,  or  attachment  issuing 
out  of  or  returnable  into  any  court  within  the  said 
colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp  duty  cf  five 
shillings. 

1 2.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  judgment, 
decree,  or  sentence,  or  dimission,  or  any  record 
of  nisi  privs  or  poxteat  in  aJiy  court  within  the 
said  colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp  duty  of 
four  shillings. 

18.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 


ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  affidavit, 
common  bail,  or  appearance,  interrogatory,  depo 
sition,  rule,  order  or  warrant  of  any  court,  or  any 
dedimus  potestatern,  capias,  sukjicena,  summons, 
compulsory  citation,  commission,  recognizance,  or 
any  other  writ,  process,  or  mandate,  issuing  out 
of,  or  returnable  into,  any  court,  or  any  office  be 
longing  thereto,  or  any  other  proceedings  therein 
whatsoever,  or  any  copy  thereof,  or  of  any  record 
not  herein  before  charged,  within  the  said  colonies 
and  plantations,  (except  warrants  relating  to 
criminal  matters,  and  proceedings  thereon,  or  re 
lating  thereto,)  a  stamp  duty  of  one  shilling. 

14.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  note  or  bill 
of  lading,  which  shall  be  signed  for  any  kind  of 
goods,  wares,   or   merchandise,   to    be   exported 
from,  or  any  cocket  or  clearance  granted  \\ithiu 
the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp  duty 
of  four  pence. 

15.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch' 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  letters  of  mark 
or  commission  for  private  ships  of  war,  within  the 
said  colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp  duty  of 
twenty  shillings. 

16.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum,  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  grant,  ap 
pointment,  or  admission  of  or  to  any  public  bene 
ficial  office  or  employment,  for  the  space  of  one 
year,  or  any  lesser  time,  or  of  above  twenty  pounds 
per  annum,  sterling  money,  in   salary,  fees,  and 
perquisites  within   the  said  colonies  and   planta 
tions,  (except  commissions  and  appointments  of 
officers  of  the  army,  navy,  ordnance,  or  militia, 
of  judges,  and  of  justices  of  the  peace,)  a  stamp 
duty  of  ten  shillings. 

1 7.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  any 
grant  of  any  liberty,  privilege,  or  franchise,  under 
the  seal  or  sign  manual  of  any  governor,  pro 
prietor,  or  public  officer,  alone,  or  in  conjunction 
with  any  other  person  or  persons,  or  with  *ny 
council,  or  any  council  and  assembly,  or  any  ex 
emplification  of  the   same,   shall   be  engrossed, 
written,  or  printed,  within  the  said  colonies  and 
plantations,  a  stamp  duty  of  six  pounds. 

18.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch- 


270 


APPENDIX    iu  CHAPTER  X. 


.  11. 


ment,  or  sheet  or  pieoe  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  license  for 
retailing  of  spirituous  liquors,  to  be  granted  to 
any  person  who  shall  take  out  the  same,  within 
the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp  duty 
of  twenty  shillings. 

19.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  license  for 
retailing  of  wine,  to  be  granted  to  any  person  who 
shall  not  take  out  a  license  for  retailing  of  spiritu 
ous  liquors,  within  the  said  colonies  and  planta 
tions,  a  stamp  duty  of  four  pounds. 

20.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  license  for 
retailing  of  wine,  to  be  granted  to  any  person  who 
shall  take  out  a  license  for  retailing  of  spirituous 
liquors,  within  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  a 
stamp  duty  of  three  pounds. 

21.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  probate  of 
will,  letters  of  administration  or  of  guardianship 
for  any  estate  above  the  value  of  twenty  pounds 
sterling  money,  within  the  British  colonies  and 
plantations  upon  the  continent  of  America,  the 
islands  belonging  thereto,  and  the  Bermuda  and 
Bahama  islands,  a  stamp  duty  of  five  shillings. 

22.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  such  pro 
bate,  letters  of  administration  or  of  guardianship, 
within  all  other  parts  of  the  British  dominions  in 
America,  a  stamp  duty  of  ten  shillings. 

23.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  bond  for 
securing  the  payment  of  any  sum  of  money,  not 
exceeding  the  sum  of  ten  pounds,  sterling  money, 
within  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  upon 
the  continent  of  America,  the  islands  belonging 
thereto,  and  the  Bermuda  and  Bahama  islands,  a 
stamp  duty  of  sixpence. 

24.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  bond  for 
securing  the  payment  of  any  sum  of  money  above 
ten  pounds,  and  not  exceeding  twenty  pounds, 
sterling  money,  within  such  colonies,  plantations, 
and  islands,  a  stamp  duty  of  one  shilling. 


25.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  ohall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  bond  for 
securing  the  payment  of  any  sum  of  money  above 
twenty  pounds,  and  not  exceeding  forty  pounds, 
sterling  money,  within  such  colonies,  plantations, 
and  islands,  a  stamp  duty  of  one  shilling  and  six 
pence. 

26.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  order  or 
warrant  for  surveying  or  setting  out  any  quantity 
of  land,  not  exceeding  one  hundred  acres,  issued 
by  any  governor,  proprietor,  or  any  public  officer, 
alone,  or  in  conjunction  with  any  other  person  or 
persons,  or  with  any  council,  or  any  council  and 
assembly,  within  the  British  colonies  and  planta'- 
tions  in  America,  a  stamp  duty  of  sixpence. 

27.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written  or  printed,  any  such  order 
or  warrant  for  surveying  or  setting  out  any  quan 
tity  of  land  above  one  hundred  and  not  exceeding 
two  hundred  acres,  within  the  said  colonies  and 
plantations,  a  stamp  duty  of  one  shilling. 

28.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  such  order 
or  warrant  for  surveying  or  setting  out  any  quan 
tity  of  land  above  two  hundred  and  not  exceeding 
three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  and  in  propor 
tion  for  every  such  order  or  warrant  for  survey 
ing  or  setting  out  every  other  three  hundred  and 
twenty  acres,  within  the  said  colonies  and  planta 
tions,  a  stamp  duty  of  one  shilling  and  sixpence. 

29.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,   or   printed,  any   original 
grant  or  any  deed,  mesne  conveyance,  or  other 
instrument  whatsoever,  by  which  any  quantity  of 
land,  not  exceeding  one  hundred  acres,  shall  be 
granted,  conveyed,  or  assigned,  within  the  British 
colonies  and  plantations  upon  the  continent  of 
America,  the  islands  belonging  thereto,  and  the 
Bermuda  and  Bahama  islands,  (except  leases  for 
any  term  not  exceeding  the  term  of  twenty-one 
years)  a  stamp  duty  of  one  shilling  and  sixpence. 

30.  For  every  s^in  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  such  original 
grant,  or  any  such  deed,  mesne  conveyance,  or 


THE  STAMP   ACT. 


277 


otlior  instrument  whatsoever,  by  which  any  quan 
tity  of  land,  above  one  hundred  and  not  exceeding 
two  hundred  acres,  shall  be  granted,  conveyed,  or 
assigned,  within  such  colonies,  plantations  and 
islands,  a  stamp  duty  of  two  shillings. 

ol.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall  be 
engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  such  original 
grant,  or  any  such  deed,  mesne  conveyance,  or 
other  instrument  whatsoever,  by  which  any  quan 
tity  of  land,  above  two  hundred,  and  not  exceeding 
thn-e  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  shall  be  granted, 
conveyed,  or  assigned,  and  in  proportion  for  every 
such  grant,  deed,  mesne  conveyance,  or  other  in 
strument,  granting,  conveying,  or  assigning,  every 
other  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  within  such 
colonies,  plantations,  and  islands,  a  stamp  duty  of 
two  shillings  and  sixpence. 

32.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  such  original 
grant,  or  any  such  deed,  mesne  conveyance,  or 
other  instrument  whatsoever,  by  which  any  quan 
tity  of  land,  not  exceeding  one  hundred  acres, 
shall   be   granted,  conveyed,  or  assigned,  within 
all  other  parts. of  the  British  dominions  in  Amer 
ica,  a  stamp  duty  of  three  shillings. 

33.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  such  origi 
nal  grant,  or  any  such  deed,  inesne  conveyance, 
or  other  instrument  whatsoever,  by  which   any 
quantity  of  land,  above  one  hundred  and  not  ex 
ceeding  two  hundred  acres,  shall  be  granted,  con 
veyed,  or  assigned,  within  the  same  parts  of  the 
said  dominions,  a  stamp  duty  of  four  shillings. 

34.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  such  origi 
nal  grant,  or  any  such  deed,  mesne  conveyance, 
or   other   instrument  whatsoever,  by  which   any 
quantity  of  land,  above  two  hundred  and  not  ex 
ceeding  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  shall  be 
granted,  conveyed,  or  assigned,  and  in  proportion 
for  every  such  grant,  deed,  mesne  conveyance,  or 
other  instrument,  granting,  conveying,  or  assigning 
every  other  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  within 
the  same  parts  of  the  said  dominions,  a  stamp  duty 
wf  five  shillings. 

3,").   For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  )i-  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 


be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  grant,  ap 
pointment,  or  admission,  of  or  to  any  beneficial 
office  or  employment,  not  herein  before  charged, 
above  the  value  of  twenty  pounds  per  annum 
sterling  money,  in  salary,  fees,  and  perquisites, 
or  any  exemplification  of  the  same,  within  the 
British  colonies,  and  plantations  upon  the  con 
tinent  of  America,  the  islands  belonging  thereto, 
and  the  Bermuda  and  Bahama  islands,  (except 
commissions  of  officers  of  the  army,  navy,  ord 
nance,  or  militia,  and  of  justices  of  the  peace.)  a 
stamp  duty  of  four  pounds. 

30.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  such  grant, 
appointment,  or  admission,  of  or  to  any  such 
public  beneficial  office  or  employment,  or  any  ex 
emplification  of  the  same,  within  all  other  parts 
of  the  British  dominions  in  America,  a  stamp 
duty  of  six  pounds. 

37.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  indenture, 
lease,   conveyance,   contract,  stipulation,   bill   of 
sale,  charter  party,  protest,  articles  of  apprentice 
ship,  or  covenant,  (except  for  the  lure  of  servants 
not  apprentices,  and  also  except  such  other  matters 
as  herein  before  charged,)  within  the  British  colo 
nies  and  plantations  in  America,  a  stamp  duty  of 
two  shillings  and  sixpence. 

38.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  any 
warrant  or  order  for  auditing  any  public  accounts, 
beneficial   warrant,   order,  grant,   or  certificate, 
under  any  public  seal,  or  under  the  seal  or  sign 
manual  of  any  governor,   proprietor,   or  public 
officer,  alone,  or  in  conjunction  with   any  other 
person  or  persons,  or  with  any  council,  or  any 
council  and  assembly,  not  herein  before  charged, 
or  any  passport  or  letpass,  surrender  of  office,  or 
policy  of  assurance,  shall  be  engrossed,  written, 
or  printed,  within  the  said   colonies   and   planta 
tions,  (except  warrants  or  orders  for  the  service 
of  the  army,  navy,  ordnance,  or  militia,  and  grants 
of  offices  under  twenty  pounds  per  annum,  in  sal 
ary,  fees,  and  perquisites,)   a  stamp  duty  of  five 
shillings. 

39.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be   engrossed,  written,   or  printed,   any   notarial 
act,  bond,  deed,  leiter  of  attorney,  procuration, 


278 


APPEXDiX  TO   CHAPTER  X. 


|_BK. 


mortgage,  release,  or  other  obligatory  instru 
ment,  not  herein  before  charged,  within  the  said 
colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp  duty  of  two 
shillings  and  throe  pence. 

•40.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  register, 
entry,  or  enrollment  of  any  grant,  deed,  or  other 
instrument  whatsoever,  herein  before  charged, 
within  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp 
duty  of  three  pence. 

41.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  shall 
be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed,  any  register, 
entry,  or  enrollment  of  any  grant,  deed,  or  other 
instrument  whatsoever,  not  herein  before  charged, 
within  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  a  stamp 
duty  of  two  shillings. 

42.  And  for  and  upon  every  pack  of  playing 
cards,  and  all  dice,  which  shall  be  sold  or  used 
within  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  the  se 
veral  stamp  duties  following  ;  (that  is  to  say;) 

43.  For  every  pack  of  such  cards,  one  shilling. 

44.  And  for  every  pair  of  such  dice,  ten  shillings. 

45.  And  for  and  upon  every  paper  called  a 
pamphlet,  and  upon  every  newspaper,  containing 
public  news,  or  occurrences,  which  shall  be  printed, 
dispersed,  and  made  public,  within  any  of  the  said 
colonies  and  plantations,  and  for  and  upon  such 
advertisements  as  are  hereinafter  mentioned,  the 
respective  duties  following  ;  (that  is  to  say;) 

46.  For  every  such  pamphlet  and  paper,  con 
tained  in  a  half  sheet,  or  any  lesser  piece  of  paper, 
which  shall  be  so  printed,  a  stamp  duty  of  one 
half-penny  for  every  printed  copy  thereof. 

47.  For  every  such  pamphlet  and  paper,  (being 
larger  than  half  a  sheet,  and  not  exceeding  one 
whole  sheet,)  which  shall  be  so  printed,  a  stamp 
duty  of  one  penny  for  every  printed  copy  thereof. 

48.  For  every  pamphlet  and  paper,  being  larger 
than  one  whole  sheet,  and  not  exceeding  six  sheets 
in  octavo,  or  in  a  lesser  page,  or  not  exceeding 
twelve  sheets  in  quarto,  or  twenty  sheets  in  folio, 
which  shall  be  so  printed,  a  duty  after  the  rate 
of  one  shilling  for  every  sheet  of  any  kind  of  paper 
which  shall  be  contained  in  one  printed  copy  thereof. 


49.  For  every  advertisement  to  be  contained 
in  any  gazette,  newspaper,   or  other   paper,  or 
any  pamphlet  which  shall  be  so  printed,  a  duty  of 
two  shillings. 

50.  For  every  almanac  or  calendar  for  any  ona 
particular  year,  or  for  any  time  less  than  a  year, 
which  shall  be  written  or  printed  on  one  side  only 
of  any  one  sheet,  skin  or  piece  of  paper,  parch 
ment,  or  vellum,  within   the  said   colonies   and 
plantations,  a  stamp  duty  of  two  pence. 

51.  For  every  other  almanac,  or  calendar,  for 
any  one  particular  year,  which  shall  be  written  or 
printed  within  the  said  colonies  and  plantations, 
a  stamp  duty  of  four  pence. 

52.  And  for  every  almanac  or  calendar,  written 
or  printed  in  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  to 
serve  for  several  years,  duties  to  the  same  amount 
respectively  shall  be  paid  for  every  such  year. 

53.  For  every  skin  or  piece  of  vellum  or  parch 
ment,  or  sheet  or  piece  of  paper,  on  which  any 
instrument,  proceeding,  or  other  matter  or  thing 
aforesaid,  shall  be  engrossed,  written,  or  printed, 
within  the  said  colonies  and  plantations,  in  any 
other  than  the  English  language,  a  stamp  duty 
of  double  the  amount  of  the  respective  duties  be 
fore  charged  thereon. 

54.  And  there  shall  be  also  paid,  in  the  said 
colonies  and  plantations,  a  duty  of  sixpence  for 
every  twenty  shillings,  in  any  sum  not  exceeding 
fifty  pounds  sterling  money,  which  shall  be  given, 
paid,  contracted,  or  agreed  for,  with  or  in  relation 
to  any  clerk,  or  apprentice,  which  shall  be  put  or 
placed  to  or  with  any  master  or  mistress,  to  learn 
any  profession,  trade,  or  employment.     II.  And 
also  a  duty  of  one  shilling  for  every  twenty  shil 
lings,  in  any  sum  exceeding  fifty  pounds  which 
shall  be  given,  paid,  contracted,  or  agreed  for, 
with,   or  in  relation  to,  any  such  clerk  or  ap 
prentice. 

55.  Finally  the  produce  of  all  the  aforemen 
tioned    duties   shall  be   paid   into    his    majesty's 
treasury  ;  and  there  held  in  reserve,  to  be  used, 
from  time  to  time,  by  the  Parliament,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  defraying  the  expenses  necessary  for  the 
defence,  protection,  and  security  of  the  said  colo 
nies  and  plantations. 


,CT   Or    REPEALING   THE   STAMP    ACT. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

1766—1774, 

PROGRESS      OF     THE     CONTEST. 

repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  received  in  America  with  joy  —  Con  way's  circular  letter  —  G<  verncr  Bernard'a 
offensive  course  —  Chan  ire  of  feeling  in  America  —  Grievances  not  redressed — Feeling  on  both  sides  —  Eminent 
statesmen  and  orators  of  the  day  —  Pendleton,  Bland,  Wythe,  R.  II.  Lee,  Jefferson,  in  Virginia — S.  Adams, 
Hancock,  Cashing,  Bowdoin,  Quincy,  Paine,  in  Massachusetts  —  Rutledge,  Gadsden,  Laurens,  Ramsay,  in  South 
Carolina  —  Chanire  in  the  English  ministry — Townshend  urged  on  by  Grenville  to  tax  America  —  His  scheme 

—  M.  Guizot's  statements  —  Dickinson's  "Letters  of  a  Farmer"  —  General  Court  in  Massachusetts  —  Petition  to 
(he  king  —  The  ministry  dread  united  action  among  Americans  —  Bernard's  course  — Spirit  of  the  Assembly  — 
Similar  spirit  in  the  other  colonies  —  Case  of  the  sloop  Liberty — Excitement  in  Boston  caused  by  impressment 

—  Public  convention  held  —  Its  acts  —  Arrival  of  the  troops  —  Indignation  of  the  Bostonians — Offensive  action 
of  Parliament  resented  in  America  —  The  General  Court  refuse  to  act  in  the  midst  of  an  armed  force — Progress 
of  the  dispute  with  Bernard — Course  pursued  by  other  colonies — Proposal  to  take  off  the  duty  on  certain 
articles — Right  of   taxation  still   maintained — Vacillating  course  of   the    English   ministry — Reconciliation 
hardly  possible — The  "Boston  Massacre" — Trial  of  Preston  and  the  soldiers  —  Noble  course  of  Quincy  and 
Adams —  Action  of  the  Assembly  —  Lord  North's  proposal  —  Pownall's  views  —  Salaries  of  the  Governor  and 
judges  of  Massachusetts  to  be  paid  by  the  crown  —  Very  offensive  to  the  people  —  Case  of  the  Gaspe  —  Ihjtehia 
son's  letters  —  Excitement  caused  by  these — Franklin's  share  in  the  matter  —  Action  in  Virginia  —  A  crisis  at 
hand —  Determination  that  the  tea  should  not  be  landed  —  What  was  done  in  Boston  —  The  famous  "Boston 
Tea  Party" — What  was  done  elsewhere  —  Progress  of  settlement  in   the  north-west  —  Insurrection  in   North 
Carolina  —  Daniel  Boone  and  his  adventxires  —  Emigration  to  America  —  War  with  the  Ohio  Indians — 'Speech 
of  Logan  —  Religions  sects  and  influence  —  Colleges  in  America. 


THE  news  of  the  repeal  of  .the  Stamp 
Act  was  received  in  America  with  great 
joy  and  satisfaction.  All  the  usual 
demonstrations  of  popular  rejoicing 
were  indulged  in  ;  thanksgivings  were 
offered  in  the  churches ;  the  bells  were 
rung  ;  cannon  were  fired  ;  and  the  ships 
were  decked  out  in  gala  costume. 
Statues  were  voted  to  the  king  in  Vir 
ginia  and  New  York  ;  portraits  of  Cam- 

O  1 

den,  Barre  and  GUI  way,  wei<  placed 
in  Fane  nil  Hall ;  and  Pitt's  name  was 
held  in  universal  veneration  and  es- 
t(  em.  V/hatever  was  obnoxious  in  his 
views,  ;us  to  restrictions  on  trade,  and 
commerce,  was  forgotten,  and  he  be 
came  the  popular  idol  in  America. 
Mr.  Secretary  Con  way,  in  June,  1766, 


addressed  a  circular  letter  to  the  gov 
ernors  of  the  colonies.     In  this 
letter  he   informed   them   that 
the  king  and  Parliament  ''seemed  dis 
posed  not  only  io  forgive  but  to  forget 
those  most  unjustifiable   marks   of   an 
undutiful    disposition,   too  frequent  in 
the  late  transactions  of  these  colonies;" 
but  at  the  same   time   required   them 
strongly  to  recommend  to  the  Assem- 

O    *i 

blies  to  make  full  and  ample  compen 
sation  to  those  who  had  suffered  "fop 
their  deference  to  the  act  of  the  British 
legislature/'  The  transactions  referred 
to  in  the  secretary's  letter  were  those 
which  took  place  in  Boston  and  New 
York,  in  the  summer  of  1765. 

This  letter  of  the  secretary  was  laid 


280 


PROGRESS   OF  THE   CONTEST. 


[Hu.  11 


before  the  Assembly  of  Massachusetts, 
by  Governor  Bernard,  a  man  of  morose 
haughty  temper,  and  specially  out  of 
place  just  at  this  juncture  in  Massachu 
setts.  Mr.  Grahame  characterizes  his 
course  towards  the  Assembly,  as  inso 
lent  and  overbearing ;  the  Assembly,  of 
course,  could  not  submit  to  anything  of 
the  kind.  The  language  of  Bernard's 

~       o 

communication  in  regard  to  the  voting 
money  to  the  sufferers  by  the  late  dis 
turbances  was:  "Th,e  justice  and  hu 
manity  of  this  requisition  is  so  forcible, 
that  it  cannot  be  controverted ;  the 
authority  with  which  it  is  introduced 
should  preclude  all  disputation  about 
it."  In  reply  to  language  of  this  kind, 
the  House  observed,  "  That  it  was  con 
ceived  in  much  higher  and  stronger 
terms  in  the  speech  than  in  the  letter 
jf  the  secretary.  Whether  in  thus 
exceeding,  your  excellency  speaks  by 
your  own  authority,  or  a  higher,  is  not 
Vvith  us  to  determine.  However,  if  this 
recommendation,  which  your  excellency 
terms  a  requisition,  be  founded  on  so 
much  justice  and  humanity  that  it  can 
not  be  controverted;  if  the  authority 
with  which  it  is  introduced  should  pre 
clude  all  disputation  about  complying 
with  it,  wo  should  be  glad  to  know 
what  freedom  we  have  in  the  case." 
Compensation  was  not  made  to  the 
sufferers  in  Massachusetts  until  Decem 
ber,  1766;  and  then  in  a  manner  and 
on  conditions  highly  displeasing  to  the 
British  government;  the  act  for  that 
purpose  also  containing  "  free  and  gen 
eral  pardon,  indemnity,  and  oblivion, 
to  all  offenders  in  the  late  times."  In 
New  York,  the  Legislature,  by  a  volun 
tary  act,  granted  compensation  to  those 


who  had  suffered  a  loss  of  property  in 
their  adherence  to  the  Stamp  Act ;  but 
they  refused  to  carry  into  execution 
the  act  of  Parliament  for  quartering 
his  majesty's  troops  upon  them,  on  ac 
count  of  a*  clause  which  they  declared 
involved  the  principle  of  taxation. 

The  exultation  in  America  over  tht 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  soon  subsided. 
Men  began  to  scan  more  narrowly  the 

o  %j 

meaning  of  that  fatal  clause  declaring 

O  O 

the  absolute  power  of  Parliament  over 
the  colonies,  and  they  began  to  remem 
ber  afresh  the  causes  of  grievance 

O 

which  had  led  to  the  late  disturbances. 
Heretofore  they  had  not  been  called 
upon  to  take  united  action  in -any  great 
matter  in  which  the  interests  of  each  and 
every  colony  were  concerned:  previous 
to  this  date,  there  had  been  no  wide 
spread  agitation  on  topics  of  common 
importance  to  all;  and  the  fires  of  pop 
ular  eloquence  had  not  been  kindled 
and  fanned  into  a  blaze,  of  light,  until 
the  attempt  had  been  made  to  coerce 
the  colonies  into  submission  to  taxation 
without  representation.  Disputes  and 
dissensions  between  those  nearly  and 
closely  allied,  almost  always  leave 
rankling  hurts  in  the  minds  of  both 

O 

parties,  even  after  the  fullest  reconcilia 
tion  ;  for  the  nature  of  man  is  such, 
that  he  is  very  likely  to  brood  over 
the  causes  of  complaint  which  before 
existed,  and,  thinking  that  perhaps  he 
has  not  after  all  received  quite  his  due, 
he  is  ready  without  much  persuasion 
with  only  a  slight  moving  cause,  to  re 
new  the  dispute  even  more  fiercely  than 
ever.  England  had  acted  fooli^hlv 

O  */ 

and  ignorantly;  the  colonies  had  re 
sisted  determinedly  ;  England  gave 


On.  Xl.J 


STATESMEN  AND  ORATORS  OF  THE  DAY. 


281 


way ;  but  she  did  it  very  ungraciously, 
and  deprived  her  relinquishment  of  the 
present  claim  to  impose  a  tax  of  all  its 
real  value  by  coupling  with  it  an  asser 
tion  of  the  absolute  power  of  Parlia 
ment  to  bind  the  colonies  in  all  cases 
whatsoever.  The  Americans  could  not 
but  notice  this,  and  the  popular  leaders 
were  far  too  astute  not  to  point  out 
the  discrepancy  between  giving  up  a 
claim  and  asserting  a  power  to  maintain 
this  same  claim  at  any  moment  Parlia 
ment  chose. 

The  influence  exerted  by  many  emi 
nent  statesmen  and  orators  of  the  day 
will  justify  our  speaking  of  them  more 
fully  in  this  place;  and  in  doing  so,  we 
shall  use  the  language  of  Mr.  Grahame, 
who  writes  with  mingled  enthusiasm 
and  admiration  of  our  patriot  sires. 

The  most  remarkable  of  the  polit 
ical  leaders  and  orators  who  sprung  up 
at  this  period  were  natives  of  Virginia, 
Massachusetts,  and  South  Carolina.  In 
Virginia,  there  were  particularly  dis 
tinguished,  after  Patrick  Henry,  whom 
we  have  already  repeatedly  noticed, 
and  who  held  the  first  place  as  a  popu 
lar  champion  and  favorite,  Edmund 
Pendleton,  a  graceful  and  persuasive 
speaker,  a  subtle  and  dexterous  poli 
tician,  energetic  and  indefatigable  in  the 
conduct  of  business;  Richard  Bland, 
celebrated  for  the  extent  and  accuracy 
of  his  knowledge,  unrivalled  among 
his  contemporaries  as  a  logician,  and 
who  published  this  year  an  Inquiry 
into  tlie  Ricjlds  of  tlie  British  Colonies, 
in  which  the  recent  claims  of  America 
were  defended  with  much  cogency  of 
reasoning;  George  Wythe,  not  more 
admired  for  the  strength  of  his  capacity 

VOL.  I. — 38 


and  the  elegance  of  his  wit,  than  re 
spected  for  the  simplicity  and  integrity 
of  his  character;  Peyton  Randolph, 
whose  high  repute  and  influence  with 
his  countrymen,  unaided  by  the  capti- 
vation  of  eloquence,  was  founded  on 
qualities  more  honorable  both  to  him 
and  to  them,  the  solid  powers  of  his 
understanding  and  the  sterling  virtues 
of  his  heart ;  and  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  scholars 
and  orators  in  America,  and  who  was 
commonly  styled  the  Virginian  Cicero. 
Washington,  who,  since  the  reduction 
of  Fort  Duquesne,  in  1758,  had  with 
drawn  from,  military  life,  and  never 
quitted  his  domestic  scene  but  to  dis 
charge  the  duties  of  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  Assembly,  now  calmly  but 
firmly  espoused  the  cause  of  his  native 
country  in  opposition  to  the  pretensions 
of  the  British  Government;  nor  was 
there  an  individual  more  respected  m 
Virginia,  or  more  generally  known  and 
esteemed  by  all  America,  than  himself; 
but,  devoid  of  oratorical  powers,  tran 
quil,  sedate,  prudent,  dignified,  and  re 
served,  he  was  little  qualified  by  genius 
or  habit  to  make  a  brilliant  figure  as  a 
provincial  politician,  and  waited  the 
development  of  a  grander  scene  of 
counsel  and  action,  more  adapted  to  the 
illustration  of  his  majestic  wisdom  and 
superior  sense.  Various  other  individ 
uals,  who  have  gained  renown  as  do- 
fenders  of  the  liberty  and  founders  of 
the  independence  of  America,  began, 
shortly  after  this  period,  to  be  distin 
guished  in  the  list  of  Virginian  poli 
ticians  ;  of  whom  the  most  remarkable 
was  Thomas  Jefferson,  preeminent  as  a 
statesman,  scholar,  and  philosopher,;,  a 


282 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  CONTEST. 


IL 


forcible,  perspicuous,  and  elegant  writer; 
an  intrepid  and  enterprising  patriot; 
and  an  ardent  and  inflexible  asserter  of 
republican  sentiments  and  the  principles 
of  purest  democracy.  None  of  his  con 
temporaries  exceeded  him  in  politeness 
and  benignity  of  manner  ;  and  few  ap 
proached  him  in  earnestness  of  temper 
and  firmness  of  purpose.  This  rare 
combination  of  moral  qualities  enhanced 
the  efficacy  of  his  talent  and  genius, 
and  greatly  contributed  to  the  ascend 
ant  he  obtained  over  the  minds  of  his 
countrymen.  From  the  very  dawn  of 
the  controversy  between  Britain  and 
America,  Jefferson,  and  his  friend  and 
patron,  Wythe,  outstripped  the  political 
views  of  most  of  the  contemporary 
American  patriots,  and  embraced  the 
doctrine  which  ascribed  indeed  to  the 
crown  some  prerogative,  but  denied  to 
the  Parliament  any  degree  or  species 
of  legitimate  control  over  America. 
Arthur,  the  brother  of  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  and  afterwards  ambassador  from 
America  to  France,  was  at  this  time 
pursuing  the  study  of  the  law  in  Lon 
don,  but  more  actively  engaged,  as  a 
gratuitous  coadjutor  of  Dr.  Franklin, 
in  watching  the  measures  of  the  British 
government;  and  rendered  important 
service  to  his  countrymen  by  transmit 
ting  early  intelligence  of  the  ministerial 
plans  and  purposes. 

In  Massachusetts,  at  the  present 
^poch,  the  most  distinguished  popular 
leaders  and  champions  of  the  cause  of 
America  were  James  Otis,  who  has  al 
ready  engaged  our  observation ;  Samuel 
Adams,  John  Hancock,  Thomas  Gush 
ing,  and  James  Bowdoin,  merchants; 
Samuel  Cooper,  a  clergyman ;  Josiah 


Quincy,  Jr.,  and  Robert  Treat  Paine, 
lawyers ;  and  John  Winthrop,  Professor 
of  Mathematics  in  Harvard  College. 
Samuel  Adams  was  one  of  the  most 
perfect  models  of  disinterested  patriot 
ism,  and  of  republican  genius  and  char 
acter  in  all  its  severity  and  simplicity 
that  any  age  or  country  has  ever  pro 
duced.  At  Harvard  College,  in  the 
year  1743,  he  made  an  early  display  of 
those  political  sentiments  which  he 
cherished  through  life,  by  maintaining, 
in  the  thesis  which  gained  him  his 
literary  degree,  that  "  it  is  lawful  to 
resist  the  supreme  magistrate,  if  the 
commonwealth  cannot  otherwise  be  pre 
served."  A  sincere  and  devout  Puritan 
in  religion,  grave  in  his  manners,  austere 
ly  pure  in  his  morals,  simple,  frugal, 
and  unambitious  in  his  tastes,  habits, 
and  desires ;  zealously,  and  incorrupt- 
ibly  devoted  to  the  defence  of  American 
liberty,  and  the  improvement  of  Amer 
ican  character ;  endowed  with  a  strong. 
manly  understanding,  an  unrelaxing 
earnestness  and  inflexible  firmness  of 
will  and  purpose,  a  capacity  of  patient 
and  intense  application  which  no  labor 
could  exhaust,  and  a  calm  and  deter 
mined  courage  which  no  danger  could 
daunt  and  no  disaster  depress, — he  ren 
dered  his  virtues  more  efficacious  by 
the  instrumentality  of  great  powers  of 
reasoning  and  eloquence,  and  altogether 
supported  a  part  and  exhibited  a  char 
acter  of  which  every  description^  even 
the  most  frigid  that  has  been  preserved, 
wears  the  air  of  panegyric.  He  de 
fended  the  liberty  of  his  countrymen 
against  the  tyranny  of  England,  and 
their  religious  principles  against  the 
impious  sophistry  of  Paine.  His  moral 


CH.  XI.] 


SAMUEL  ADAMS  AND  JOHN   HANCOCK. 


283 


sentiments  ever  mingled  with  his  polit 
ical  views  and  opinions ;  and  his  con 
stant  aim  was  rather  to  deserve  the 
esteem  of  mankind  by  honesty  and 
virtue,  than  to  obtain  it  by  supple  com 
pliance  and  flattery.  Poor  without 
desiring  to  be  rich,  he  subsequently 
filled  the  highest  offices  in  the  State 
of  Massachusetts,  without  making  the 
slightest  augmentation  to  his  fortune ; 
and  after  an  active,  useful,  and  illustri 
ous  life,  in  which  all  the  interests  of  the 
individual  were  merged  in  regard  and 
care  for  the  community,  he  died  with 
out  obtaining  or  desiring  any  other  re 
ward  than  the  consciousness  of  virtue 
and  integrity,  the  contemplation  of  his 
country's  happiness,  and  the  respect 
and  veneration  of  his  fellow-citizens. 
It  has  been  censoriously  remarked  of 
him  by  the  severer  critics  of  his  history 
— and  the  censure  is  the  more  interest 
ing  from  the  rarity  of  its  application  to 
the  statesmen  of  modern  times, — that 
his  character  was  superior  to  his  genius, 
and  that  his  mind  was  much  more 
elevated  and  firm  than  liberal  and  ex 
pansive.  In  all  his  sentiments,  religious 
and  political,  no  doubt,  there  appeared 
some  tincture  of  those  peculiar  princi 
ples  and  qualities  which  formed  the 
original  and  distinctive  character  of  the 
people  of  New  England;  and  he  was 
much  more  impressed  with  the  worth 
and  piety,  than  sensible  of  or  superior 
to  the  narrow,  punctilious  bigotry  and 
stubborn  self-will  of  his  provincial  an 
cestors. 

Hancock  differed  widely  from  Adams 
in  manners,  character,  and  condition. 
He  was  possessed  of  an  ample  fortune, 
and  maintained  a  splendid  equipage ; 


yet  he  ruled  the  wealth  which  com 
monly  rules  its  possessors;  for,  while 
he  indulged  a  gay  disposition  in  elegant 
and  expensive  pleasures,  he  manifested 
a  generous  liberality  in  the  most  muni' 
ficent  contributions  to  every  charitable 
and  patriotic  purpose;  insomuch  that 
his  fellow-citizens  declared  of  him,  that 
he  plainly  preferred  their  favor  to  great 
riches,  and  embarked  his  fortune  in  the 
cause  of  his  country.  Courteous  and 
graceful  in  his  address,  eager  and  en 
thusiastic  in  his  disposition,  endowed 
with  a  prompt  and  lively  eloquence, 
which  was  supported  by  considerable 
abilities,  though  not  united  with  bril 
liant  genius  or  commanding  capacity, 
he  embraced  the  popular  cause  with 
the  most  unbridled  ardor ;  and  leav 
ing  to  more  philosophical  patriots  the 
guardianship  of  public  virtue  and  the 
control  of  popular  license,  he  devoted 
himself  exclusively  to  the  promotion 
of  whatever  objects  tended  immediately 
to  gratify  the  wishes  of  the  majority 
of  the  people.  He  continued  to  hope 
for  a  reconciliation  with  Britain  much 
longer  than  Adams,  who,  after  the  pro 
mulgation  of  the  Stamp  Act,  neither 
expected  nor  desired  such  an  issue ; 
but  when,  in  consequence  of  the  final 
rupture  between  the  two  countries,  and 
the  overthrow  of  regal  dominion  in 
America,  a  republican  constitution  was 
to  be  composed, — Adams  showed  him 
self  the  more  desirous  to  secure  an  en 
ergetic  government,  in  which  the  magis 
trates,  though  appointed  by  the  choice 
of  the  people,  should  be  invested  with 
force  enough  to  withstand  unreasonable 
or  unrighteous  movements  of  popular 
passion  and  caprice, — while  Hancock 


•284 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CONTEST. 


|  BK. 


preferably  advocated  an  unbounded 
scope  to  democratical  principle,  or  ra 
ther  license,  in  a  government  pliable 
to  every  gust  of  popular  will.  Adams 
was  termed  the  Cato,  and  Hancock  the 
Isucullus,  of  New  England.  Among 
the  first  generations  of  the  inhabitants 
of  this  country,  the  severer  virtue  of 
Adams,  in  competition  with  the  gayer 
character  of  Hancock,  would  have  car 
ried  almost  all  the  suffrages  of  their 
fellow-citizens;  and  even  at  no  distant 
date  retrospective  from  the  present 
era,  the  manners  of  Hancock  would 
have  been  rather  tolerated  and  par- 
done^,  than  generally  approved.  But 
a  change,  gradually  arising  in  the  taste 
and  opinion  of  the  public,  had  latterly 
been  so  widely  developped,  that  Han 
cock  was  now  by  far  the  most  popular 
character  in  Massachusetts.  He  was, 
indeed,  the  idol  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people,  and  openly  preferred  to  Adams 
by  all  but  a  small  minority  of  the  com 
munity,  consisting  of  stanch  Puritans 
and  stern  republicans. 

Gushing  was  lesp  distinguished  by 
energy  or  talent  than  by  his  descent 
from  a  family  renowned  in  New  Eng 
land  for  ardent  piety  and  liberal  pol 
itics.  Bowdoin,  one  of  the  wealthiest 
persons  in  Massachusetts,  was  also  a 
man  of  great  information  and  ability, 
regulated  by  strong  good  sense ;  liberal, 
honorable,  and  upright ;  a  prudent  and 
moderate,  but  firm  and  consistent  pat 
riot.  Cooper,  pious,  eloquent,  and  ac 
complished,  was  first  prompted  to  unite 
the  character  of  a  politician  with  the 
office  of  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  by  the 
tidings  of  the  Stamp  Act,  which  sug 
gested  to  him,  he  declared,  that  tyranny 


was  opposed  not  more  to  civil  than 
to  religious  liberty.  From  that  period, 
he  took  an  active  part  in  behalf  of  the 
liberties  of  his  country,  both  as  a  con 
tributor  of  political  essays  to  the  peri 
odical  publications  of  Boston,  and  as  a 
correspondent  of  Dr.  Franklin.  He 
was  eminent  as  a  scholar,  and  ardent 
as  a  patron  and  coadjutor  of  every 
institution  for  the  advancement  of 
learning,  liberty,  piety,  or  virtue  ;  and, 
doubtless,  his  previous  character  as  a 
divine  contributed  to  promote  the  effi 
cacy  of  his  exertions  as  a  politician. 
Quincy,  a  distinguished  lawyer  and 
orator,  the  descendant  of  one  of  those 
English  barons  who  extorted  from 
King  John  the  signature  of  Magna 
Ohartai  showed  that  the  spirit  dis 
played  by  his  ancestor  at  Runnymede 
was  transmitted  to  him,  unimpaired  by 
the  eclipse  of  family  grandeur  and  the 
lapse  of  five  centuries.  He  was  the 
protomartyr  of  American  liberty,  ic 
defence  of  which,  both  with  his  tongue 
and  pen,  he  exerted  an  energy  so  dis- 
proportioned  to  his  bodily  strength,  as 
to  occasion  his  death  a  short  time  pre 
vious  to  the  Declaration  of  American 
Independence.  Robert  Treat  Paine, 
one  of  the  most  eminent  lawyers  in 
Massachusetts,  held  a  high  place  in  the 
public  estimation  for  intelligence,  firm 
ness,  and  zeal.  Ever  prompt,  active, 
and  decided  as  a  champion  of  American 
liberty,  he  was  universally  admired  for 
the  brilliancy  of  his  wit,  and  respected 
even  by  his  political  opponents  for  his 
pure  and  inflexible  uprightness.  Win- 
throp,  who  inherited  one  of  the  most 
venerable  names  in  New  England,  re 
vived  its  ancient  honor  and  still  farther 


CH.  XI.] 


SOUTHERN   PATRIOTS  AND  STATESMEN. 


285 

politician,  afterwards  highly  distin 
guished  by  the  dignity  which  he 
achieved,  and  the  talent  and  fortitude 
which  he  exerted,  in  the  service 
of  America  ; — Edward  Rutledge,  the 
brother  of  John,  and  whose  eloquence 
was  as  graceful  and  insinuating  as  his 
brother's  was  impetuous  and  command 
ing  ; — and  David  Ramsay,  a  learned 
and  ingenious  man,  sincerely  religious, 
austerely  moral,  and  warmly  patriotic, 
a  forcible  speaker,  and  an  elegant  writer. 
At  an  early  stage  of  the  controversy 
with  Britain,  Ramsay  was  an  advocate 
for  the  immediate  assertion  of  Ameri 
can  independence ;  and  after  bravely 
and  ably  contributing  to  the  attain 
ment  of  this  object,  he  related  the 
struggle  by  which  it  was  won,  in  one 
of  the  best  and  most  impartial  histo 
ries  that  have  been  composed  of  the 
Revolutionary  War.* 

The  short  lived  administration  of  the 
Marquis  of  Rockiugham,  came  to  an 
end  in  July,  1766,  and  a  new 
ministry  was  formed  under  the 
nominal  headship  of  Pitt,  now  created 
Earl  of  Chatham,  who  was,  however, 
prevented  by  illness  from  taking  any 
great  part  in  the  measures.  Lord  Shel- 
burne  and  General  Con  way  became  sec 
retaries  of  state ;  Camden,  lord  chan 
cellor  ;  Charles  Towrishend,  chancellor 
of  the  Exchequer.  This  administration 
was  of  so  chequered  a  character,  that 
it  was  sharply  described  by  Burke  as 
"  a  piece  of  diversified  Mosaic,  a  tesse- 
lated  pavement  without  cement,  here  a 
bit  of  black  stone,  there  a  bit  of  white, 

*  Grahame's  "  History  of  the  United  States"  vol. 
ii.,  pp.  416-20. 


embellished  it  by  the  highest  attain 
ments  in  science  and  literature,  by  a 
character  adorned  with  religion  and 
virtue,  and  by  a  firm  and  courageous 
devotion  to  the  liberty  of  his  country. 
It  was  in  the  present  year  that  the 
Assembly  of  Massachusetts,  whether 
with  a  view  of  enhancing  or  of  grati 
fying  the  popular  interest  in  its  pro 
ceedings,  adopted  a  resolution,  which 
was  instantly  carried  into  effect,  that 
its  debates  should  be  open  to  the  pub 
lic,  and  that  a  gallery  should  be  erected 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  audience. 
The  orators  of  the  popular  party  de 
rived  new  courage  and  animation  from 
the  looks  of  their  listening  countrymen, 
who,  in  turn,  were  inspired  with  the 
generous  ardor  which  their  presence 
promoted.  Eloquence,  like  music,  is 
often  more  powerful  than  reason  and 
honor  in  imparting  the  height  of  noblest 
temper  to  human  courage  and  resolu 
tion. 

In  South  Carolina,  among  many 
bold  and  able  champions  of  their 
country's  rights,  the  most  notable  were 
John  Rutledge,  a  man  endowed  with 
very  extraordinary  powers  of  mind, — 
prompt,  penetrating,  energetic,  and  de 
cisive  ;  and,  in  oratory,  the  rival,  or, 
as  some  accounted,  the  superior,  of 
Patrick  Henry ; — Christopher  Gadsden, 
a  frank,  fearless,  intrepid,  upright,*  and 
determined  republican ; — Henry  Laur- 
ens,  a  zealous  patriot  and -enlightened 


*  When  the  Revoluiionary  War  broke  out,  Boone, 
the  royal  governor  of  South  Carolina,  observed — 
"  God  knows  how  this  unhappy  contest  will  end,  or 
what  the  popular  leaders  of  South  Carolina  can  be 
aiming  at ; — but  Gadsden  I  know  to  be  an  honest 
man — he  means  well." 


1766. 


280 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  CONTEST. 


[Ba.  11 


1767. 


patriots  and  courtiers,  king's  friends  and 
republicans,  Whigs  and  Tories,  treach 
erous  friends  and  open  enemies, — a  very 
curious  show,  but  utterly  unsafe  to 
touch,  and  unsure  to  stand  upon."  The 
contumacy  of  the  colonists  greatly  an 
noyed  the  king  and  ministry,  as  well 
as  the  people  at  large,  and  it  became 
the  general  impression,  fortified  by  the 
representations  of  the  colonial  govern 
ors,  that  it  was  necessary  to  display 
more  determination,  in  order  to  brin^ 

7  O 

the  refractory  colonists  to  a  proper  sub 
mission.  At  the  very  first  session  of 
Parliament,  after  the  formation  of  this 
new  ministry, — January,  1767 — Towns- 
hend,  a  man  of  brilliant  parts, 
but  no  well-settled  principles, 
Drought  forward  a  new  scheme  of  rais 
ing  a  revenue  in  America.  He  had 
Deen  nrged  on  to  this  step  by  the  per 
tinacious  attacks  of  Grenville,  who  felt 
far  from  comfortable  under  his  defeat 
in  regard  to  the  Stamp  Act.  "You 
are  cowards !"  was  his  language  to  the 
new  ministry ;  "  you  are  afraid  of  the 
Americans;  you  dare  not  tax  Amer 
ica  !"  Taunts  of  this  kind  roused  up 
Townshend's  blood:  "Fear!  fear! 
cowards !  dare  not  tax  America !  I 
dare  tax  America."  "  Dare  you  ?"  said 
Grenville ;  "  dare  you  tax  America '?  I 
wish  to  God  I  could  see  it,"  "  I  will," 
said  Townshend ;  "  I  will." 

Townshend's  scheme  was  based  uDon 

X. 

that  distinction  which  Pitt  had  main 
tained  between  a  direct  tax  and  com 
mercial  imposts  for  regulating  trade. 
Hence,  he  proposed  to  lay  a  duty  upon 
teas  imported  into  America,  together 
with  paints,  paper,  glass,  and  lead, 
which  were  articles  of  British  produce ; 


its  alleged  object  being  to  raise  a  rev 
enue  for  the  suppoi-t  of  the  civil  gov 
ernment,  for  the  expense  of  a  standing 
army,  and  for  giving  permanent  salaries 
to  the  royal  governors,  with  a  view  to 
rend,  r  them  independent  of  the  colonial 
Assemblies.  Pitt  was  at  the  time  con 
fined  by  sickness  in  the  country,  and 
the  bill  passed  with  very  little  oppo 
sition,  and  on  the  29th  of  June,  re 
ceived  the  royal  assent.  In  order  to 
enforce  the  new  act,  and  those  already 
in  existence,  which,  odious  as  they  were 
to  the  Americans,  had  hitherto  been 
continually  evaded  by  them,  a  Board 
of  Revenue  Commissioners  was  to  be 
established  at  Boston.  Indignant,  more 
over,  at  the  recent  refusal  of  the  New 
York  Assembly  to  comply  with  the  pro 
visions  of  the  act  for  quartering  sol 
diers,  notwithstanding  their  personal 
remonstrances,  the  ministers  passed  an 
act  restraining  that  body  from  any  fur 
ther  legislative  proceedings  until  they 
had  submitted. 

These  acts  for  imposing  new  taxe^ 
were  received  with  no  favor  in  Amer 
ica,  and  the  excitement  in  all  parts  of 
the  country  was  rekindled.  Possibly, 
under  other  circumstances,  this  plan  of 
taxation  might  have  been  submitted  to  , 
but  the  exasperated  state  of  feeling  in 
the  colonies,  led  them  to  view  with  deep 
suspicion,  and  to  resist,  every  scheme  of 
taxing  them  in  a  way  which  they  de 
clared  to  be  in  violation  of  their  rights 
as  British  freemen.  "When  George 
III.  and  his  Parliament,"  as  M.  Guizot 
says,  "  rather  in  a  spirit  of  pride,  and  to 
prevent  the  loss  of  absolute  power  by 
long  disuse,  than  to  derive  any  advan 
tage  from  its  exercise,  undertook  to  tax 


CH.  XL] 


RESISTANCE   BASED   ON   PRINCIPLE. 


287 


the  colonies  without  their  consent,  a 
powerful,  numerous,  and  enthusiastic 
party, — the  national  party, — immedi 
ately  sprang  into  being,  ready  to  resist, 
in  the  name  of  right  and  of  national 
honor.  It  was  indeed  a  question  of 
right  and  of  honor,  and  not  of  interest 
or  physical  well-being.  The  taxes  were 
light,  and  imposed  no  burden  upon  the 
colonists.  But  they  belonged  to  that 
class  of  men  who  feel  most  keenly  the 
wrongs  which  affect  the  mind  alone, 
and  who  can  find  no  repose  while  honor 
is  unsatisfied.  '  For,  sir,  what  is  it  we 
are  contending  against?  Is  it  against 
paying  the  duty  of  three  pence  per 
pound  on  tea,  because  burdensome? 
JSTo ;  it  is  the  right  only,  that  we  have 
all  along  disputed.'*  Such  was,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  quarrel,  the  lan 
guage  of  Washington  himself,  and  such 
was  the  public  sentiment — a  sentiment 
founded  in  sound  policy,  as  well  as 
morrw  sense,  and  manifesting  as  much 
judgment  as  virtue."  But  the  English 
ministry,  with  a  fatuity  which  seems 
wonderful,  were  determined  to  pursue 
the  line  of  policy  they  had  marked  out, 
despite  the  consequences.  The  colon 
ists  were  every  day  searching  deeper 
and  deeper  into  the  foundations  of  the 
questions  agitating  the  whole  country, 
and  were  every  day  becoming  less  and 
less  disposed  to  submit  to  the  control  of 
Parliament.  Dickinson's  "  Letters  from 
a  Farmer  in  Pennsylvania  to  the  Inhab 
itants  of  the  British  Colonies,"  discussed 
the  subject  of  the  new  taxes  laid  upon 
the  people,  and  denied  the  right  of  Parli 
amentary  taxation  in  any  way  whatever. 

*  i;  Writings  of  Washington,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  392. 


1767. 


Franklin  caused  these  "  Letters"  to  be 
reprinted  in  London :  they  were  exten 
sively  read,  and  exercised  a  powerful 
influence  in  setting  forth  the  injustice 
and  unconstitutionality  of  the  attempt 
thus  to  impose  taxes  upon  America. 
The  colonial  newspapers,  likewise,  now 
numbering  twenty-five  or  more,  began 
to  teem  with  essays  on  colonial  rights. 

Bernard  refused  to  call  a  special  ses 
sion  of  the  General  Court  to  take  the 
new  acts  into  consideration;  a  public 
meeting  was  held  in  the  latter 
part  of  October,  and  it  was 
proposed  to  both  encourage  domestic 
manufactures  and  industry,  and  to  dis 
continue  the  importation  of  British 
goods.  The  example  of  Massachusetts 
was  folio  wed  in  Connecticut,  New  York, 
and  Philadelphia. 

The  General  Court  met  December 
30th,  and  a  large  committee  was  ap 
pointed  to  consider  the  state  of  the 
provinces.  A  letter  of  instructions  was 
presently  dispatched  to  Dennis  de 
Berdt,  agent  for  the  colony,  in  London, 
and  a  petition  to  the  king,  in 
which  they  dwell  upon  the 
grant  of  their  original  charter,  "  with 
the  conditions  of  which  they  had  fully 
complied,  till  in  an  unhappy  time  it 
was  vacated."  They  next  allude  to  the 
subsequent  and  modified  charter,  grant 
ed  by  William  and  Mary,  confirming 
the  same  fundamental  liberties  secured 
to  them  by  the  first.  Acknowledging 
indeed,  the  superintending  authority  of 
Parliament,  in  all  cases  that  can  consist 
with  the  fundamental  rights  of  nature 
and  the  constitution,  they  proceed  as 
follows :  "  It  is  with  the  deepest  con 
cern  that  your  humble  suppliants  would 


176§, 


288 


PROGRESS   OF   THE   CONTEST. 


.  a 


represent  to  your  Majesty,  that  your 
Parliament,  the  rectitude  of  whose  in 
tentions  is  never  to  be  questioned,  lias 
thought  proper  to  pass  divers  acts  im 
posing  taxes  on  your  subjects  in  Amer 
ica,  with  the  sole  and  express  purpose 
of  raising  a  revenue.  If  your  Majes 
ty's  subjects  here  shall  be  deprived  of 
the  honor  and  privilege  of  voluntarily 
contributing  their  aid  to  your  Majesty, 
in  supporting  your  government  and 
authority  in  the  province,  and  defend 
ing  and  securing  your  rights  and  terri 
tories  in  America,  which  they  have 
always  hitherto  done  with  the  utmost 
cheerfulness;  if  these  acts  of  Parlia 
ment  shall  remain  in  force,  and  your 
Majesty's  Commons  in  Great  Britain 
shall  continue  to  exercise  the  power  of 
granting  the  property  of  their  fellow 
subjects  in  this  province ;  your  people 
must  then  regret  their  unhappy  fate 
in  having  only  the  name  left  of  free 
subjects.  With  all  humility  we  con 
ceive  that  a  representation  of  this 
province  in  Parliament*  considering 
their  local  circumstances,  is  utterly  im 
practicable.  Your  Majesty  has  there 
fore  been  graciously  pleased  to  ovder 
your  requisitions  to  be  laid  before  the 
representatives  of  your  people  in  the 
General  Assembly,  who  have  never 
failed  to  afford  the  necessary  aid,  to 
the  extent  of  their  ability,  and  some 
times  beyond  it,  and  it  would  be  ever 
grievous  to  your  Majesty's  faithful  sub 
jects,  to  be  called  upon  in  a  way  that 
should  appear  to  them  to  imply  a  dis 
trust  of  then  most  ready  and  willing 
compliance."  Besides  this  petition  to 
the  king,  they  sent  letters  to  Lord 
Shelburne,  General  Conway,  the  Mar 


quis  of  Rockingham,  Lords  Camclen 
and  Chatham,  and  the  Lords  Commis 
sioners  of  the  Treasury.  They  also,  in 
February,  1768,  issued  a  circular  letter 
to  the  rest  of  the  colonies,  inviting 
them  to  ensraore  in  a  common  defence 

o     O 

of  their  rights,  concluding  the  letter 

O  7  O 

with  an  expression  of  their  "firm  con 
fidence  in  the  king,  their  common  head 
and  father,  and  that  the  united  and 
dutiful  supplications  of  his  distressed 
American  subjects  will  meet  with  his 
royal  and  favorable  acceptance." 

The  English  ministry  naturally  dread 
ed  any  step  which  seemed  to  lead  to  a 
prospect  of  union  of  action  on  the  part 
of  the  colonies.  Hence  Lord  Hills- 
borough,  recently  appointed  Secretary 
for  the  Colonies,  directed  Governoi 
Bernard  to  press  upon  the  House  of 
Representatives  the  propriety  of  re 
scinding  this  circular  as  "  rash  and 

O 

hasty,"  and  artfully  procured  by  sur 
prise  against  the  general  sense  of  the 
Assembly,  and  to  dissolve  that  body  in 
case  of  refusal.  He  also  addressed  a 
circular  with  the  same  instructions  to 
the  rest  of  the  royal  governors.  "As 
his  Majesty  considers  this  measure,"  it 
observed,  "to  be  of  the  most  danger 
ous  and  factious  tendency,  calculated  to 
inflame  the  miods  of  his  good  subjects 
in  the  colonies,  and  promote  an  unwar 
rantable  combination,  it  is  his  Majesty's 
pleasure  that  you  should  exert  your 
utmost  influence  to  defeat  this  flagitious 
attempt  to  disturb  the  puUic  peace,  by 
prevailing  upon  the  Assembly  of  your 
province  to  take  no  notice  of  it,  which 
will  be  treating  it  with  the  contempt  it 
deserves."  When  Bernard  communi 
cated  this  message  to  the  new  Assembly, 


Un.  XL] 


CASE  OF  THE  SLOOP   LIBERTY. 


289 


in  July,  they  denied  that  the  circular 
to  the  colonies  had  been  unfairly  passed, 
and  positively  refused  to  comply  with 
the  minister's  wishes.  "If,"  they  ob 
served,  "  by  the  word  rescinding  is  in 
tended  the  passing  a  vote  in  direct 
and  express  disapprobation  of  the 
measure  taken  by  the  former  House, 
we  must  take  the  liberty  to  declare 
that  we  hold  it  to  be  the  native  right 
of  the  subject  to  petition  the  king  for 
the  redress  of  grievances.  If  the  votes 
of  the  House  are  to  be  controlled  by 
the  direction  of  a  minister,  we  have 
left  us  but  a  vain  semblance  of  liberty. 
We  have  now  only  to  inform  you  that 
this  House  have  voted  not  to  rescind, 
and  that  on  a  division  on  the  question 
there  were  ninety-two  nays  and  seven 
teen  yeas."  The  seventeen  "resciud- 
ers,"  as  they  were  termed,  became  ob 
jects  of  public  odium.  On  the  ques 
tion  to  rescind,  Mr.  Otis,  in  his  usually 
bold  manner,  said  :  "  When  Lord  Hills- 
borough  knows  that  we  will  not  rescind 
our  acts,  let  him  apply  to  Parliament 
to  rescind  theirs.  Let  Britons  rescind 
their  measures,  or  they  are  lost  for  ever." 
The  next  day,  the  House  of  Represent* 
atives  was  dissolved  by  Bernard. 

In  the  other  colonies,  the  requisitions 
of  the  ministry  were  equally  disregard 
ed.  When  Governor  Sharpe 
communicated  Lord  Hillsbor- 
ough's  letter  to  the  Assembly  of  Mary 
land,  their  language  in  reply  was  fear 
less  and  independent.  "  We  cannot," 
say  they,  "but  view  this  as  an  attempt, 
in  some  of  his  Majesty's  minister  ,  to 
suppress  all  communication  of  senti 
ments  between  the  colonies,  and  to 
prevent  the  united  supplications  of 

Voi     I— 39 


America  from  reaching  the  royal  ear. 
We  have  the  warmest  and  most  affec 
tionate  attachment  to  our  most  gracious 
sovereign,  and  shall  ever  pay  the  read 
iest  and  most  respectful  regard  to  the 
just  and  constitutional  power  of  the 
British  Parliament;  but  we  shall  not 
be  intimidated  by  a  few  high-sounding 
expressions  from  doing  what  \ve  think 
is  right."  The  Assemblies  of  New 
York,  Delaware,  Virginia,  and  Georgia, 
expressed  similar  sentiments,  in  Ira- 
guage  more  or  less  decided ;  and,  under 
instructions  from  the  home  govern 
ment,  they  were  dissolved  by  the  royal 
governors. 

The  presence  of  the  newly-appointed 
officers  for  collecting  the  custom  house 
duties,  did  not  tend  to  make  matters 
more  quiet,  or  to  allay  the  excitement 
in  the  public  mind.  On  the  contrary, 
it  was  evident  that  collision  mii^ht  at 

O 

any  time  be  expected ;  and  in  fact,  it 
occurred  very  soon.  The  sloop  Liberty, 
belonging  to  Hancock,  had  been  seized 
on  the  charge  of  smuggling.  This  was 

o  oo        o 

early  in  June,  1768.  The  Liberty  was 
boarded  by  the  officers,  who,  appre 
hensive  of  trouble,  had  solicited  aid 
from  the  commander  of  a  ship  of  war 
in  the  harbor,  and  by  his  advice  had 
ordered  the  sloop  to  be  brought  under 
the  guns  of  his  ship.  A  riot  broke  out 
immediately;  a  mob  collected;  the 
custom-house  officers,  after  beir  g  severe 
ly  handled,  narrowly  escaped  with  theii 
lives,  while  their  houses  were  attacked, 
and  their  boat  dragged  through  the 
town,  and  afterwards  burned  upon  the 
common.  The  governor,  unable  to 
protect  the  officers,  advised  them  to 
remove  from  Boston ;  they  consequently 


290 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  CONTEST. 


[BK.  II. 


retired,  first  on  board  the  Roinney 
man-of-war,  and  then  to  Castle  William. 
A  committee  of  the  Council,  in  their 
report  on  this  subject,  say,  that, 
although  the  extraordinary  circum 
stances  attending  the  seizure  of  the 
sloop,  might,  in  some  measure,  extenu 
ate  the  criminality  of  the  riotous  pro 
ceedings  in  consequence  of  it,  yet, 
oeing  of  a  very  criminal  nature,  they 
declared  their  abhorrence  of  them, 
and  requested  that  the  governor  would 
direct  prosecutions  against  the  offend 
ers.  This  report  was  accepted  by  the 
Council,  but  in  consequence  of  the  dis 
solution  of  the  Assembly,  was  not 
acted  upon  by  the  House.  Such,  how 
ever,  was  the  state  of  public  feeling, 
that  no  prosecutions  could  be  success 
fully  carried  on. 

The  excitement  at  Boston  was  great 
ly  increased  about  this  time  by  the  im 
pressment  of  some  seamen  belonging  to 
that  town,  by  order  of  the  officers  of 
the  Rornney,  in  direct  violation 
of  an  act  of  Parliament,  (the 
(3th  Anne,)  which  declared,  that  "  no 
mariner,  or  other  person,  who  shall 
serve  on  board,  or  be  retained  to  serve 
on  board  any  privateer,  or  trading  ship, 
or  vessel,  that  shall  be  employed  in 
America,  nor  any  mariner  or  person, 
being  on  shore  in  any  part  thereof, 
shall  be  liable  to  be  impressed  or  taken 
away  by  any  officer  or  officers  of,  or 
belonging  to.  her  majesty's  ships  of 
war." 

The  inhabitants  of  Boston  were  as 
sembled  on  this  occasion,  and  their 
petition  to  the  governor,  praying  his 
interference  to  prevent  such  outrages 
for  the  future,  shows  to  what  a  con- 


1768. 


dition  of  alarm,  anxiety,  and  even  de 
spair,  they  were  then  reduced.  They 
state  that,  while  waiting  for  a  gracious 
answer  to  their  petitions  to  the  king, 
they  were  invaded  with  an  armed  force, 
impressing  and  imprisoning  the  persons 
of  their  fellow-subjects,  contrary  to  an 
express  act  of  Parliament;  that  men 
aces  had  been  thrown  out  fit  only  for 
barbarians,  affecting  them  in  the  most 
sensible  manner,  and  that,  "  on  ac 
count  of  the  obstruction  of  their  navi 
gation,  the  situation  of  the  town  was 
nearly  such  as  if  war  had  been  formal 
ly  declared  against  it.  To  contend," 
they  said,  "against  our  parent  state, 
is,  in  our  idea,  the  most  shocking  and 
dreadful  extremity;  but  tamely  to  re 
linquish  the  only  security  we  and  our 
posterity  retain  for  the  enjoyment  of 
our  lives  and  properties  without  one 
struggle,  is  so  humiliating  and  base, 
that  we  cannot  support  the  reflec 
tion."* 

News  having  reached  Boston  that 
two  regiments  were  on  their  way  from 
Halifax  for  that  city,  and  an  officer 
having  been  sent  by  General  Gage  from 
New  York  to  provide  quarters  for  these 
troops,  a  town  meeting  was  held, 

176S. 

September  12th,  and  Governor 
Bernard  was  urgently  asked  to  sum 
mon  a  new  General  Court.  Acting  un 
der  instructions,  the  governor  refused 
It  was  thereupon  proposed  to  hold  a 
convention  in  Boston—"  in  consequence 
of  prevailing  apprehensions  of  a  wai 
with  France" — so  they  phrased  the  rea 
son  of  callinsr  the  convention,  and  the 

ej  ' 


*  Pitkin's   "  Political  and    Civil  History  of  tht 
United  States,"  vol.  i.,  p.  229. 


Cn.  XI.] 


THE  FIRST  POPULAR  CONVENTION. 


291 


meeting  advised,  significantly  enough, 
all  persons  to-  provide  themselves  with 
firearms  at  the  earliest  moment,  and  to 
observe  a  day 'of  fasting  and  prayer. 
Delegates  from  more  than  a  hundred 
towns  met  accordingly  on  the  22d  of 
September,  and  petitioned  the  gover 
nor  to  summon  a  General  Court.  Ber 
nard  refused  peremptorily,  and  besides, 
denounced  their  meeting  as  treasonable. 
Disclaiming  all  pretensions  to  political 
authority,  the  convention,  after  a  four 
days'  session,  agreed  upon  a  petition 
to  the  king,  and  sent  a  letter  to  the 
agent  in  England,  to  defend  themselves 
against  the  charge  of  a  rebellious  spirit. 
"Such,7'  says  Mr.  Hildreth,  "was  the 
first  of  those  popular  conventions,  des 
tined  within  a  few  years  to  assume  the 
whole  political  authority  of  the  colo 
nies."* 

The  day  after  the  convention  broke 
up,  the  troops  from  Halifax  arrived. 
The  Council  refused  to  take  any  steps' 
for  providing  quarters,  and  it  was 
even  feared  that  the  landing  of  the 
soldiers  might  be  opposed  by  the  peo 
ple.  The  guns  of  the  ships  were  ac 
cordingly  pointed  on  the  town,  and 
under  their  cover  the  troops  were  set 
ashore,  and  with  muskets  charged,  bay 
onets  fixed,  and  a  train  of  artillery, 
they  marched  into  Boston.  The  over 
seers  refused  to  appoint  them  quarters, 
but  a  temporary  shelter  was  afforded 
to  on.e  regiment  in  Faneuil  Hall,  while 
the  other  pitched  their  tents  on  the 
Common.  Next  morning  the  governor 
ordered  a  portion  to  occupy  the  state- 


*  Hildreth  s  "  History  of  the  United  States,'1''  vol. 
•ii.,  p.  547. 


house,  with  the  exception  of  the  coun 
cil-chamber  alone,  the  main  guard  with 
two  field-pieces  being  stationed  at  the 
front.  It  was  the  Lord's  Day,  and  such 
a  one  as  had  never  before  been  known 
in  Boston.  The  place  looked  like  a 
town  in  a  state  of  siege.  All  the  pub 
lic  buildings  were  filled  with  soldiers ; 
sentinels  were  stationed  in  the  streets, 
and  the  people  were  challenged  as  they 
passed  to  and  from  church.  What 
wonder  that  they  felt  such  a  proceed 
ing  to  be  a  bitter  and  unprovoked  in 
sult  ?  What  wonder  that  they  were 
roused  to  stern  and  nervous  resistance  \ 
At  the  opening  of  the  new  Parlia 
ment,  the  papers  relating  to  the  colo 
nies,  and  particularly  to  the  recent  pro 
ceedings  in  Boston,  were  laid  before 
the  two  Houses.  Under  strong  excite- 

O 

ment  of  feeling,  as  if  the  Americana 
were  in  some  sort  slaves,  and  had  no 
rights  to  contend  for,  both  Houses  of 
Parliament,  in  a  joint  address  to 
the  king,  recommended  vigor 
ous  measures  in  order  to  enforce  obe 
dience  ;  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  be 
seech  the  king  to  direct  the  governor 
of  Massachusetts  to  make  strict  inquiries 
as  to  all  treasons  committed  in  that 
province  since  the  year  1767,  in  order 
that  the  persons  most  active  in  com 
mitting  them  mi^ht  be  sent  to  England 

O  C->  O 

for  trial.  This  proposal,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  gave  great  offence  to  the  colo 
nists. 

The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts 
was  not  in  session  when  the  news  of 
this  address  reached  America ;  but  the 
House  of  Burgesses  in  Virginia,  which 
met  shortly  afterwards,  'n  May,  were 
not  tardy  in  expressing  their  sense  of 


1769. 


292 


PROGRESS   OF  THE   CONTEST. 


K   11 


it.  They  passed  several  spirited  reso 
lutions,  declaring  their  exclusive  right 
to  tax  themselves,  and  denying  the 
right  of  the  king  to  remove  an  of 
fender  out  of  the  colony  for  trial.  An 
address  to  his  majesty  was  also  agreed 
on,  which  stated,  in  a  style  of  loyalty 
and  real  attachment  to  the  crown,  the 
deep  conviction  of  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  of  Virginia,  that  the  complaints 
of  the  colonists  were  well  founded. 
When  the  intelligence  of  these  pro 
ceedings  reached  the  governor,  Lord 
Botetourt,  he  suddenly  dissolved  the 
Assembly.  But  the  current  of  oppo 
sition  was  too  strong  to  be  resisted. 
The  members  assembled  at  a  private 
house,  elected  their  speaker,  Peyton 
Randolph,  Esq.,  moderator ;  and  pro 
ceeded  to  pass  resolutions  against  im 
porting  British  goods.  Their  example 
was  followed  by  other  colonies ;  and 
non-importation  agreements,  which  had 
before  been  entered  into  by  Boston, 
Salem,  the  city  of  New  York,  and  the 
colony  of  Connecticut,  now  became 
very  general. 

The  General  Court  met  in  Boston, 
May  31st,  and  immediately  resolved 
that  it  was  improper  for  them  to  hold 
a  session  in  the  midst  of  an  armed  force. 
The  governor,  on  their  requesting  the 
removal  of  the  troops,  declared  that  he 
had  no  authority  over  the  troops.  The 
House  then  determined  that  they  would 
not  enter  upon  any  business,  or  vote 
supplies,  until  their  wishes  were  ac 
ceded  to.  The  governor,  June 
13th,  adjourned  the  refractory 
House  to  Cambridge.  Bernard  in 
forming  them  that  he  was  about  to  go 
to  England,  the  House  unanimously 


voted  a  petition  that  he  be  removed 
from  his  office  as  governor,  and  were 
roused  to  a  high  pitch  of  indignation 
by  being  called  upon,  not  only  to  re 
fund  expenses  incurred  in  finding  quar 
ters  for  the  troopsj  but  also  to  provide 
for  the  future  in  this  respect.  "  General 
discontent,"  such  is  their  language,  "  on 
account  of  the  Revenue  Acts,  the  ex 
pectation  of  a  sudden  arrival  of  a  mili 
tary  power  to  enforce  them,  an  appre 
hension  of  the  troops  being  quartered 
upon  the  inhabitants,  and  the  General 
Court  dissolved,  the  governor  refusing 
to  call  a  new  one,  and  the  people  re 
duced  almost  to  a  state  of  despair,  ren 
dered  it  highly  expedient  and  necessary 
for  the  people  to  convene  by  their  com 
mittees,  to  associate  and  consult  upon 
the  best  means  to  promote  peace  and 
good  order,  to  present  their  united  com 
plaints  to  the  throne,  and  pray  for  the 
royal  interposition  in  favor  of  their 
violated  rights ;  nor  can  this  proceeding 
possibly  be  illegal,  as  they  expressly 
disclaim  all  governmental  acts.  That 
the  establishment  of  a  standing  army 
in  the  colony  in  time  of  peace  is  an  in 
vasion  of  their  natural  rights ;  that  a 
standing  army  is  no  part  of  the  British 
constitution ;  and  that  to  send  an  armed 
force  among  them  under  pretence  of 
assisting  the  civil  authority,  is  highly 
dangerous  to  the  people,  and  both  un 
precedented  and  unconstitutional.'1 

The  governor,  on  the  12th  of  July, 
calling  upon  them  to  declare  positively 
whether  they  would,  or  would  not, 
make  provision  for  the  troops,  they 
boldly  spoke  out  as  follows :  "  Of  all 
the  new  regulations,  the  Stamp  Act  not 
excepted,  this  under  consideration  is 


Cn.  XL] 


STURDY   RESISTANCE  OF  THE  COLON  SIS. 


293 


most  excessively  unreasonable.  Your 
Excellency  must  therefore  excuse  us  in 
this  express  declaration,  that,  as  we  can 
not  consistently  with  our  honor  and  in 
terest,  much  less  with  the  duty  we  owe 
to  our  constituents,  so  we  never  will 
make  provision  for  the  purposes  in 
your  several  messages  above  men 
tioned."  The  governor  thereupon  pro 
rogued  the  Court  until  the  10th  of 
January,  and  early  in  August  left  for 
England.  The  administration  of  af 
fairs  for  the  time  being,  came  into  the 
hands  of  Lieutenant-governor  Hutchin- 
son.  Bernard's  unpopularity  in  Mas 
sachusetts  did  not  prevent  his  being 
knighted  at  home,  as  a  reward  for  his 
zeal  and  devotion  to  the  views  of  the 
ministry. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Vir 
ginia  and  Massachusetts  stood  alone  in 
their  sturdy  resistance  to  the  course  of 
the  English  ministry.  On  the  con 
trary,  there  was  a  universal  sentiment 
prevailing,  that  the  colonies  must  de 
fend  their  rights  at  all  hazards.  "  Par 
ty  lines,  too,  throughout  the  colonies 
began  now  to  be  strictly  drawn.  The 
partizans  of  the  mother  country  were 
stigmatized  as  Tories,  while  the  oppo 
nents  of  Parliamentary  taxation  took 
the  name  of  Wliigs — old  names  lately 
applied  in  England  as  designations  for 
the  king's  friends  and  their  opponents." 
In  New  York  alone  was  a  temporizing 
spirit  at  all  manifested.  For  two  years 
there  had  been  no  Assembly;  and  a 
great  effort  having  been  made 

1760. 

by  men  disposed  to  more  mod 
erate  measures,  they  obtained  a  ma 
jority  in  the  newly  elected  Assembly, 
in  September.  Great  offence  was  given 


to  the  more  ardent  patriots  by  the  As 
sembly's  yielding  the  point  of  dispute, 
and  providing  quarters  for  the  troops. 
Alexander  M'Dougall,  one  of  the  "  Sona 
of  Liberty,"  took  the  lead  in  denounc 
ing  this  conduct,  for  which  offensive 
action  he  was  imprisoned  by  order  of 
the  Assembly.  It  must  also  be  stated, 
to  the  honor  of  the  women  of  those 
days,  that  they  were  not  a  whit  behind 
the  men  in  bein^  willing  to  make  sacri- 

O  O 

fices  for  the  common  cause. 

It  having  become  evident  that  great 
loss  was  the  consequence  of  the  at 
tempted  taxation,  Lord  Hillsborough 
addressed  a  circular  to  the  colonial 
governors,  announcing  the  intention  of 
the  ministry  to  repeal  all  the  clauses 
of  Townshend's  act,  which  imposed  du 
ties  on  British  goods,  such  duties  being, 
it  was  said,  "  contrary  to  the  true  prin 
ciples  of  commerce."  But  as  the  duty 
on  tea,  and  the  right  of  Parliamentary 
taxation  were  still  maintained,  the  an 
nouncement  produced  no  favorable  ef 
fect.  The  repeal  of  only  part  of  the 
act  was  unanimously  resolved,  by  the 
merchants  met  together  in  Boston,  to 

O 

be  a  measure  intended  merely  to  quiet 
the  manufacturers  in  Great  Britain,  and 
to  prevent  the  setting  up  of  manufac 
tures  in  the  colonies,  and  one  that  would 
by  no  means  relieve  trade  from  its  dif 
ficulties.  It  was,  therefore,  further  re 
solved,  to  send  for  no  more  goods  from 
Great  Britain,  a  few  specified  articles 
excepted,  unless  the  revenue  acts  should 
be  repealed.  A  committee  was  ap 
pointed  to  procure  a  written  pledge 
from  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  not 
to  purchase  any  goods  from  persons 
who*have  imported  them,  or  who  shall 


294 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  CONTEST. 


I_BK.  a 


import  them,  contrary  to  the  late 
agreement ;  and  another  committee  to 
inspect  the  manifests  of  the  cargoes  of 
all  vessels  arriving  from  Great  Britain, 
and  to  publish  the  names  of  all  im 
porters,  unless  they  immediately  de 
livered  their  goods  into  the  hands  of  a 
committee  appointed  to  receive  them. 

The  vacillating  course  of  the  English 
ministry  deserves  to  be  specially  noted. 
Weakness  and  folly  seemed  to  charac 
terize  most  of  their  plans  with  regard 
to  America.  Steadily  bent  upon  ob 
taining  revenue  from  the  colonies,  Par 
liament,  at  one  moment,  were  for  en 
forcing  their  laws ;  at  the  next,  they 
gave  way  for  their  repeal.  Doing  and. 
undoing,  threatening  and  retracting, 
straining  and  relaxing,  followed  one  af 
ter  the  other  as  occasion  required. 
Anxious  to  establish  the  supremacy 
of  Parliament,  but  afraid  to  stem  the 
vigorous  opposition  of  the  colonies, 
they  endeavored  to  pass  such  laws  as 
would  meet  the  wishes  of  the  govern 
ment,  without  rousing  the  resistance 
of  the  colonists.  Had  the  British  min 
istry  been  magnanimous  enough  to 
frankly  and  fully  yield  the  point  in 
dispute,  as  to  the  right  of  taxation 
without  representation,  the  colonies, 
we  doubt  not,  would  have  met  them 
in  the  same  spirit  with  which  they  pro 
posed  to  settle  the  matter.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  England  seriously  con 
templated  the  use  of  force,  nothing 
could  have  been  more  unwise  and  inex 
pedient  than  to  make  partial  conces 
sions,  to  hesitate,  and  to  employ  only  a 
show  of  force  which  irritated,  without 
compelling  obedience  or  even  respect. 

Possibly  the  differences  between  the 


parties  might  now  have  been  amicably 
settled ;  but  it  was  only  a  bare  possi 
bility;  neither  side  was  disposed  to 
yield,  and  the  Americans  were  every 
day  becoming  less  and  less  inclined  to 
be  in  subjection  to,  and  dependent 
upon,  a  government  three  thousand 
miles  removed  from  them  and  their  in 
terests.  The  natural  and  inalienable 
rights  of  men  began  more  and  more  to 
be  inquired  into.  Reflections  and  dis 
cussions  on  this  subject  produced  a  high 
sense  of  the  value  of  liberty,  and  a 
general  conviction  that  there  could  be 
no  security  for  their  property,  if  they 
were  to  be  taxed  at  the  discretion  of  a 
British  Parliament,  in  wrhich  they  were 
unrepresented,  and  over  which  they  had 
no  control.  A  determination  not  only 
to  oppose  the  claim  of  taxation,  but  to 
keep  a  strict  watch,  lest  it  might  be  es 
tablished  in  some  disguised  form,  took 
possession  of  the  public  mind. 

The  presence  of  the  military  in  Bos 
ton  was  a  perpetual  source  of  irritation 
and  excitement,  and  it  was  hardly  pos 
sible  but  that  collision  must  soon  take 
place.  The  soldiers  looked  on  the  peo 
ple  as  turbulent,  factious,  and 
needing  discipline ;  the  people 
regarded  the  soldiers  as  instruments  of 
tyranny  and  outrage.  Mutual  insults 
and  provocations  were  the  result.  At 
last  a  serious  collision  took  place  on  the 
evening  of  March  5th.  An  excited 
mob,  smarting  under  a  sense  of  defeat 
in  a  street  fight  a  few  days  before, 
armed  themselves  with  clubs  and  be 
gan  to  abuse  the  soldiers  in  the  gross 
est  manner ;  these,  on  their  part,  were 
with  difficulty  restrained  from  march 
ing  out  and  falling  on  the  mob.  The 


1770. 


OH.  XI.] 


HUTCHINSON   AND  THE  ASSEMBLY. 


297 


nation  of  the  merchants  of  Boston, 
made  during  the  present  session,  by 
which  they  agreed  to  alter  their  non 
importation  agreement,  and  to  adopt 
the  plan  which  had  been  for  some  time 
followed  in  New  York  and  in  Phila 
delphia,  of  importing  all  the  usual  arti 
cles  of  trade,  except  tea,  which  it  was 
unanimously  agreed  should  not  be 
brought  into  the  country,  unless  it 
could  be  smuggled. 

Lord  North,  recently  appointed 
prime  minister,  on  the  very  night  of 
the  Boston  massacre,  as  it  happened, 
brought  forward  a  motion  to  repeal 
the  whole  of  Townshend's  act,  except 
the  duty  on  tea.  This  was  retained  in 
order  to  let  it  be  seen  that  the 
right  of  taxation  was  never  to 
be  given  up ;  and  it  was — not  wisely — 
supposed,  that  as  the  Americans  would 
in  fact  be  the  gainers  by  the  arrange 
ment,  buying  their  tea  nine  pence  per 
pound  less  than  it  was  sold  in  England, 
they  would  be  glad  to  yield,  and  thus 
the  contest  would  be  ended.  Pownall, 
however,  who  knew  his  countrymen 
better,  asserted  that  they  would  not  be 
satisfied  in  such  a  way:  even  the  re 
peal  of  all  the  obnoxious  acts  might 
not  be  sufficient  to  quiet  them.  "  The 
Americans,"  he  observed,  "  think  that 
they  have,  in  return  to  all  their  appli 
cations,  experienced  a  temper  and  dis 
position  that  is  unfriendly,  and  that  the 
enjoyment  and  exercise  of  the  common 
rights  of  freemen  have  been  refused  to 
them.  Never,  with  these  views,  will 
they  solicit  the  favor  of  this  House,  nev 
er  more  will  they  wish  to  bring  before 
Parliament  the  grievances  under  which 
they  conceive  themselves  to  labor." 

VOL.  L— 40 


The  year  1771  was  not  marked  by 
events  of  special  moment  in  the  colo 
nies.  Hutchinson  was  appointed  gov 
ernor  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  spring 
of  this  year ;  and  when  the  Assembly 
met,  in  1772,  he  informed  them 

.  1772. 

that  thenceforth  his  salary 
would  be  paid  by  the  crown,  and  so 
he  should  not  need  any  appropriation 
from  them.  This,  by  stirring  up  the 
old  controversy,  roused  their  ire  to  a 
high  pitch,  and  they  signified  to  the 
governor  that  they  considered  this  to 
be  a  violation  of  the  charter.  Hutch 
inson  repudiated  their  views  in  an  ela 
borate  paper,  which  he  sent  to  them ; 
to  which  a  reply  was  prepared,  by  ap 
pointment  of  a  town  meeting,  held  in 
October,  after  the  adjournment  of  the 
Assembly.  This  reply  to  Hutchinson, 
at  first  drafted  by  Samuel  Adams,  em 
bodied  the  usual  popular  arguments, 
and  it  is  supposed  was  afterwards  re 
vised  in  committee  by  John  Adams 
himself;  in  this  way  placed,  by  his 
skill  as  a  jurist,  upon  legal  and  con 
stitutional  grounds,  it  forms  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  state  papers  of  rev 
olutionary  days.  It  was  prefaced  by 
an  address,  and  sent  to  the  various 
towns ;  and  Franklin  caused  this  ad 
dress  and  the  report  of  the  committee 
to  be  republished  in  London,  with  a 
preface  from  his  skilful  hand.* 


*  Hutchinson,  in  his  History,  states  that  he  was 
greatly  alarmed  with  so  sudden  and  unexpected  a 
change  in  the  state  of  affairs  ;  and  he  was  greatly 
perplexed  with  doubts  concerning  his  own  conduct 
upon  the  occasion.  He  had  avoided  engaging  in  a 
dispute  upon  the  authority  of  Parliament,  having 
good  reason  to  think,  that  the  administration  in  Eng 
land  expected  that  the  colonies  would  return  to  ttn;,r 
former  state  of  submission  to  this  authority,  by  len- 


298 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  CONTEST. 


The  case  of  the  armed  revenue 
schooner  the  Gaspe,  excited  fresh  ani 
mosity.  This  vessel  had  proved  very 
active  in  enforcing  the  revenue  laws,  and 
was  consequently  a  source  of  annoyance 
to  the  shipping  employed  in  Narragan- 
sett  Bay.  It  was  determined  to  de 
stroy  this  vessel,  and  when  a  favorable 
opportunity  offered,  she  was  boarded 
— June  10th — while  aground  in  a  shoal 
place,  and  burned,  by  a  party  from 
Providence.  Although  a  reward  of 
£600  was  offered  for  the  discovery  of 
the  perpetrators  of  this  outrage,  and  a 
free  pardon  to  any  accomplice,  no  evi 
dence  could  be  obtained  against  the 
parties  concerned ;  a  fact  which  shows, 
significantly  enough,  that  opposition  to 
the  measures  and  policy  of  the  English 
government  was  a  settled  matter  on  the 
part  of  the  colonists. 

The  unpopularity  of  Hutchinson  was 
not  a  little  increased  by  a  rather  re 
markable  incident  which  occurred  at 
this  time.  Franklin,  who  was  now 
agent  of  Massachusetts,  had  had  put 
into-  his  hands,  in  some  unexplained 
way,  certain  letters  of  Hutchinson  and 
Oliver,  written  to  a  member  of  Parlia- 

ieut  measures,  without  discussing  points  of  right; 
and  he  knew  that  great  pains  had  been  taken  to  per 
suade  the  people  in  England,  as  well  as  the  ministry, 
that  this  was  all  the  people  in  America  expected  or 
desired;  and  that  suspicions  of  other  views,  either 
in  the  body  of  the  people,  or  in  men  who  had  influ 
ence  over  them,  were  groundless,  and  had  been 
caused  by  misrepresentations  of  governors,  and  other 
crown  officers  in  the  colonies,  in  order  to  promote 
their  own  sinister  views.  But  now,  a  measure  was 
engaged  in,  which,  if  pursued  to  effect,  must  cause, 
not  a  return  of  the  colonies  to  their  former  submis 
sion,  but  a  total  separation  from  the  kingdom,  by 
their  independency  upon  Parliament,  the  only  band 
which  could  keep  them  united  to  it. — "  History  of 
Massachusetts"  p.  370. 


1773. 


ment,  since  deceased.  In  these  letters, 
Hutchinson  had  spoken  very  freely  of 
the  character  and  conduct  of  the  popu 
lar  leaders,  and  of  the  necessity  of  en 
ergetic  measures  being  adopted  to  pre 
vent  the  progress  of  "  what  are  called 
English  liberties."  Franklin  sent  these 
letters  to  Massachusetts,  with  the  ex 
press  injunction  under  which  he  had 
laid  himself,  that  they  should  not  be 
copied  or  published.  The  effect  pro 
duced,  by  these  letters,  on  the  public 
mind,  when,  soon  after,  they 
had  found  their  way  into  print, 
was  tremendous,  and  the  General  Court, 
in  June,  addressed  a  petition  to  the 
king  for  Hutchinson's  speedy  removal. 
Franklin,  in  the  summer  of  the  follow 
ing  year,  was  violently  assailed  before 
the  privy  council,  by  Wedderburne, 
the  advocate  for  Hutchinson,  and  was 
charged  with  being  a  man  of  letters 
indeed,  a  liomo  trium  literarum!  the 
sting  of  which  biting  sarcasm  for  a 
long  time  rankled  in  the  philosopher's 
mind.  The  petition  for  Hutchinson's 
removal  was  voted  scandalous  and  vex 
atious,  and  Franklin  was  dismissed 
from  his  office  of  postmaster  general.* 

*  Dr.  Hosack,  in  his  "  Biographical  Memoir  of 
Hugh  Williamson,  M.  D.,"  read  before  the  New  York 
Historical  Society,  November,  1819,  states  that  Dr. 
Williamson  was  the  person  who  obtained  these  letters 
by  his  bold  address,  and  conveyed  them  to  Franklin. 
Mr.  Sparks,  however,  is  not  convinced  of  the  accu 
racy  of  this  statement.  He  gives  it  as  his  opinion 
that  Dr.  Williamson  could  not  have  been  the  person 
who  got  possession  of  the  letters,  and  declares  that 
"the  manner  in  which  the  letters  fell  into  Franklin's 
hands  was  never  explained."  Franklin  never  di 
vulged  the  secret.  For  a  full  consideration  of  the 
whole  matter,  see  Dr.  Franklin's  own  account,  and 
Mr.  Sparks's  note  upon  it,  in  "  Writings  of  Franklin" 
vol.  iv.,  p.  441,  etc.  Also,  consult  Bancroft,  vcl 
vi.,  p.  435,  490-500. 


Cn.  XL] 


PROCEEDINGS  AS  TO  THE  TEA   QUESTION. 


290 


The  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses, 
stimulated  by  the  zeal  of  such  men  as 
Henry,  Jefferson,  Richard  Henry  Lee 
and  others,  had  vigorously  seconded 
the  action  of  the  Massachusetts  General 
Court,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  obtain  intelligence  as  to  all  such  acts 
of  Parliament,  or  the  ministry,  as  might 
affect  the  rights  of  the  colonists.  Lord 
Dunmore,  the  governor,  dissolved  the 
House ;  but  that  did  not  prevent  ac 
tion  by  the  committee,  who  dispatched 
a  circular  letter  to  the  speakers  of  the 
popular  branch  of  the  several  colonial 
Assemblies.  Not  only  Massachusetts, 
but  New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island, 
Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mary 
land  responded  cordially,  and  appoint 
ed  similar  committees ;  thus  taking  the 
first  steps  towards  the  political  union 
the  colonies. 

The  injustice  and  insults  heaped  upon 
Jranklin  ;  the  making  the  governor  and 
judges  independent  of  the  province  by 
receiving  their  salaries  from  the  crown ; 
the  irritating  course  pursued  by  the 
English  ministry  ;  the  excitement  kept 
up  among  the  people  by  popular  meet 
ings  and  discussions ;  all  tended  to 
urge  on  the  Americans  to  proceed  to 
extremities.  The  attempt  to  force  up 
on  the  colonies  cargoes  of  tea,  brought 

O  7  O 

matters  to  a  crisis.  This  article  had 
largely  accumulated  in  the  warehouses, 
in  England,  of  the  East  India  Company ; 
and,  as  we  have  before  stated,  it  was 
hoped  that  the  export  duty  being  taken 
off,  the  colonists  would  not  object  to 
the  odious  imposition  of  three  pence 
per  pound,  seeing  that  they  in  fact  ob 
tained  the  tea  nine  pence  per  pound 
cheaper  than  it  was  sold  in  England. 


1773. 


But  in  this  they  reckoned  without  their 
host ;  and  the  colonists  unanimously 
resolved  not  only  not  to  use  the  tea  au 
all,  but  also  not  even  to  permit  it  to  bo 
landed  in  America. 

A  public  meeting  was  held  in  Phila 
delphia,  October  the  2d,  at  which  a 
protest,  in  eight  resolutions,  was 
adopted  against  taxation  by 
Parliament ;  and  "  whosoever  shall  aid, 
or  abet,  in  unloading,  receiving,  or 
vending  the  tea,"  was  denounced  as  an 
enemy  to  his  country.  The  gentlemen 
who  were  reputed  to  be  the  consignees 
of  the  expected  cargo  of  tea  were 
waited  upon  by  a  committee  :  one  firm 
complied  at  once  with  the  request  to 
resign  the  obnoxious  appointment ;  an 
other  refusing,  was  greeted  with  hisses 
and  groans. 

In  Boston,  an  anonymous  notice  was 
sent  to  the  persons  rumored  as  con 
signees  of  the  tea,  to  repair  at  an  ap 
pointed  hour  to  the  "Liberty 
Tree,"  in  order  to  surrender 
their  commissions.  Several  hundred 
persons  assembled,  November  3d,  to 
see  the  result ;  but,  as  might  be  ex 
pected,  the  consignees  treated  the  whole 
affair  with  contempt.  Two  days  after, 
by  a  call  of  the  selectmen,  a  town 
meeting  was  held,  at  which  Hancock 
presided,  who  sent  a  second  commit 
tee  to  summon  the  consignees,  amcno" 

O  /  O 

whom  were  two  of  the  governor's 
sons,  to  resign  their  posts.  This,  how 
ever,  to  the  great  indignation  of  the 
meeting,  they  declined  to  do,  at  least 
until  they  had  received  advices  from 
England.  As  the  ships  were  shortly 
to  be  expected,  another  town  meeting 
was  held  (November  18th,)  when  a  final 


1773. 


500 


PROGRESS   OF  THE   CONTEST. 


[BK.  II. 


summons  was  sent  to  the  consignees, 
to  know  definitely  whether  they  would 
or  would  not  resign.  Upon  their  posi 
tive  refusal  to  do  so,  the  meeting  retired 
without  a  word.  The  evening  before, 
the  house  of  Clarke,  one  of  the  con 
signees,  having  been  mobbed,  the  con 
signees  petitioned  to  place  themselves 
and  the  tea  under  the  protection  of  the 
governor  and  council.  The  council, 
led  by  Bowdoin,  declined  interfering, 
and  refused  to  render  themselves  in 
any  way  responsible  for  the  safety  of 
the  tea.  Meanwhile,  the  first  cargo 
arrived.  A  mass  meeting  was  assem 
bled,  November  29th,  in  Faneuil  Hall, 
at  which  it  was  resolved,  that  the  ship 
should  be  moored  at  a  certain  wharf, 
and  a  guard  of  twenty-five  volunteers 
should  keep  watch  upon  her.  The  cap 
tain  was  ordered  not  to  attempt,  at  his 
peril,  to  unlade  the  ship.  A  similar  as 
semblage  taking  place  on  the  morrow, 
the  governor  declared  it  illegal,  and  re 
quired  it  to  disperse ;  but  to  no  purpose ; 
and  the  cadets,  who  were  commanded 
by  Hancock,  were  not  to  be  depended 
upon  for  any  service  adverse  to  liberty. 
The  consignees  promised,  if  the  tea 
were  allowed  to  be  landed,  that  they 
would  keep  it  in  their  cellars  until  they 
could  receive  fresh  orders  from  En^- 

O 

land,  but  the  people  demanded  the 
immediate  return  of  the  ships  without 
unlading.  The  custom  officers  refused 
to  grant  the  necessary  clearance  with 
out  the  cargo  was  landed ;  and  thus  the 
time  passed  away  until  the  arrival  of 
two  other  tea  ships,  early  in  December. 
Provoked  at  the  delay,  the  mass  of  the 
people  now  resolved  to  act,  promptly 
and  effectively 


On  the  16th  of  December,  a  town 
meeting  was  held  in  the  old  South 
Meeting-house.  The  owner  of  the 
ships  was  sent  for,  and  requested  to 
obtain  from  the  collector  the  necessary 
clearance  for  their  departure,  but  that 
officer  refused  to  comply.  He  was 
next  sent  to  the  governor,  then  at  his 
country  house,  at  Milton,  a  few  miles 
from  the  city,  for  the  same  purpose. 
Late  in  the  afternoon  he  returned  and 
announced  the  governor's  refusal.  The 
three  ships  were  moored  near  each  other 
at  Griffin's  wharf.  Josiah  Quincy  ha 
rangued  the  crowded  and  excited  as 
sembly  with  much  solemnity  of  manner/ 
and  in  his  peculiarly  fervid  style,  of 
eloquence.  "  It  is  not,"  he  said,  "  the 
spirit  that  vapors  within  these  walls 
that  must  stand  us  in  stead.  The  ex 
ertions  of  this  day  will  call  forth  events 
which  will  make  a  very  different  spirit 
necessary  for  our  salvation.  Look  to 
the  end.  Whoever  supposes  that 
shouts  and  hosannas  will  terminate 
the  trials  of  this  day,  entertains  a 
childish  fancy.  We  must  be  grossly 
ignorant  of  the  importance  and  value 
of  the  prize  for  which  we  contend ; — 
we  must  be  equally  ignorant  of  the 
power  of  those  who  have  combined 
against  us  ; — we  must  be  blind  to  that 
malice,  inveteracy,  and  insatiable  re 
venge  which  actuates  our  enemies  pub 
lic  and  private,  abroad  and  in  our 
bosoms,  to  hope  that  we  shall  end  this 
controversy  without  the  sharpest — the 
sharpest  conflicts ;  to  flatter  ourselves 
that  popular  resolves,  popular  haran 
gues,  popular  acclamations,  and  popular 
vapo'r  will  vanquish  our  foes.  Let  us 
consider  the  issue.  Let  us  look  to  the 


CH.  XL] 

end.  Let  us  weigh  and  consider  before 
we  advance  to  those  measures  which 
must  bring  on  the  most  trying  and  ter 
rible  struggle  this  country  ever  saw."* 
Roused  by  such  an  appeal,  the  question 
was  put  to  the  assembled  multitude — 
"  Will  you  abide  by  your  former  reso 
lutions  with  respect  to  not  suffering  the 
tea  to  be  landed  ?"  A  unanimous  shout 
wns  the  reply,  and  the  excitement  at 
tained  its  utmost  pitch.  It  was  grow 
ing  dark,  and  there  was  a  cry  for 
candles,  when  a  man  disguised  as  a 
Mohawk  Indian  raised  the  war-whoop  in 
the  gallery,  which  was  responded  to  in 
the  street  without*.  Another  voice  sud 
denly  shouted,  u  Boston  harbor  a  tea 
pot  to-night !  Hurra  for  Griffin's  wharf !" 
The  meeting  instantly  adjourned,  and 
the  people  hurried  down  to  the  harbor 
to  see  the  result.  It  was  now  six 
o'clock,  but  a  fine  still  evening.  Some 
fifty  men,  in  the  guise  of  Mohawks, 
boarded  the  tea  vessels,  and  while  the 
dense  crowd  silently  watched  the  pro 
ceeding,  they  drew  up  from  the  holds 
of  the  vessels  three  hundred  and  forty- 
two  chests  of  tea,  deliberately  broke 
them  open,  and  emptied  their  contents 
into  the  water.  This  occupied  between 
two  and  three  hours.  No  damage  was 

O 

done  to  anything  else,  and  when  the 
tea  had  been  destroyed,  the  crowd  dis 
persed,  without  further  noise  or  trouble, 
to  their  homes.f  Singularly  enough, 
the  naval  and  military  force  was  en 
tirely  apathetic,  and  did  not  at  all  in 
terfere  to  prevent  the  destruction  of 

*  "  Memoir  of  the  Life  of  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.," 
p.  266,  2G7. 

t  Consult  Mr.  Bancroft's  account  of  the  famous 
"  Boston  Tea  Parly,"  vol.  vi.  pp.  465-489. 


THE  BOSTON  TEA  PARTY. 


301 


the  tea;  probably  they  were  not  very 
sorry  at  being  relieved  from  the  neces 
sity  of  attempting  to  force  the  ob 
noxious  article  on  shore.  Admiral 
Montague,  it  is  related,  was,  on  the 
evening  of  the  16th,  at  the  house  of  a 
friend,  and  as  the  party  marched  from 
the  wharf,  he  raised  the  window,  and 
said,  "Well,  boys,  you've  had  a  fine 
night  for  your  Indian  caper,  havVt 
you  ?  But  mind,  you've  got  to  pay 
the  fiddler  yet."  "  O,  never  mind," 
shouted  Pitt,  one  of  the  leaders,  "  never 
mind,  squire  !  just  come  out  here,  if  you 
please,  and  we'll  settle  the  bill  in  two 
minutes !"  The  admiral  wisely  shut 
down  the  window,  while  the  crowd 
went  on  its  way,  without  further  dem 
onstration  of  popular  feeling.* 

In  New  York,  November  25th,  the 
consignees  of  the  expected  tea,  declined 
to  act  in  that  capacity,  having  been 

*"  Last  night,"  says  John  Adams,  in  his  Diary, 
"  three  cargoes  of  Bohea  tea  were  emptied  into  the 
sea.  This  morning  a  man-of-war  sails.  This  is  the 
most  magnificent  movement  of  all.  There  is  a  dig 
nity,  a  majesty,  a  sublimity,  in  this  last  effort  of  the 
patriots,  that  I  greatly  admire.  The  people  should 
never  rise  without  doing  something  to  be  remember 
ed,  something- notable  and  striking.  This  destruction 
of  the  tea  is  so  bold,  so  daring,  so  firm,  intrepid,  and 
inflexible,  and  it  must  have  such  important  conse 
quences,  and  so  lasting,  that  I  cannot  but  consider  it 
as  an  epoch  hi  history This,  how 
ever,  is  but  an  attack  upon  property.  Another  simi 
lar  exertion  of  popular  power  may  produce  the  de 
struction  of  lives.  Many  persons  wish  that  as  many 
dead  carcasses  were  floating  in  the  harbor,  as  there 
are  chests  of  tea.  A  much  less  number  of  lives,  how 
ever,  would  remove  the  causes  of  all  our  calamities. 
The  malicious  pleasure  with  which  Hutchinson,  the 
governor,  the  consignees  of  the  tea,  and  the  officers  of 
the  customs,  have  stood  and  looked  upon  the  disliesses 
of  the  people,  and  their  struggles  to  get  the  tea  back 
to  London,  and  at  last  the  destruction  of  it,  is  amaz 
ing.  'Tis  hard  to  believe  persons  so  hardened  and 
abandoned." 


302 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  CONTEST. 


[P.K.     II. 


1773. 


urged  to  this  step  by  the  demand  made 
of  them  at  a  popular  meeting. 
Governor  Tryon,  thereupon  is 
sued  orders  to  receive  the  tea  into  the 
barracks.  Driven  by  stress  of  weather 
into  the  West  Indies,  it  was  not  till 
April  of  the  next  year,  that  the  vessel 
arrived  at  Sandy  Hook.  The  pilots, 
under  instructions  from  a  "  Committee 
of  Vigilance,"  refused  to  bring  the  ship 
up,  until  assured  that  there  was  no  tea 
on  board.  It  having  been  discovered, 
however,  that  there  were  some  eighteen 
chests  on  board,  they  were  thrown  into 
the  river,  and  the  captain  was  coolly 
put  on  board  his  ship,  the  anchors  were 
weighed,  and  he  was  sent  to  find  his 
way  back  again  to  England. 

The   ship  bound    for   Philadelphia, 

was  stopped  four  miles  below  the  city, 

December  25th.     News  having 

1 773 

arrived  of  the  destruction  of 
the  tea  at  Boston,  the  captain  judged 
it  most  prudent  not  to  attempt  to  land 
his  obnoxious  cargo,  and  so  he  set  sail 
for  home.  The  Charleston  tea  ship 
reached  that  city  the  same  day  that  the 
New  York  vessel  reached  the 
Hook.  The  teas  were  landed, 
but  care  was  taken  to  store  them  in 
damp  cellars,  where  they  were  soon 
spoiled. 

It  will  be  convenient  at  this  point, 
before  proceeding  farther  with  the  nar 
rative,  to  give  some  attention  to  mat 
ters  which  we  have  passed  over,  so  as 
not  to  interrupt  the  exciting  story  of 
ante-revolutionary  days. 

Peace  having  been  concluded  with 
the  Indians  in  the  north-west,  a  great 
impulse  was  thereby  given  to  emigra 
tion.  Cupidity,  however,  and  a  lawless 


1774. 


1768. 


state  of  morals  and  manners,  soon  led  to 
great  injustice  being  done  to  the  In 
dians;  and  the  consequence  was,  ere 
long,  a  collision  between  them  and  the 
white  men.  The  more  daring  and 
reckless  portion  of  the  settlers  con 
tinued  to  advance,  and  settle  down 
upon  Indian  lands,  without  even  the 
shadow  of  a  right.  Against  these  con 
tinual  encroachments,  sustained  as  they 
were  by  force  and  outrage,  the  Indians 
had  repeatedly  remonstrated  to  the 
local  governments,  but  to  little  or  no 
purpose.  At  length,  on  the  6th  of  May, 
1768,  a  deputation  from  the  Six 
Nations  repaired  to  Fort  Pitt, 
to  present  a  remonstrance,  which  was 
forwarded  to  the  Assembly  of  Virginia. 
The  president  of  the  Council  in  his 
message  declared,  "  that  a  set  of  men, 
regardless  of  the  laws  of  natural  justice, 
unmindful  of  the  duties  they  owe  to 
society,  and  in  contempt  of  the  royal 
proclamations,  have  dared  to  settle 
themselves  upon  the  lands  near  Heel- 
stone  Creek  and  Cheat  River,  which  are 
the  property  of  the  Indians,  and,  not 
withstanding  the  repeated  warnings  of 
the  danger  of  such  lawless  proceedings, 
they  still  remain  unmoved,  and  seem  to 
defy  the  orders  and  even  the  powers 
of  the  government."  The  royal  gov 
ernment  was  at  length  compelled  to  in 
terfere,  by  ordering  Sir  William  John 
son  to  purchase  from  the  Six  Nations 
the  lands  already  thus  occupied,  as  well 
as  to  obtain  a  further  grant ;  and  ac 
cordingly,  by  a  treaty  at  Fort  Stanwix, 
large  bodies  of  land  extending  to  the 
Ohio,  were,  as  it  was  said,  ceded  by  the 
Indians,  but,  as  they  persisted  in  de 
claring,  were  obtained  by  mingled 


CH.  XL] 


INSURRECTION  IN   NORTH  CAROLINA. 


303 


fraud  and  cunning,  on  the  part  of  the 
white  men. 

North  Carolina,  to  use  the  language 
of  Mr.  Grahame,  had  been  for  some 
time  past  convulsed  with  disorders, 
which  at  length  broke  out  in  an  insur 
rection  so  completely  disconnected 
with  the  general  agitation  by  which 
America  was  pervaded,  that  the  insur 
gents  afterwards  formed  one  of  the 
strongest  bodies  of  royalist  partisans, 
who,  dissenting  from  their  countrymen 
in  general,  adhered  to  and  supported 
the  pretensions  of  Britain.  And  yet, 
in  reality,  it  was  the  corruption  or  inca 
pacity  of  functionaries  of  the  British 
government  that  produced  the  very 
evils  of  which  those  persons  now  com 
plained.  We  have  formerly  remarked 
the  abuses  which  prevailed  in  the  civil 
administration  of  this  province,  and 
which  the  appointment  of  Tryon  to  be 
its  governor  was  expected  to  cure.  This 
expectation  was  disappointed.  One  of 
the  most  irritating  abuses  was  the  ex 
action  of  exorbitant  fees  by  public  offi 
cers  on  all  legal  proceedings,  and  parti 
cularly  on  all  deeds  and  ceremonies 
requisite  by  law  to  the  validity  of  sales 
and  acquisitions  of  landed  property. 
Tryon,  in  conformity  with  his  instruc 
tions,  issued  a  proclamation  against  this 
abuse  ;  but,  as  he  either  negligently  or 
corruptly  confined  himself  to  proclaim 
ing,  without  attempting  to  execute,  a 
purposed  reform,  his  conduct  served 
only  to  sanction,  without  curing  or 
alleviating,  the  general  discontent.  In 
addition  to  this  grievance,  a  number  of 
the  sheriffs  and  of  the  receivers  of  the 
provincial  taxes  were  suffered  to  con 
tinue  long  indebted  to  the  provincial 


treasury  for  a  heavy  arrear  of  public 
moneys  which  they  had  collected,  but 
delayed  to  account  for ;  and  it  was  not 
unreasonably  surmised  that  the  weight 
of  the  taxes  was  aggravated  by  this 
misapplication  of  their  produce.  An 
association  was  gradually  formed  by  a 
great  number  of  poor  colonists,  who 
assumed  the  title  of  Regulators,  and 
who  entered  into  a  compact,  which  they 
ratified  by  oath,  to  pay  no  taxes  what 
ever,  till  all  exorbitant  fees  were  abol 
ished,  and  official  embezzlement  punish 
ed  and  prevented.  The  general  ill-humor 
was  increased  by  a  vote  of  the  Assembly 
of  a  large  sum  of  money  to  build  a  pal 
ace  for  the  governor,  as  an  expression 
of  public  gratitude  for  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act ;  and  also  by  the  imposition 
for  this  purpose  of  a  tax,  which  began 
to  operate  at  the  very  time  when  the 
parliamentary  impost  on  tea,  glass,  pa 
per,  and  painters'  colors  was  promul 
gated.  Tryon  with  great  difficulty 
pacified  the  Regulators  by  promises 
which  were  only  delusively  fulfilled. 
Fanning,  one  of  the  recorders  of  con 
veyances  of  land,  was  tried  on  six  in 
dictments  for  extortion,  and  found  guil 
ty  in  every  instance.  The  royal  judges, 
however,  sentenced  him  to  pay  only  the 
fine  of  one  penny, — a  sentence  more 
insulting  to  the  people  than  would  have 
been  the  boldest  injustice  in  openly  ab 
solving  him. 

This,  and  other  similar  transactions, 
revived  the  association  of  the  Regu 
lators,  who,  incensed  and  blinded  with 
indignation  and  ignorance,  easily  be 
came  the  dupes  of  leaders  of  whom 
some  were  madmen  and  others  knaves. 
One  of  those  leaders,  named  Few,  whose 


304 


PROGRESS   OF  THE   CONTEST. 


[Bit.  II. 


life  was  afterwards  vindictively  short 
ened  by  the  executioner,  instead  of  being 
charitably  prolonged  in  a  lunatic  asy 
lum,  alleged  that  he  was  commissioned 
by  Heaven  to  deliver  the  whole  world 
from  oppression,  and  specially  directed 
to  commence  his  work  in  North  Ca 
rolina.  After  various  outrages,  the 
Regulators,  assembling  in  the  present 
year  to  the  number  of  two  thousand, 
declared  their  purpose  of  abolishing 
courts  of  justice,  exterminating  all  law 
yers  and  public  officers,  and  prostrating 
the  provincial  government  itself  be 
neath  some  wild  and  indeterminate 
scheme  of  democracy,  which,  doubt 
less,  its  abettors  as  little  comprehended 
as  they  were  qualified  to  accomplish. 
All  the  sober  and  respectable  part  of 
the  community  perceived  the  necessity 
of  defending  themselves  against  the 
folly  and  fury  of  the  insurgents,  whom 
Tryon  was  soon  enabled  to  oppose  with 
eleven  hundred  of  the  provincial  militia. 
In  a  battle  at  Almansee,  May 
16th,  the  Regulators  were  com 
pletely  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  three 
hundred  of  their  number,  who  were 
found  dead  on  the  field.  Seventy  of 
the  militia  were  killed  or  wounded. 
Twelve  of  the  defeated  insurgents  were 
afterwards  tried  and  condemned  to  die 
for  high  treason,  in  June ;  six  of  these 
were  executed ;  the  rest  of  the  fugitives, 
except  some  of  their  leaders  who  es 
caped  from  the  province,  submitted  to 
the  government  and  took  the  oath  of 
allegiance. 

Tryon,  though  he  had  dissolved  an 
Assembly  for  imitating  the  Virginian 
resolutions  in  1769,  was  yet  in  the  main 
popular  with  all  the  most  substantial 


1771. 


and  respectable  inhabitants  of  North 
Carolina.  This  advantage  he  owed  to 

O 

the  diligence  with  which  he  avoided  to 
provoke  or  aggravate  disputes  with  the 
Assembly,  and  to  the  zeal  with  which  he 
opposed  a  proposition  of  Lord  Charles 
Montague,  the  governor  of  South  Ca 
rolina,  for  establishing  a  boundary 
line  very  unfavorable  to  the  northern 
province.  Nevertheless,  only  a  short 
time  after  he  had  suppressed  the  in 
surrection  of  the  Regulators,  Tryon 
was  removed  to  the  government  of 
New  York,  and  succeeded  in  North 
Carolina  by  Josiah  Martin,  a  vain,  weak, 
and  insolent  man,  who  endeavored  to 
lower  the  character  of  his  predecessor 
~hy  defending  and  countenancing  all 
who  were  supposed  to  have  aided  or 
befriended  the  Regulators ;  and  to  re 
commend  himself  to  the  British  minis 
try  by  seizing  every  opportunity  of  dis 
puting  with  and  complaining  of  the 
provincial  Assembly.* 

Notwithstanding  the  active  hostili/y 
of  the  Indians,  there  were  daring  men 
on  the  frontiers  who  persisted  in  ex 
ploring  farther  and  farther  into  the 
unsettled  regions  of  western  districts. 
Daniel  Boone  was  such  a  one,  and  by 
long  residence  in  the  woods,  he  had  be 
come  excellently  fitted  for  the  toil  and 
privation  of  a  pioneer  life.  Attracted 
by  the  descriptions  of  John  Finley,  a 
trader,  who  had  already  caught  a 
glimpse  of  the  land  of  promise,  Boone 
eagerly  joined  in  an  exploring  expedi 
tion  in  company  with  Finley,  John 
Stuart,  and  three  other  companions. 

*  Grahame's  "  History  of  the  United  Slates,"  vol.  i>. 
pp.  465-7. 


CH.  X!.] 


DANIEL  BOONE  IN  KENTUCKY 


305 


17GO. 


1773. 


When  they  had  advanced  two  hundred 
miles  to  the  west,  the  party  divided, 
and  Boone  and  Stuart  proceed 
ed  in  company,  until,  in  the 
beautiful  month  of  May,  from  a  lofty 
eminence  they  saw  the  fertile  plain  of 
Kentucky,  and  its  river  rolling  at  their 
feet.  Hardly  had  this  splendid  pros 
pect  opened  before  them,  when  they 
were  surprised  by  a  party  of  Indians, 
from  whom  they  eventually  succeeded 
in  making  their  escape,  and  forming  a 
hunting  camp,  the  proceeds  of  which 
were  sent  to  an  eastern  mart.  During 
the  year,  Booue  and  Stuart  remained 
the  sole  occupants  of  the  "  forbidden 
ground"  of  Kentucky,  eluding  the  con 
stant  pursuit  of  the  Indians,  until  the 
former  returned  to  conduct  a  colony 
thither,  but  was  attacked  and 
driven  back  by  the  Indians. 
A  treaty  for  the  cession  of  the  lands 
south  of  Kentucky  now  being  at  length 
accomplished,  Boone  set  off  with  a 
party,  and  opened  the  first  "Hazed 
trace"  or  outline  of  a  road  to  the  banks 
of  the  Kentucky  river,  where,  early  in 
1775,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  J3oone-s- 
liorougli. 

The  subsequent  career  of  Daniel 
Boone,  deserves  a  word  or  two  of 
notice.  During  the  Revolution,  he 
was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians,  and 
became  such  a  favorite,  that  he  was 
adopted  into  their  tribe  as  a  brave; 
but  on  learning  that  a  body  of  British 
and  Indians  had  assembled  for  the  in 
vasion  of  Kentucky  and  the  destruction 
of  his  dtirling  Boonesborough,  he  sud 
denly  decamped,  and  with  a  single  meal 
m  his  pocket,  across  the  wilderness,  ac 
complishing  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles 

Voi,.  I.— 41 


in  six  days,  and  gave  such  timely  notice 
to  his  fellow-citizens  as  set  aside  the 
threatened  attack.  At  the  end  of  the 
war,  he  settled  down  as  a  farmer,  but 
found  that  the  lands  which  he  had  him 
self  first  discovered,  had  been  granted 
away  to  some  land-speculator  in  an  east- 
ern  city.  Thus  driven  away,  he  re 
tired  in  disgust  beyond  the  Mississippi, 
and  sought  a  _ast  resting-place  on  the 
banks  of  the  Missouri,  beyond  the  ex 
treme  verge  of  civilization ;  and  here 
the  old  hunter  was  quietly  irathered  to 
his  fathers.  His  grateful  fellow-citizens 
have  since  removed  his  bones  into  Ken 
tucky,  and  buried  them  with  those  of 
his  wife,  in  a  common  sepulchre. 

During  the  whole  period  of  her  contro 
versy  with  Britain,  says  Mr.  Graharne, 
America  derived  increased  strength 
from  domestic  growth  and  from  the  flow 
of  European  emigration.  Her  territories 
presented  varieties  of  human  condition 
and  diversified  attractions  adapted  to 
almost  every  imaginable  peculiarity  of 
human  taste, — from  scenes  of  peace  and 
repose,  to  circumstances  of  romantic  ad 
venture  and  interesting  danger, — from 
the  rudeness,  the  silence,  and  solitude 
of  the  forest,  to  the  refinements  of  cul 
tivated  life,  and  the  busy  hum  of  men 
in  flourishing,  populous,  and  improved 
societies, — from  the  lawless  liberty  of 
the  back  settlements,  to  the  dominion 
of  the  most  austerely  moral  legislation 
that  ever  prevailed  among  mankind. 
No  complete  memorial  has  been  trans 
mitted  of  the  particulars  of  the  emi 
grations  that  took  place  from  Europe 
to  America  at  this  period  ;  but  (from 
the  few  illustrative  facts  that  are  actu 
ally  preserved)  they  seem  to 


306 


PROGRESS   OF   THE  CONTEST. 


amazingly  copious.  lu  the  years  1771 
and  1772,  the  number  of  emigrants  to 
America  from  the  North  of  Ireland 
alone  amounted  to  17,350,  almost  all 
of  whom  emigrated  at  their  own  charge ; 
a  great  majority  consisting  of  persons 
employed  in  the  linen  manufacture,  or 
farmers,  and  possessed  of  some  property 
which  they  converted  into  money  and 
carried  with  them.  Within  the  first 
fortnight  of  August,  1773,  there  arrived 
at  Philadelphia  three  thousand  five 
hundred  emigrants  from  Ireland;  and 
from  the  same  document  which  has 
recorded  this  circumstance  it  appears 
that  vessels  were  arriving  every  month, 
freighted  with  emigrants  from  Holland, 
Germany,  and  especially  from  Ireland 
and  the  Highlands  of  Scotland.  About 
seven  hundred  Irish  settlers  repaired  to 
the  Carolinas  in  the  autumn  of  1773 ; 
and,  in  the  course  of  the  same  season, 
no  fewer  than  ten  vessels  sailed  from 
Britain  with  Scottish  Highlanders  emi 
grating  to  the  American  States.  As 
most  of  the  emigrants,  and  particularly 
those  from  Ireland  and  Scotland,  were 
persons  discontented  with  their  condi 
tion  or  treatment  in  Europe,  their  ac 
cession  to  the  colonial  population,  it 
might  reasonably  be  supposed,  had  no 
tendency  to  diminish  or  counteract  the 
hostile  sentiments  towards  Britain 
which  were  daily  gathering  force  in 
America.  And  yet  these  persons, 
especially  the  Scotch,  were  in  general 
extremely  averse  to  an  entire  and  abrupt 
rejection  of  British  authority.  Their 
patriotic  attachment,  enhanced  as  usual 
by  distance  from  its  object,  always  re 
sisted  and  sometimes  prevailed  over 
their  more  rational  and  prudent  con 


victions  ;  and  more  than  once,  in  the 
final  struggle,  were  the  interests  of 
British  prerogative  espoused  and  sup 
ported  by  men  who  had  been  originally 
driven  by  hardship  and  ill  usage  from 
Britain  to  America.  Among  other 
emigrants  doubtless  cherishing  little 
reverence  for  their  native  country, 
whom  Britain  continued  to  discharge 
upon  her  colonies,  were  numbers  of 
convicted  felons,  who  were  conveyed 
in  general  to  the  States  in  which  to 
bacco  was  cultivated,  and  labored  dur 
ing  the  allotted  period  of  their  exile 
with  the  negro  slaves.  Of  these  per 
sons,  the  most  abandoned  characters 
generally  found  their  way  back  to 
England ;  but  many  contracted  im 
proved  habits,  and  remained  in  Ame 
rica.  All  enlightened  and  p-atriotic 
Americans  resented  as  an  indignity, 
and  all  the  wealthy  slave-owners  de 
tested  as  a  political  mischief,  this  prac 
tice  of  the  parent  state, — of  which  the 
last  instance  seems  to  have  occurred 
in  the  course  of  the  present  year.  In 
England,  many  persons  were  so  unjust 
and  unreasonable  as  to  make  the  con 
duct  of  their  government  in  this  respect 
a  matter  of  insult  and  reproach  to  the 
Americans, — as  if  the  production  of 
crime  were  not  a  circumstance  more 
truly  disgraceful  to  a  people  than  their 
casual  and  involuntary  association  with 
criminals. 

A  convention  was  held  this  year  in 
Georgia,  by  Sir  James  Wright,  the  gov- 
ernor  of  the  colony,  with  a  numerous 
deputation  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Creek 
and  Cherokee  tribes,  who  willingly 
ceded  to  the  British  king  several  mil 
lions  of  acres  of  valuable  land,  in  the 


Cii.  XI.] 


LOGAN'S  TOUCHING  SPEECH. 


307 


most  fertile  and  salubrious  part  of  the 
country,  for  the  payment  of  debts  which 
they  owed  to  European  merchants  who 
had  traded  with  them.  A  transaction 
of  very  different  character  occurred  at 
the  same  time  in  Virginia,  where  a  war 

O 

broke  out  with  the  Ohio  Indians,  in 
consequence  of  a  series  of  reciprocal  in 
juries,  wherein  the  European  colonists, 
if  not  the  aggressors  (which,  however, 
there  is  reason  to  suppose  they  were), 
at  least  merited  the  reproach  of  exceed 
ing  their  savage  antagonists  in  the  in- 

O  O  O 

flictions  of  summary,  indiscriminate,  and 
disproportioned  revenge.  The  Virginia 
government  despatched  a  strong  body 
of  militia,  under  the  command  of  Col 
onel  Lewis,  to  oppose  the  enemy ;  and 
after  a  bloody  engagement  in  the 
woods,  in  which  the  colonial  troops  re 
pulsed  the  Indians,  but  with  great  diffi 
culty,  and  the  loss  of  several  hundred 
men  on  their  own  side,  the  quarrel  was 
adjusted  and  peace  again  restored.* 

In  connection  with  what  has  just 
been  quoted  from  Mr.  Grahame's  work, 
we  think  that  the  speech  of  Logan,  one 
of  the  greatest  sufferers  from  the  indis 
criminate  slaughter  set  on  foot  by  the 
whites,  ought  to  be  preserved.  It  was 
made  to  General  Gibson,  and  was  by 
him  to  be  transmitted  to  Lord  Dun- 
more,  the  Governor  of  Virginia.  "  I 
appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say  if  ever 
he  entered  Logan's  cabin  hungry,  and  he 
gave  him  nothing  to  eat ;  if  ever  he  came 
cold  and  naked,  and  he  clothed  him  not. 
During  the  course  of  the  last 
long  and  bloody  war,  Logan  re- 

*  Grahame's  "  History  of  the  United  States"  vol. 
n*.,  p.  481,  'J. 


rnained  idle  in  his  cabin  an  advocate  for 
peace.  Such  was  my  love  for  the  whites, 
that  my  countrymen  pointed  at  me  as 
they  passed  and  said,  '•Logan  is  the 
friend  of  white  men?  Iliad  even  thought 
to  have  lived  with  you,  but  for  the  inju 
ries  of  one  man.  Captain  Cresap,  the  last 
spring,  in  cold  blood,  and  unprovoked, 
murdered  all  the  relations  of  Logan, 
sparing  not  even  my  ivomen  and  child 
ren.  There  runs  not  a  drop  of  my  blood 
in  any  living  creature.  This  called  on 
me  for  revenge:  I  have  sought  it;  I 
have  killed  many  ;  I  have  fully  glutted 
my  vengeance.  For  my  country,  I  re 
joice  at  the  beams  of  peace ;  but  do 
not  harbor  a  thought  that  mine  is  the 

O 

joy  of  fear.  Logan  never  felt  fear. 
He  will  not  turn  on  his  heel  to  save  his 
life.  Who  is  there  to  mourn  for  Lo 
gan  ?  Not  one ! " 

War  and  politics  had  engrossed  pub 
lic  attention  quite  largely  since  the 
"  Great  Revival,"  thirty  years  before. 
The  stern,  rugged  s}rsteni  of  Puritanism 
had,  to  a  considerable  extent,  given  way 
before  the  progress  of  latitudinarian 
ideas  and  sentiments.  Whitfield  died 
in  Massachusetts,  in  1770,  and  the  views 
which  he  had  so  zealously  advocated 
were  widely  spread  and  influential  in 
the  community.  The  Wesley  an  branch 
of  the  Methodists,  however,  had  not 
met  with  much  success  in  America  as 
yet,  owing  to  the  fact  that  in  general 
they  were  warm  loyalists.  The  Uni- 
versalists  took  their  rise  in  America 
about  this  date,  and  the  spread  of  their 
peculiar  tenets  helped  to  produce  a 
change  in  the  New  England  people 
"  But  the  armed  contest  with  the  mo 
ther  country,"  as  Mr.  Hildreth  remarks, 


SOS 


AMERICA  RESISTS   AGGRESSION —THE  CRISIS. 


II. 


"  whicli  soon  engrossed  the  public  mind, 
the  strong  passions  which  revolution 
and  war  of  necessity  arouse,  operated 
as  a  sudden  and  severe  check  to  the  in 
tellectual  development  of  the  people, 
or,  rather,  turned  that  development 
almost  exclusively  into  military  and 
political  channels.  Of  statesmen  and 
soldiers,  men  great  in  action,  we  shall 
presently  find  enough.  Thinkers  are 
the  product  of  quieter  times."* 


*  Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States,"  vol.  ii. 
p.  579. 


The  College  of  Rhode  Island,  now 
known  as  Brown  University,  originally 
established  at  Warren  in  1704,  was, 
in  1770,  removed  to  Providence. 

Rutger's  College,  established  in  1770, 
and  Dartmouth  College,  established  in 
1771,  made  up  the  number  of  nine 
colleges  of  which  the  colonies  boast 
ed  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
Three  of  these  were  controlled  by 
Episcopalians,  three  by  Congregation- 
alists,  and  one  each  by  the  Presby 
terians,  by  the  Dutch  Reformed  and  by 
the  Baptists. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

1774—1775, 

AMERICA    RESISTS     AGGRESSION THE     CRISIS. 

Collision  inevitable  —  Ignorance  in  England  of  the  spirit  and  energy  of  Americans  —  Anger  of  the  Ministry  at 
what  was  done  in  Boston  — The  King's  message  — The  Boston  Port  Bill— Boston  to  be  summarily  punished  — 
Bill  for  regulating  government  of  Massachusetts  —  Other  coercive  Acts  adopted  —  Chatham  and  Burke's  oppos 
tion  — Gage  Governor  of  Massachusetts — Views  of  a  town  meeting  held  in  Boston  — Quincy's  "Observations 
on  the  Boston  Port  Bill"  —  Trying  moment  to  Boston  —  Action  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses—  Washing 
ton's  views  and  course  — A  General  Congress  recommended — Action  in  the  other  colonies  — The  General 
Court's  recommendation  to  the  people  —  Delegates  to  General  Congress  appointed  —  Court  dissolved —Port  of 
Boston  closed  on  1st  of  June  — "Solemn  League  and  Covenant"  —  Noble  conduct  of  Salem  and  Marblehead  peo 
ple  —Fast  day  in  Virginia — Other  coercive  measures  put  in  force  —Preparation  for  probable  collision  —  Troops 
increased  in  Boston  — Gage  fortifies  Boston  Neck  —  Effect  of  certain  rumors  on  the  people —  Recent  acts  virtu 
ally  nullified  — The  Suffolk  Convention  —  Meeting  of  the  FIRST  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS — Illustrious  men  among 
its  Members— Henry's  and  Lee's  speeches  —  Prayers  daily  — The  "Declaration  of  Colonial  Rights"  —  Measures 
resolved  upon  by  Congress  —  "American  Association" — Addresses  prepared  and  adopted  —  Difference  of  opin 
ion— Ability  of  the  papers  issued  by  Congress  —  Action  in  Massachusetts  —  Preparation  for  war— Boston  at 
this  tirae — Proceedings  of  Congress  generally  approved  —  Lord  North's  course  —  Silly  braggadocic  — Compul 
sion  thought  to  be  best  —  The  King's  feelings  — Chatham's  eloquent  speech  —  Course  pursued  by  Parliament- 
North's  conciliatory  plan  —  Burke's  and  Hartley's  plans— Gage's  course  —  His  force  in  Boston  — His  rash 
procedure  — Battle  of  Lexington.  APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XII. — I.  An  Association  signed  by  eighty-nine  mem 
bers  of  the  late  House  of  Burgesses.  II.  Address  to  the  People  of  Great  Britain.  III.  Address  to  the  Inhabitants 
of  the  Anglo-American  Colonies.  IV.  Petition  to  the  King. 


IT  was  a  very  bold  and  decided  step 
which  the  people  of  Boston  had  just 
taken  in  regard  to  the  ships  laden  with 
tea,  and,  as  they  had  been  forewarned, 


the  immediate  effect  of  it  must  be  to 
bring  them  into  direct  collision  with 
the  mother  country.  Heretofore  there 
had  been  much  discussion  as  to  questions 


CH.  XII.] 


THE   KING'S   MESSAGE  TO   PARLIAMENT. 


C09 


of  right  and  chartered  privilege,  and  on 
both  sides  strong  language  had  been 
used,  as  to  what  would  be  the  result  in 
case  force  had  to  be  resorted  to.  It 
was  now  to  be  seen  how  far  words  were 
to  be  supported  by  deeds.  The  spirit 
of  the  colonists  was  roused,  and  they 
waited  the  issue  with  unyielding  de- 

•/  o 

termination  to  resist  the  high-handed 
measures  of  the  government.  If  blood 
must  be  shed,  they  were  ready  for 
even  that  last  and  searching  appeal. 
"The  king  was  obstinate,  had  no  one 
near  him  to  explain  the  true  state  of 
things  in  America,  and  admitted  no 

O  ' 

misgivings  except  for  not  having  sooner 
enforced  the  claims  of  authority.  On 
the  fourth  day  of  February,  he  con 
sulted  the  American  commander-in- 
chief,  who  had  recently  returned  from 
New  York.  'I  am  willing  to  go  back 
at  a  day's  notice,'  said  Gage, '  if  coercive 
measures  are  adopted.  They  v/ill  be 
lions  while  we  are  lambs;  but,  if  we 
take  the  resolute  part,  they  will  un 
doubtedly  prove  very  meek.  Four 
regiments  sent  to  Boston  will  be  suffi- 

O 

cient  to  prevent  any  disturbance.'  "* 
So  little  did  George  III.  and  his  advis 
ers  understand  or  appreciate  the  spirit 
and  energy  of  the  Americans  ! 

When,  early  in  March,  the  news  of 
the  proceedings  in  Boston  reached  Eng 
land,  the  ministry  were  excited  to  a 
hio'h  state  of  indignation,  and  seemed 

O  O  1 

to  come  to  the  conclusion  at  once,  that 
no  measures  short  of  actual  force  would 
be  sufficient  to  reduce  the  refractory 
colonists  to  submission.  Boston,  which 
had  rendered  itself  especially  obnoxious, 

*  Bancroft,  vol.  vi.  p.  501. 


1   *'*'••'   9 
774« 


was  to  be  summarily  punished,  and  it 
was  thought  that  its  fate  would  prove 
a  significant  warning  to  ethers,  before 

*~-*  O 

they  should  venture  upon  acts  of  daring 
resistance  to  authority.  On  the  7th  of 
March,  Lord  North  presented  a  message 
from  the  king  to  both  Houses  of 
Parliament,  in  which  it  was  stat 
ed,  that  "in  consequence  of  the  unwar 
rantable  practices  carried  on  in  North 
America,  and  particularly  of  the  violent 

J.  V 

and  outrageous  proceedings  at  the  town 
and  port  of  Boston,  wjth  a  view  of  ob 
structing  the  commerce  of  this  kingdom, 

O  O 

and  upon  grounds  and  pretences  imme 
diately  subversive  of  its  constitution,  it 
was  thought  fit  to  lay  the  whole  matter 
before  Parliament,  recommending  it  to 
their  serious  consideration,  what  further 
regulations  or  permanent  provisions 
might  be  necessary  to  be  established, 
for  securing  the  execution  of  the  laws, 
and  the  just  dependence  of  the  colonies 
upon  the  crown  and  Parliament  of 
Great  Britain."  On  presenting  these 
papers,  his  lordship  remarked,  "that 
the  utmost  lenity  on  the  part  of  the 
governor,  perhaps  too  much,  had  been 
already  shown  ;  and  that  this  town,  by 
its  late  proceedings,  had  left  govern 
ment  perfectly  at  liberty  to  adopt  any 
measures  they  should  think  convenient, 
not  only  for  redressing  the  wron<^  sus- 

\i 

tained  by  the  East  India  Company,  but 
for  inflicting  such  punishment  as  their 
factious  and  criminal  conduct  merited  ; 
and  that  the  aid  of  Parliament  would 
be  resorted  to  for  this  purpose,  and  for 
vindicating  the  honor  of  the  crown,  so 
daringly  and  wantonly  attacked  and 
contemned."  In  reply  to  the  royal 
message,  the  House  voted,  "  that  an  ad- 


310 


AMERICA  RESISTS  AGGRESSION  — THE  CRISIS. 


n. 


dress  of  thanks  should  be  presented  to 
the  king,  assuring  his  majesty  that  they 
would  not  fail  to  exert  every  means  in 
their  power  of  effectually  providing  for 
the  due  execution  of  the  laws,  and 
securing  the  dependence  of  the  colonies 
upon  the  crown  and  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain."  On  the  14th  of  March,  a  bill 
was  introduced  "  for  the  immediate  re 
moval  of  the  officers  concerned  in  the 
collection  of  his  majesty's  customs  from 
the  town  of  Boston,  and  to  discontinue 
the  landing  and  discharging,  lading  and 
shipping  of  goods,  wares,  and  merchan 
dise,  at  the  said  town,  or  within  the 
harbor  thereof." 

The  proposal  of  Lord  North  encount 
ered  but  little  opposition.  The  warmest 
advocates  of  the  colonies  were  unable 
to  justify  the  daring  conduct  of  the 
Bostonians  in  destroying  the  tea,  and 
even  Barre  and  Con  way  were  in  favor 
of  passing  the  bill.  On  its  final  read 
ing,  it  was  opposed  by  Burke,  but  it 
passed  nevertheless  with  very  few  ne 
gatives.  A  few  of  the  peers  protested 
against  the  measure,  but  the  House  of 
Lords  voted  its  adoption  immediately, 
and  on  the  31st  of  March  it  received 
the  royal  assent. 

Another  bill  was  soon  after  proposed 
by  the  irate  minister.  It  was 
entitled  u  for  better  regulating 
the  government  of  Massachusetts  Bay ;" 
but  it  was  equivalent  to  a  complete 
abrogation  of  the  charter.  By  this  bill, 
the  royal  governor  was  empowered  to 
appoint  all  the  civil  authorities  what 
ever,  who  were  also  to  have  the  nomina 
tion  of  juries,  functions  hitherto  vested 
in  the  people  themselves ;  and  as  their 
town  meetings  had  proved  the  nursery 


1774. 


of  opposition  to  government,  they  were 
now  entirely  prohibited,  except  for  the 
purpose  of  electing  representatives.  A 
third  bill,  ostensibly  designed  "for  the 
more  impartial  administration  of  jus 
tice,"  provided — in  view  of  such  cases 
as  that  of  Captain  Preston — that  "  any 
person  indicted  for  murder,  or  any  other 
capital  offence,  committed  in  aiding  the 
magistracy,  the  governor  might  send 
the  person  so  indicted  to  another  col 
ony,  or  to  Great  Britain,  for  trial." 
These  bills  were  opposed  by  Barre, 
Conway,  Johnstone,  Burke,  Fox,  and 
others.  Barre,  with  his  usual  direct 
ness  and  force,  speaking  of  the  third 
bill,  said  to  the  members  of  the  House. 
"  You  may  think,  that  a  law  founded 
on  this  motion  will  be  a  protection  to 
the  soldier  who  imbrues  his  hand  in 
the  blood  of  his  fellow  subjects.  I  am 
mistaken  if  it  will.  "Who  is  to  execute 
it  ?  He  must  be  a  bold  man  indeed  who 
will  make  the  attempt.  If  the  people 
are  so  exasperated  that  it  is  unsafe  to 
bring  the  man  who  has  injured  them  to 
trial,  let  the  governor  who  withdraws 
him  from  justice  look  to  himself.  The 
people  will  not  endure  it ;  they  would 
no  longer  deserve  the  reputation  of 
being  descended  from  the  loins  of  Eng 
lishmen  if  they  did  endure  it.  Yon 
have  changed  your  ground.  You  are 
becoming  the  aggressors,  and  offering 
the  last  of  human  outrages  to  the  people 
of  America,  by  submitting  them  to  mi 
litary  execution.  Instead  of  sending 
them  the  olive  branch,  you  have  sent 
the  naked  sword.  By  the  olive  branch, 
I  mean  a  repeal  of  all  the  late  laws, 
fruitless  to  you,  and  oppressive  to  them. 
Ask  their  aid  in  a  constitutional  manner, 


CH.  XII.] 


COERCIVE  MEASURES  RESOLVED  UPON. 


311 


and  they  will  give  it  to  the  utmost  of 
their  ability.  Your  journals  bear  the 
recorded  acknowledgments  of  the  zeal 
with  which  they  have  contributed  to 
the  general  necessities  of  the  state. 
What  madness  is  it  that  prompts  you 
to  attempt  obtaining  that  by  force 
which  you  may  more  certainly  obtain 
by  requisition  ?  They  may  be  flattered 
into  any  thing,  but  they  are  too  much 
like  yourselves  to  be  driven.  Respect 
their  sturdy  English  virtue :  retract 
your  odious  exertions  of  authority ;  and 
remember  that  the  first  step  towards 
making  them  contribute  to  your  wants 
is  to  reconcile  them  to  your  govern 
ment."  Despite  all  opposition,  the  bill 
passed  by  a  majority  of  four  to  one. 

A  fourth  bill,  for  quartering  troops 
in  America,  being  the  former  act  re 
vised,  was  shortly  added  to  the  others ; 
on  which  occasion  Lor.d  Chatham,  who, 
owing  to  his  declining  health  could  take 
but  a  small  part  in  the  debates,  opposed 
the  ministerial  policy  with  his  usual 
animation.  "  I  condemn,"  he  said,  "  in 
the  severest  manner,  the  turbulent  and 
unwarrantable  conduct  of  the  Americans 
in  some  instances,  particularly  in  the  late 
riots  at  Boston ;  but,  my  Lords,  the 
mode  which  has  been  pursued  to  bring 
them  back  to  a  sense  of  their  duty  is 
so  diametrically  opposed  to  every  prin 
ciple  of  sound  policy,  as  to  excite  my 
utmost  astonishment.  You  have  in 
volved  the  guilty  and  the  innocent  in 
one  common  punishment,  and  avenge 
the  crime  of  a  few  lawless  depredators 
upon  the  whole  body  of  the  inhabitants. 
My  Lords,  it  has  always  been  my  fixed 
and  unalterable  opinion,  I  will  carry  it 
with  me  to  the  grave,  that  this  country 


has  no  right  under  heaven  to  tax  Ame 
rica.  It  is  contrary  to  all  the  principles 
of  justice  and  civil  policy,  it  is  contrary 
to  that  essential,  unalterable  right  in 
grafted  into  the  British  constitution  as 
a  fundamental  law,  that  what  a  man 
has  honestly  acquired  is  absolutely  his 
own,  which  he  may  freely  give,  but 
which  cannot  be  taken  away  from  him 
without  his  consent."  Burke  also  raised 
his  eloquent  voice  again t  the  ministerial 
measures ;  but  all  opposition  was  vain. 
The  supporters  of  the  ministry  were  in 
so  large  a  majority  that  they  carried 
every  thing  before  them. 

A  fifth  act,  known  as  the  Quebec 
Act,  was  designed  to  conciliate  the 
Canadians  in  case  the  colonies  should 
venture  to  proceed  to  extremities.  This 
act  wisely  placed  the  Roman  Catholics 
and  Protestants  on  an  equality,  con 
firmed  to  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy 
their  extensive  landed  property,  allowed 
the  administration  of  justice  to  be  car 
ried  on  by  the  old  French  law,  created 
a  legislative  council  to  be  named  by  the 
crown,  and  enlarged  the  boundaries  of 
the  province  southward  as  far  as  the 
Ohio.  It  was  owing  to  these  judicious 
measures,  probably,  that  the  Canadians 
declined  taking  part  subsequently  in 
the  open  resistance  which  the  other 
colonies  organized  against  England. 

General  Gage,  in  addition  to  his  be 
ing  commander-in-chief  of  the  royal 
forces,  was  appointed  governor  of  Mas 
sachusetts  in  the  place  of  Hutchinson, 
an  appointment  which  seemed  to  show 
that  the  ministry  were  prepared  to  use 
force  if  necessary.  Gage  ar 
rived  in  Boston,  May  13th,  and 
although  the  news  of  the  closing  of  the 


1774. 


312 


AMERICA   RESISTS  AGGRESSION— THE  CRISIS. 


a 


port  bad  reached  the  town  some  days 
before,  and  although  the  feelings  of  the 
people  were  highly  excited  by  that 
measure,  there  was  no  want  of  proper 
respect  towards  the  new  governor.  He 
was  received  with  all  the  distinction 
due  to  his  rank  and  character.  But 
it  soon  became  evident,  that  neither 
the  extensive  powers  committed  to 
him,  nor  the  array  of  military  force  by 
which  he  was  supported,  operated  in 
the  slightest  degree  to  intimidate  the 
people.  Hutchinson,  before  his  depar 
ture,  having  dissolved  the  General 
Court,  a  town  meeting  was  held  in 
Boston  the  day  after  Gage's  arrival. 
It  was  numerously  attended,  and  the 
subject  of  the  port  bill  was  fully  con 
sidered.  "  The  impolicy,  injustice,  in 
humanity,  and  cruelty  of  the  act," — 
such  was  their  earnest  lan^ua^e — 

o       o 

"exceed  all  our  powers  of  expression; 
and,  therefore,  wre  leave  it  to  the  cen 
sure  of  others,  and  appeal  to  God  and 
the  world."  They  also  declared  it  as 
their  opinion,  that,  "  if  the  other  colo 
nies  come  into  a  joint  resolution  to  stop 
all  importations  from,  and  exportation 
to,  Great  Britain,  and  every  part  of  the 
West  Indies,  till  the  act  be  repealed, 
the  same  would  prove  the  salvation 
of  North  America  and  her  liberties." 
Josiah  Quincy,  too,  in  his  celebrated 
"  Observations  on  the  Boston  Port  Bill," 
issued  at  this  very  time,  burst  forth 
in  fervid  tones  of  remonstrance : — 
"Whence  arose  this  extraordinary  stride 
of  legislation  ?  What  is  it  that  the  town 
of  Boston  hath  done  ?  What  new  and 
unheard  of  crime  have  the  inhabitants 
committed,  to  justify  the  enacting  of 
such  disabilities,  forfeitures,  pains  and 


penalties?  Punishments  that  descend 
indiscriminately  on  all,  ought  to  have 
the  sanction  of  unerring  wisdom  and 
almighty  power,  or  it  will  be  questioned, 
if  not  opposed.  The  present  vengeance 
foils  indiscriminately  on  the  acknowl 
edged  innocent,  as  well  as  the  supposed 
guilty.  Surely,  the  evil  is  of  a  very 
malignant  and  terrible  nature  that  can 
require  such  an  extraordinary  remedy. 
Admit  for  a  moment,  that  the  inhabit 
ants  of  Boston  were  charged  as  hisrh 

O  O 

criminals  ;  the  highest  criminals  are  not 
punishable  till  arraigned  before  dis 
interested  judges,  heard  in  defence,  and 
found  guilty  of  the  charge.  But  so  far 
from  all  this,  a  whole  people  are  ac 
cused  ;  prosecuted  by,  they  know  not 
whom;  tried,  they  know  not  when; 
proved  guilty,  they  know  not  how  ;  and 
sentenced  in  a  mode  which,  for  number 
of  calamities,  extent  and  duration  or 
severity,  exceeds  the  annals  of  past 
ages,  and  we  presume,  in  pity  to  man 
kind,  will  not  mark  any  future  era  in 
the  world."* 

It  may  well  be  believed  that  this 
was  a  trying  moment  to  the  patriots  of 
Boston.  Would,  they  who  had  taken  the 
first  resolute  step  in  the  struggle,  be  left 
to  maintain  it  single-handed,  or  would 

O  / 

their  countrymen  come  forward  to 
strengthen  their  resistance  and  mitigate 
the  sufferings  they  were  called  upon  to 
endure  ?  Every  means  was  immediately 
taken  to  obtain  the  sympathy  of  their 
fellow  colonists.  The  bill,  printed  on 


*  See  "  Memoir  of  the  Life  of  Josiah  jQuincy,  Jr.," 
p.  376.  The  "  Observations,"  which  constitute  the 
chief  political  work  of  Mr.  Quincy*  are  appended  in 
full  to  the  Memoir.  They  are  well  worth  reading 
even  at  this  date. 


Cii.  XII.] 


SPIRITED  ACTION   OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  BUKGES5E3. 


813 


black-edged  paper,  adorned  with  a 
death's  head  and  cross-bones,  was  hawk 
ed  about,  coupled  with  the  epithets  of 
u  cruel,  barbarous,  bloody,  and  inhu 
man  murder,"  and  solemnly  burned  by 
the  assembled  populace.  Agents  were 
sent  to  the  other  colonies  to  engage 
them  in  the  common  cause.  Numbers 
of  the  clergy,  from  their  pulpits,  ani 
mated  the  people  to  resistance,  while 
the  press  teemed  with  the  most  moving 
and  vigorous  appeals  to  their  feelings. 
The  news  of  the  inju'ry  inflicted  on 
Boston,  produced  throughout  the  colo 
nies  a  general  and  spontaneous  feeling 
of  indignation. 

O 

The  House  of  Burgesses  in  Virginia, 
was  in  session  when  the  bill  for  closing 
the  port  of  Boston  arrived.  They  im 
mediately  proceeded  to  pass  the  follow 
ing  order,  May  24th,  1774 :  "  This  House 
being  deeply  impressed  with  apprehen 
sion  of  the  Great  dangers  to  be  derived 

O  O 

to  British  America,  from  the  hostile  in 
vasion  of  the  city  of  Boston,  in  our  sis 
ter  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  whose 
commerce  and  harbor  are,  on  the  first 
day  of  June  next,  to  be  stopped  by  an 
armed  force,  deem  it  highly  necessary 
that  the  said  first  day  of  June  next  be  set 
apart  by  the  members  of  this  House,  as  a 
day  of  fasting,  humiliation,  and  prayer, 
devoutly  to  implore  the  Divine  inter 
position  for  averting  the  heavy  calamity 
which  threatens  destruction  to  our  civil 
rights,  and  the  evils  of  civil  war;  to 
give  us  one  heart  and  one  mind,  firmly 
to  oppose,  by  all  just  and  proper  means, 
every  injury  to  American  rights ;  and 
that  the  minds  of  his  Majesty  and  his 
Parliament  may  be  inspired  from  above 
with  wisdom,  moderation,  and  justice, 

VOL.  I.— 12 


to  remove  from  the  loyal  people  of 
America  all  cause  of  danger,  from  & 
continued  pursuit  of  measures  preg 
nant  with  their  ruin.  Ordered,  there 
fore,  That  the  members  of  this  house 
do  attend  in  their  places,  at  the  hour 
of  ten  in  the  forenoon,  on  the  said  first 
day  of  June  next,  in  order  to  proceed 
with  the  speaker  and  the  mace  to  the 
church  in  this  city,  for  the  purposes 
aforesaid ;  and  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Price 
be  appointed  to  read  prayers,  and  to 
preach  a  sermon  suitable  to  the  occa- 
sion."  For  this  independent  conduct 
the  House  was  dissolved  the  next  clay 
by  Lord  Dunraore,  the  governor.  The 
members  thereupon  withdrew  to  a  con 
venient  place  in  the  vicinity,  formed 
themselves  into  a  vigilance  committee, 
and  adopted  a  spirited  declaration  of 
their  views,  in  which  a  GENERAL  CON 
GRESS  was  strongly  urged.*  Wash 
ington  was  at  his  post  as  a  member  of 
the  House,  and  took  his  full  share  in  its 
patriotic  proceedings.  He  was  no  idle 
spectator  of  the  progress  of  events. 
Although  on  intimate  terms  with  Lord 

O 

Dunmore,  the  governor,  his  whole  soul 
was  deeply  interested  in  the  momentous 
questions  at  issue,  and  he  was  prepared 
to  go  the  full  length  with  his  country 
men  in  resisting  the  tyrannous  course 
of  Parliament.  "  For  my  own  part," 
he  says,  in  one  of  his  letters,  "  I  shall 
not  undertake  to  say  where  the  line 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies 
should  be  drawn,  but  I  am  clearly  of 
opinion  that  one  ought  to  be  drawn, 
and  our  rights  clearly  ascertained.  I 
could  wish,  I  own,  that  the  dispute  had 

*  See  Appendix  I.,  at  the  end  of  the  present  chapter. 


AMERICA  RESISTS  AGGRESSION— THE  CRISIS. 


[BK.  II. 


been  left  for  posterity  to  determine,  but 
the  crisis  is  arrived  when  we  must  assert 
our  rights,  or  submit  to  every  imposition 
that  can  be  heaped  upon  us,  till  custom 
shall  make  us  tame  and  abject  slaves." 

Delegates  from  the  several  counties 
assembled  at  Williamsburgh,  on  the 
1st  of  August.  They  were  six  days 
in  session,  and  appointed  Washington, 
Randolph,  Henry,  and  others,  as  de 
legates  to  represent  Virginia  in  the 
General  Congress. 

Strong  expressions  of  determined  op 
position  to  the  port  bill,  and  assurances 
of  support  to  the  disfranchised  citizens 
of  Boston,  were  made  wherever  the  act 
became  known.  At  New  York  there 
was  a  considerable  stru^o-le  between 

oo 

the  friends  of  the  administration  and 
the  friends  of  liberty,  but  the  latter  at 
length  prevailed  by  the  influence  and 
management  of  those  patriotic  indi 
viduals,  who  had  on  several  occasions 
manifested  great  activity  and  zeal  in 
their  opposition  to  the  obnoxious  mea 
sures  of  the  ministry.  Addresses  were 
also  sent  from  Connecticut,  Pennsyl 
vania,  the  Carolinas,  and  other  colonies, 
to  the  committee  in  Boston,  assuring 
them  of  support,  and  declaring  that  they 
considered  the  cause  of  Boston  as  the 
common  cause  of  the  country.* 

*  In  an  able  article  in  the  NEW  YORK  REVIEW  for 
April,  1839,  on  "  The  Congress  of  1774,"  there  is  col 
lected  from  the  American  Archives,  a  summary  of  the 
earliest  dates  in  which,  in  each  colony,  the  subject  of 
a  General  Congress  was  acted  upon  by  any  public 
assemblage :—  ^^ 

"By  a  town-meeting  in   Providence, 

Rhode  Island, May  17. 

By  the  committee  of  a  town-meeting  in 

Philadelphia, "21. 

By  the  committee  of  a  town-meeting  in 

New  York, "23 


1774. 


The  General  Court  met,  May  25th, 
not  without  heavy  foreboding 
as  to  what  was  before  them. 
General  Gage's  first  official  act  did  not 
tend  to  remove  their  apprehensions,  for 
he  went  to  the  very  extent  of  his  au 
thority  under  the  charter,  in  rejecting 
thirteen  out  of  the  twenty-eight  elected 
counsellors.  But  the  Representatives 
of  the  people  did  not  lose  heart :  they 
persevered  in  the  work  which  they  had 
in  hand.  The  governor  adjourned  the 
court  to  Salem,  an  offensive  act  on  his 
part ;  but  the  members  remained  stead 
fast  to  their  purpose.  They  adopted 

1774. 

By  the  Members  of  the  dissolved  House 

of  Burgesses  of  Virginia,  and  others 

at  Williamsburgh, May  27. 

By  a  county-meeting  in  Baltimore,      .          "     31, 
By  a  town-meeting  in  Norwich,  Con 
necticut,      June  6 

By  a  county-meeting  in  Newark,  New- 
Jersey,  "11, 

By  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  and  by  a  town-meeting 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  the  same  day,  .  "17 

By  a   county-meeting   in    Newcastle, 

Delaware,        "  29. 

By  the  committee  of  correspondence  iu 

Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,     .     .         July  fi, 
By    a    general     province-meeting     in 

Charleston,  S.  C., July  6, 7,  8. 

By  a  district-meeting   at  Wilmington, 

N.  C., July  21. 

"  A  comparison  of  these  dates  will  at  once  show 
how  strong  was  the  instinct  of  union,  which,  at  this 
period,  pervaded  the  country,  and  how  prompt  the 
colonies  were  in  adopting  that  principle  of  combi 
nation  which  served  as  the  direct  antagonist  to  the 
policy  of  the  British  ministry,  designed  as  it  was,  by 
confining  its  obnoxious  measures  to  one  colony,  to 
diminish  the  probability  of  a  united  resistance.  In 
looking  to  these  dates,  it  should  also  be  remembered 
that  the  colonial  action,  in  some  instances,  was  in 
dependent  of  that  of  an  earlier  date  in  other  colonies. 
In  Virginia,  the  recommendation  of  a  Congress  was 
adopted  two  days  before  the  intelligence  was  received 
of  a  similar  measure,  several  days  earlier,  both  in 
Philadelphia  and  in  New  York." 


CH.  XII.] 


MASSACHUSETTS'   DELEGATES   TO  CONGRESS. 


315 


resolutions,  recommending  to  the  citi 
zens  of  Boston  to  be  firm  and  patient, 
to  the  people  through  the  province  to 
assist  their  brethren  in  the  metropolis, 
and  to  all  to  refrain  entirely  from  the 
use  of  British  goods,  and  of  other  for 
eign  articles  subject  to  a  duty ;  con 
ceiving  this  to  be  a  lawful  and  most 

O 

efficient  means  of  convincing  the  parent 
government  of  their  opposition  to  the 
recent  oppressive  measures,  and  of  pre 
vailing  on  ministers  to  relax  in  their 
arbitrary  and  severe  conduct  towards 
Massachusetts.  They  also  requested 
the  governor  to  appoint  a  day  for 
public  religious  worship  and  prayer. 
And  as  he  declined  doing  it,  they  them 
selves  recommended  the  observance  of 
a  particular  day  for  that  solemn  ser 
vice.  But  the  most  important  measure 
adopted  at  this  eventful  period,  and  in 
preparing  which  a  large  committee  was 
occupied  through  the  greater  part  of 
the  session,  was  that  of  choosing  five 
members  of  the  House  as  delegates  to  a 
General  Continental  Congress ;  and  of 
giving  immediate  information  thereof 
to  all  the  other  colonies,  with  a  request 
that  they  would  appoint  deputies  for 
the  same  purpose.  The  preamble  to  the 
resolution  for  choosing  delegates  to 
meet  in  a  General  Congress — which  was 
adopted  by  a  vote  of  a  hundred  and 
sixteen  -to  twelve — states  concisely  the 
reason  which  induced  the  House  to 
adopt  this  important  measure.  It  was 
as  follows : — 

"  This  House,  having  duly  considered, 
and  being  deeply  affected  with  the  un 
happy  differences  which  have  long  sub 
sisted  and  are  increasing  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  American  colonies,  are 


of  opinion,  that  a  meeting  of  committees 
from  the  several  colonies  on  this  con 
tinent  is  highly  expedient  and  neces 
sary,  to  consult  upon  the  present  state 
of  the  country,  and  the  miseries  to 
which  we  are  and  must  be  reduced  by 
the  operation  of  certain  acts  of  Par 
liament;  and  to  deliberate  and  deter 
mine  upon  wise  and  proper  measures, 
to  be  by  them  recommended  to  all  the 
colonies,  for  the  recovery  and  establish 
ment  of  our  just  rights  and  liberties 
civil  and  religious ;  and  the  restoration 
of  union  and  harmony  between  Great 
Britain  and  America,  which  is  most 
ardently  desired  by  all  good  men."* 

Thomas  Gushing,  Samuel  Adams, 
Robert  Treat  Paine,  James  Bowdoin, 
and  John  Adams,  were  appointed  dele 
gates  on  the  part  of  Massachusetts,  to 
meet  similar  delegates  from  the  other 

O 

colonies,  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  first  of 
September.  Gage,  ascertaining  what 
was  going  on,  sent  his  secretary  to  dis 
solve  the  House :  that  officer,  finding 
the  door  locked,  read  the  proclamation 
of  the  governor  on  the  steps  leading  to 
the  chamber.  This  was  the  last  session 
of  the  House  under  royal  authority. 
The  members,  however,  continued  in 

*  Professor  Smyth,  in  his  valuable  Lectures  on 
Modern  History,  gives  what  he  conceives  were  the 
causes  that  led  to  the  war  being  prosecuted  as  it  was 
against  the  American  Colonies  : — 1st,  a  deplorable 
ignorance  of  or  inattention  to  the  great  leading  prin 
ciples  of  political  economy;  2d,  a  blind,  disgraceful 
selfishness  in  regard  to  mere  matters  of  money  and 
taxes;  3d,  an  overweening  national  pride;  4th,  very 
high  principles  of  government;  5th,  a  certain  vul 
garity  of  thinking  on.  political  subjects.  "  These 
discreditable  causes  may  be  said,  in  a  general  way, 
to  have  led  to  the  destruction  of  the  British  empire 
»in  America,  as  far  as  the  legislators  and  people  of 
England  were  concerned."—  Smyth's  "  Lectures  on 
Modern  History,"  p.  558,  59 


316 


AMERICA   RESISTS   AGGRESSION— THE   CRISIS. 


|BK.  11. 


session    till    their    business   was    com 
pleted. 

On  tlie  first  of  June,  the  day  desig 
nated  for  the  closing  the  port  of  Bos 
ton  and  erecting  Salem  into  the  metrop 
olis,  all  business  was  finished  at  twelve 
o'clock,  at  noon,  and  the  harbor  was 
shut  up  against  all  vessels.  As  that 
seaport  was  entirely  dependent  upon 
commerce,  the  ministerial  measure  cut 
off  at  once  the  means  of  subsistence 
of  a  great  part  of  its  citizens.  The 
Bostonians,  however,  endured  their 
sufferings  with  the  most  inflexible 
fortitude.  The  non-importation  agree 
ment  was  revived  and  extended,  and 
the  significant  title  was  adopted,  "A 
Solemn  League  and  Covenant."  Gage 
issued  a  proclamation  against  this  com 
pact  as  illegal  and  even  treasonable. 
But  he  was  not  able  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  the  "  league."  Addresses 
and  congratulations  poured  in  upon 
them  from  all  sides,  and  they  received 
more  substantial  proofs  of  the  sym 
pathy  of  their  fellow  colonists,  in  con- 
tributions  raised  for  their  relief,  which, 
only  very  partially  mitigated  the  sever 
ity  of  their  distress.  If  the  English 
government,  whose  policy  was  always 
to  foment  a  collision  of  interests  be 
tween  the  different  colonists,  flattered 
themselves  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Salem  would  secretly  rejoice  at  a  meas 
ure  that  promised  to  enrich  them  on 
the  ruin  of  Boston,  they  were  speedily 
disabused.  The  inhabitants  of  that 
port  concluded  an  address  to  General 
Gage  in  terms  most  honorable  to  their 
patriotic  sympathy : — "  By  shutting  up 
the  port  of  Boston,  some  imagine  that 
the  course  of  trade  might  be  turned 


hither,  and  for  our  benefit,  but  nature, 
in  the  formation  of  our  harbor,  forbids 
our  becoming  rivals  in  commerce  tc 
that  convenient  mart;  and  were  it 
otherwise,  we  must  be  dead  to  every 
idea  of  justice,  lost  to  every  feeling  of 
humanity,  could  we  indulge  one  thought 
to  seize  on  wealth,  and  raise  ourselves 
on  the  ruins  of  our  suffering  neighbors," 
The  inhabitants  of  Marblehead  also 
generously  offered  to  the  Boston  mer 
chants  the  free  use  of  their  wharves  and 
warehouses,  and  their  personal  attend 
ance  upon  the  lading  and  unlading  of 
their  goods.  In  Virginia,  the  first  of 
June  was  observed  with  all  due  solem 
nity,  and  Washington  notes  in  his  diary, 
that  he  fasted  rigidly,  and  attended  the 
services  appointed  in  the  church.  Sim 
ilar  manifestations  of  public  grief  took 
place  in  most  of  the  cities.  A  stillness 
reigned  over  Philadelphia,  and  the 
whole  city  exhibited  signs  of  deep  dia 
tress. 

Late  in  the  summer,  the  second  and 
third  of  the  coercive  enactments  of 
Parliament  reached  Boston.  In  ac 
cordance  with  the  terms  of  the 
former,  a  list  of  the  civil  offi 
cers  appointed  by  the  governor,  was 
soon  made  known,  and  gave  great  dis 
satisfaction,  as  they  were  among  the 
most  unpopular  characters  in  the  prov 
ince.  To  add  to  the  anxiety  which  now 
pervaded  every  breast,  a  large  military 
force  was  ordered  into  the  province, 
an  act  of  Parliament  having  been 
passed,  which  directed  the  governor  to 
provide  quarters  for  them  in  any  town 
he  might  choose.  "  Thus  the  charter,' 
as  Bradford  forcibly  remarks,  "  the  pal  • 
ladium  of  their  rights  and  privileges 


1774. 


Cn.  XII.] 


THE  PEOPLE  ROUSED   UP. 


317 


under  the  shelter  of  which  they  had 
formerly  felt  themselves  safe,  at  least 
from  systematic  tyranny,  was  wantonly 
violated  by  the  arbitrary  will  of  a  fa 
vorite  minister.  They  were  to  be  gov 
erned  entirely  by  strangers,  and  those 
in  whom  they  had  no  confidence ;  and 
foreign  mercenaries  were  provided  to 
stifle  the  murmurs  occasioned  by  op 
pression,  and  to  check  the  efforts  of  a 
generous  patriotism,  which  ministerial 
threats  had  not  been  able  to  silence  or 
prevent  The  intelligent  citizens  who 
composed  the  committees  of  corres 
pondence,  and  others  distinguished  by 
their  activity  and  firmness,  were  openly 
threatened  by  the  servile  tools  of  des 
potism,  and  marked  out  as  victims  to 
appease  a  tyrannical  administration. 
But,  happily  for  their  countrymen,  and 
happily  for  posterity,  they  were  not 
moved  from  their  high  purpose  by  the 
menaces  of  the  corrupt  or  powerful. 
Satisfied  of  the  justice  of  their  cause, 
they  resolved  to  attempt  every  thing, 
and  hazard  every  thing,  for  its  support." 
The  people,  as  if  by  instinct,  seemed 
to  apprehend  that  the  result  must  lead 
to  a  contest  of  force  against  force. 
Nothing,  says  Botta,  was  heard  but  the 
din  of  arms,  or  the  sound  of  fifes  and  of 
drums ;  everywhere  multitudes  were 
intent  upon  learning  the  military  exer 
cise  and  evolutions ;  young  and  old, 
fathers  and  sons,  and  even  the  gentle 
sex,  bent  their  steps  towards  these  mar 
tial  scenes ;  some  to  acquire  instruction, 
others  to  animate  and  encourage.  The 
casting  of  balls,  and  making  of  cart 
ridges  were  becoming  ordinary  occupa 
tions.  War,  with  all  its  severity,  seem 
ed  to  be  at  hand.  The  troops  of 


General  Gage  had  been  quartered  in 
the  city  of  Boston ;  they  were  rein 
forced  by  several  regiments,  coming 
from  Ireland,  from  New  York,  from 
Halifax,  and  from  Quebec ;  all  directed 
upon  this  point,  to  smother  the  kindling 
conflagration.  The  inhabitants  beheld 
this  with  incredible  jealousy,  which 
was  still  increased  by  an  order  of  the 
general,  to  place  a  guard  upon  Boston 
Neck.  The  pretext  assigned  was,  to 
prevent  the  desertion  of  the  soldiers, 
but  the  real  motive  of  this  step  was  to 
intimidate  the  inhabitants,  that  they 
might  not  so  freely  as  they  had  done 
heretofore,  transport  arms  from  the  city 
into  the  country.  Every  day  gave  birth 
to  new  causes  of  contention  between 
the  soldiers  and  the  citizens.  Popular 
rumors  were  circulated  rapidly,  and 
heard  with  avidity;  and  the  people 
assembled  frequently,  as  ready  at  any 
moment  for  open  revolt.  Gage  re 
solved  to  fortify  Boston  Neck,  a  meas 
ure  which  still  further  exasperated  the 
people ;  and,  as  if  this  was  not  enough, 
he  sent  to  Charlestown,  and  seized  upon 
a  quantity  of  powder  in  the  magazine 
there.  The  people  of  the  neighboring 
towns  flew  to  arms,  and  agreed  on  Cam 
bridge  as  a  general  rendezvous  ;  and  it 
was  with  great  difficulty  that  they  were 
dissuaded,  by  their  more  prudent  lead 
ers,  from  marching  at  once  to  Boston, 
to  require  the  restoration  of  the  pow 
der,  or,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  attack  the 
garrison.  Their  presence  at  Cambridge, 
however,  induced  several  gentlemen  to 
resign  their  appointments  as  counsellors 
under  the  late  act  of  Parliament,  and 
to  declare  they  would  not  take  any  part 
in  carrying  into  execution  the  obnox- 


318 


AMERICA   RESISTS  AGGRESSION— THE   CRISIS. 


[BK.  Tl. 


ious  measures  of  the  ministry.  Before 
the  agitation  occasioned  by  this  move 
ment  was  tranquilized,  a  rumor  was, 
probably  not  without  design,  rapidly 
circulated  throughout  the  whole  prov 
ince,  that  the  garrison  and  fleet  were 
firing  on  the  town  of  Boston ;  and  in  a 
few  hours  some  thirty  thousand  men, 
under  arms,  set  out  for  Boston.  When 
satisfied  that  the  report  was  without 
foundation,  they  quietly  dispersed :  yet 
it  must  have  been  a  significant  indica 
tion  to  General  Gage,  who  had  used 
such  valorous  lanoma^e  to  the  kinq-,  that 

o       o  o  * 

the  people  would  not  shrink  from  the 
use  of  arms,  if  they  felt  it  necessary, 
in  order  to  defend  their  hearths  and 
homes. 

The  governor  was  virtually  block 
aded  in  Boston,  with  hardly  a  shadow 
of  power,  the  real  administration  of  the 
province  having  been  assumed  by  a 
popular  convention.  The  recent  acts 
were  completely  nullified.  Juries  re 
fused  to  serve  under  a  system  which 
they  denounced  as  a  violation  of  the 
charter,  and  the  judges  often  made 
matters  worse  by  attempting  to  decide 
causes  without  the  aid  of  juries.  This 
served  to  aggravate  the  people,  wlio  as 
serted  "that  they  knew  no  court  inde 
pendent  of  the  ancient  laws  of  their 
country,  and  none  other  would  they 
acknowledge."  Every  day  the  feeling 
of  hatred  and  revenge  seemed  to  ac 
quire  strength, — sad  precursor  of  the 
blood  and  carnage  of  a  civil  war ! 

Early  in  September,  in  defiance  of 
the  act  of  Parliament,  and  the  govern 
or's  proclamation  founded  upon  it,  pro 
hibiting  public  Assemblies,  the  county 
of  Suffolk,  of  which  Boston  was  the 


capital,  elected  delegates  to  meet  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  into  consideration 
the  most  proper  course  to  be  adopted 
in  the  present  state  of  affairs.  With  a 
boldness  and  decision  surpassing  that  of 
any  former  Assembly,  they  passed  re 
solutions  declaring  themselves  constitu 
tionally  exempt  from  all  obedience  to 
the  late  measures  of  the  British  Parlia 
ment,  that  the  government  of  the  pro 
vince  was  in  fact  dissolved,  and  that 
they  should  consider  all  persons  who 
dared  to  act  in  any  official  capacity  un 
der  the  new  regulations,  as  open  enemies 
of  their  country.  They  sent  a  copy  of 
their  resolutions,  and  of  their  letter  to 
the  governor,  with  his  answer,  to  the 
Continental  Congress  which,  had  just 
commenced  its  session. 

This  illustrious  body  of  patriots  assem 
bled  on  the  5th  of  September,  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia.  Fifty-three  delegates 
appeared  from  twelve  of  the  co 
lonies,  Georgia  alone  being  un 
represented.*  Generally  the  delegates 
had  been  elected  by  the  authority  of 
the  State  legislatures ;  but,  in  some 
instances,  a  different  system  had  been 
pursued.  In  New  Jersey,  and  Mary 
land,  the  elections  were  made  by  a  com 
mittee  chosen  in  the  several  counties 
for  that  particular  purpose ;  and,  in 
New  York,  where  the  royal  party  was 
very  strong,  and  where  it  is  probable 
no  legislative  act,  authorizing  an  elec- 

O  o 

tion  of  members  to  represent  that 
colony  in  Congress,  could  have  been 
obtained,  the  people  themselves  assem 
bled  in  those  places  where  the  spirit  of 


1771. 


*  The  delegates  from   North  Carolina  did  not  ar 
rive  until  the  14lh  of  September. 


CH.  XII. 


OPENING  OF  THE  FIRST  CONGRESS. 


319 


opposition  to  the  claims  of  Parliament 
prevailed,  and  elected  deputies,  who 
were  readily  received  into  Congress. 
The  powers,  too,  with  which  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  several  colonies  were 
invested,  were  not  only  variously  ex 
pressed  but  of  various  extent. 

The  venerable  Peyton  Kandolph,  of 
Virginia,  was  elected  president,  and 
Charles  Thomson,  of  Philadelphia, 
secretary.  A  delicate  question  imme 
diately  arose  as  to  the  mode  of  pro 
ceeding  to  be  adopted  by  Congress,  as 
to  how  the  members  should  vote,  etc. 
After  some  discussion  it  was  deter 
mined,  with  great  discretion,  that  each 
colony  should  have  only  one  vote,  what 
ever  number  of  delegates  might  be 
present.  Congress  then  proceeded  to 
business. 

"  The  most  eminent  men  of  the  vari 
ous  colonies,"  says  Mr.  Wirt,  writing 
from  traditionary  information,  "  were 
now,  for  the  first  time,  brought  together. 
They  were  known  to  each  other  by 
fame;  but  they  were  personally  stran 
gers.  The  meeting  was  awfully  solemn. 
The  object  which  had  called  them  to 
gether  was  of  incalculable  magnitude. 

o  o 

The  liberties  of  no  less  than  three  mil 
lions  of  people,  with  that  of  all  their 
posterity,  was  staked  on  the  wisdom 
and  energy  of  their  counsels.  No  won 
der,  then,  at  the  long  and  deep  silence 
which  is  said  to  have  followed  upon 
their  organization  ;  at  the  anxiety  with 
which  the  members  looked  around  upon 
each  other ;  and  the  reluctance  which 
every  individual  felt  to  open  a  business 
su  fearfully  momentous.  In  the  midst 
of  this  deep  and  death-like  silence,  and 
just  when  it  was  beginning  to  become 


painfully  embarrassing,  Mr.  Henry 
arose  slowly,  as  if  borne  down  by  the 
weight  of  the  subject.  After  faltering, 
according  to  his  habit,  through  a  most 
impressive  exordium,  in  which  he  mere 
ly  echoed  back  the  consciousness  of 
every  other  heart,  in  deploring  his  in 
ability  to  do  justice  to  the  occasion,  he 
launched  gradually  into  a  recital  of  the 
colonial  wrongs.  Rising,  as  he  advan 
ced,  with  the  grandeur  of  his  subject, 
and  glowing,  at  length,  with  all  the  ma 
jesty  and  expectation  of  the  occasion, 
his  speech  seemed  more  than  that  of 
mortal  man.  .  .  '.  .  He  sat  down 
amidst  murmurs  of  astonishment  and  ap 
plause  ;  and,  as  he  had  before  been  pro 
claimed  the  greatest  orator  of  Virginia, 
he  was  now,  on  every  hand,  admitted 
to  be  the  first  orator  of  America."* 
Henry  was  followed  by  Richard  Henry 
Lee,  in  a  speech  scarcely  less  powerful, 
and  still  more  replete  with  classic  elo 
quence.  One  spirit  of  ardent  love  of 
liberty  pervaded  every  breast,  and  pro 
duced  a  unanimity  as  advantageous  to 
the  cause  they  advocated  as  it  was  un 
expected  and  appalling  to  their  adver 
saries.  But  it  was  only  in  debate  that 
these  great  orators  seemed  to  surpass 
their  fellow  members :  when  matters 
requiring  clear  solid  sense,  discretion, 
and  judgment,  were  before  Congress, 
Henry  and  Lee  found  their  equals  and 
superiors. 

To  give  proper  dignity  and  solem 
nity  to  the  proceedings  of  Congress-,  a 
motion  was  made  on  the  following 
morning,  that  each  day's  session  should 
be  opened  with  prayer.  Samuel  Ad- 


*  Wirt's  "  Life  oj  Patrick  Henry"  p.  124. 


320 


AMERICA  RESISTS  AGGRESSION— THE  CRISIS. 


.  n. 


ams,  although  a  decided  Congregation- 
alist  himself,  declared  that  he  was  ready 
to  join  in  prayer  with  any  gentleman 
of  piety  and  virtue,  whatever  might  be 
liis  cloth,  provided  he  was  a  friend  to 
his  country ;  and  he  thereupon  moved 
that  the  Rev.  Jacob  Duche,  rector  of 
Christ  church,  Philadelphia,  be  invited 
to  officiate  as  chaplain.  Mr.  Duche  ac 
cepted  the  invitation,  and  officiated  in 
his  robes,  using  the  service  of  the  Epis 
copal  Church.  .  Washington,  following 
the  custom  of  the  church  of  which  he 
was  a  member,  knelt  in  prayer  with 
great  seriousness  and  devotion. 

This  scene  is  so  graphically  depicted 
in  a  letter  from  John  Adams  to  his 
wife,  September  10th,  1774,  that  we 
cannot  forbear  to  quote  it  for  the  grati 
fication  of  the  reader.  Having  stated 
that  Mr.  Duche  appeared  "  with  his 
clerk  and  pontificals,"  Adams  goes  on 
to  relate,  that  he  "  read  several  prayers 
in  the  established  form,  and  then  read 
the  Collect  (the  Psalter)  for  the  seventh 
day  of  September,  which  was  the  thirty- 
fifth  Psalm.  You  must  remember  this 
was  the  next  morning  after  we  heard 
the  horrible  rumor  of  the  cannonade  of 
Boston.  I  never  saw  a  greater  effect 
upon  an  audience.  It  seems  as  if 
Heaven  had  ordained  that  Psalm  to  be 
read  on  that  morning.  After  this,  Mr. 
Duche,  unexpectedly  to  everybody, 
struck  out  into  an  extemporary  prayer, 
which  filled  the  bosom  of  every  man 
present.  I  must  confess  I  never  heard 
a  better  prayer,  or  one  so  well  pro 
nounced.  Episcopalian  as  he  is,  Dr. 
Cooper  himself  never  prayed  with  such 
fervor,  such  ardor,  such  earnestness  and 
pathos,  and  in  language  so  elegant  and 


sublime — for  America,  for  the  Congress, 
for  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
and  especially  the  town  of  Boston.  It 
has  had  an  excellent  effect  upon  every 
body  here.  I  must  beg  you  to  read 
that  Psalm.  If  there  was  any  faith  in 
the  Sortes  Virgilianse,  or  Sortes  Home- 
ricse,  or  especially  in  the  Sortes  Biblicse, 
it  would  be  thought  providential.  Mr. 
Duche  is  one  of  the  most  ingenious 
men,  and  best  characters,  and  greatest 
orators,  in  the  Episcopal  order,  upon 
this  continent — yet  a  zealous  friend  of 
liberty  and  his  country."* 

Congress  having  resolved  to  sit  with 

O  O 

closed  doors,  the  world  has  been  de 
prived  of  the  eloquent  and  wise  words 
which  fell  from  various  members  during 
its  discussions.  Their  action  is  all  that 
is  on  record.  A  committee  of  two  from 
each  colony  was  appointed  to  examine 
into  the  rights  of  the  colonies  and  the 

O 

instances  in  which  they  had  been  vio 
lated,  as  well  as  to  suggest  the  most 
suitable  means  for  obtaining  redress. 
A  "Declaration  of  Colonial  Rights," 
was  agreed  upon  with  great  unanimity. 
This  document  is  worthy  careful  peru 
sal,  and  is  as  follows  : — 

"  Whereas,  since  the  close  of  the  last 
war,  the  British  Parliament,  claiming  a 
power  of  right  to  bind  the  people  of 
America  by  statutes  in  all  cases  what 
soever,  hath  in  some  acts  expressly  im 
posed  taxes  on  them;  and  in  others, 
under  various  pretences,  but  in  fact  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue,  hath 

*  Some  three  years  later,  when  the  "British  were  in 
possession  of  Philadelphia,  Duche's  timidity  overcame 
him,  and  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Washington,  urging  him 
to  give  up  the  cause  of  independence.  This  led  to 
his  leaving  America,  to  which,  however,  he  returned 
in  1790. 


Tit.  XII.] 


DECL.  \  RATION   OF   RIGHTS. 


imposed  rates  and  duties  payable  in 
these  colonies,  established  a  board  of 
commissioners  with  unconstitutional 
powers,  and  extended  the  jurisdiction 
of  courts  of  admiralty,  not  only  for  col 
lecting  the  said  duties,  but  for  the  trial 
of  causi's  merely  arising  Avithin  the  body 
of  a  county : 

"•  And  whereas,  in  consequence  of 
other  statutes,  judges,  who  before  held 
only  estates  at  will  in  their  offices,  have 
been  made  dependent  on  the  crown 
alone  for  their  salaries,  and  standing 
armies  kept  in  times  of  peace :  and 
whereas  it  has  lately  been  resolved  in 
Parliament,  that  by  force  of  a  statute 
made  in  the  35th  year  of  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII.,  colonists  may  be  trans 
ported  to  England,  and  tried  there, 
upon  accusations  for  treason,  and  mis- 
prisions  and  concealment  of  treasons 
committed  in  the  colonies;  and  by  a 
late  statute,  such  trials  have  been  di 
rected  in  cases  therein  mentioned: 

"  And  whereas,  in  the  last  session  of 
Parliament  three  statutes  were  made ; 
one  entitled  '  An  act  to  discontinue  in 
such  manner  and  for  such  time  as  are 
therein  mentioned,  the  landing  and  dis 
charging,  lading  or  shipping  of  goods, 
wares  and  merchandise,  at  the  town  and 
within  the  harbor  of  Boston,  in  the 
province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  North 
America ;'  another,  entitled  '  An  act  for 
the  better  regulating  the  government 
of  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
in  New  England;'  and  another  act,  en- 

O  ' 

titled  '  An  act  for  the  impartial  admin 
istration  of  justice  in  the  cases  of  per- 
BOM  questioned  for  any  act  done  by 
them  in  the  execution  of  the  law,  or 
for  the  suppression  of  riots  and  tumults 

VOL.  ].— 43 


in  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
in  New  England :'  and  another  statute 
was  then  made  for  making  more  effec 
tual  provision  for  the  government  of 
the  province  of  Quebec,  etc. :  all  which 
statutes  are  impolitic,  unjust  and  cruel, 
as  well  as  unconstitutional,  and  most 
dangerous  and  destructive  of  American 
rights : 

O 

"  And  whereas,  Assemblies  have  been 
frequently  dissolved,  contrary  to  the 
rights  of  the  people,  when  they  at 
tempted  to  deliberate  on  grievances ; 
and  their  dutiful,  humble,  loyal  and 
reasonable  petitions  to  the  crown  for 
redress,  have  been  repeatedly  treated 
with  contempt  by  his  majesty's  minis 
ters  of  state  :  the  good  people  of  the 
several  colonies  of  New  Hampshire, 
Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Newcastle,  Kent  and  Sussex  on  Dela 
ware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Caro 
lina,  South  Carolina, — justly  alarmed 
at  the  arbitrary  proceedings  of  Parlia 
ment  and  administrations,  have  sev 
erally  elected,  constituted  and  appointed 
deputies  to  meet  and  sit  in  general  Con 
gress,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  in  or 
der  to  obtain  such  establishment,  as  that 
their  religion,  laws  and  liberties  may 
not  be  subverted :  whereupon,  the  dep 
uties  so  appointed  being  now  assembled 
in  a  full  and  free  representation  of  these 
colonies,  taking  into  their  most  serious 
consideration  the  best  means  of  attain 
ing  the  ends  aforesaid,  do,  in  the  first 
place,  as  Englishmen,  their  ancestors,  in 
like  cases  have  usually  done  for  assert 
ing  and  vindicating  their  rights  and 

O  O  O 

liberties,  declare,  that  the  inhabitants 


AMERICA    RESISTS   AGGRESSION— THE   CRISIS. 


.  11. 


of  the  English  colonies  in  North  Amer 
ica,  by  the  immutable  laws  of  nature, 
the  principles  of  the  English  constitu 
tion,  and  the  several  charters  or  com 
pacts,  have  the  following  rights : — 

"  He-solved  unanimously, — 1st,  That 
they  are  entitled  to  life,  liberty  and 
property ;  and  they  have  never  ceded 
to  any  sovereign  whatsoever,  a  right  to 
dispose  of  either  without  their  consent. 

"  Resolved, — 2d,  That  our  ancestors, 
who  first  settled  these  colonies,  were,  at 
the  time  of  their  emigration  from  the 
mother  country,  entitled  to  all  the 
rights,  liberties  and  immunities  of  free 
and  natural-born  subjects  within  the 
realm  of  England. 

"Resolved, — 3d,  That  by  such  emi 
gration,  they  by  no  means  forfeited, 
surrendered,  or  lost  any  of  those  rights, 
but  that  they  were,  and  their  descend 
ants  now  are,  entitled  to  the  exercise 
and  enjoyment  of  all  such  of  them  as 
their  local  and  other  circumstances  en 
abled  them  to  exercise  and  enjoy. 

"  Resolved, — 4th,  That  the  founda 
tion  of  English  liberty,  and  of  all  free 
government,  is  a  right  in  the  people  to 
participate  in  their  legislative  councils ; 
and  as  the  English  colonists  are  not 
represented,  and  from  their  local  and 
other  circumstances,  cannot  properly 
be  represented  in  the  British  Parlia 
ment,  they  are  entitled  to  a  free  and 
exclusive  power  of  legislation  in  their 
several  provincial  legislatures,  where 
their  right  of  representation  can  alone 
be  preserved  in  all  cases  of  taxation 
and  internal  polity,  subject  only  to  the 
negative  of  their  sovereign  in  such 
manner  as  has  been  heretofore  used  and 
accustomed  ;  but  from  the  necessity  of 


the  case,  and  a  regard  to  the  mutual 
interests  of  both  countries,  we  cheer 
fully  consent  to  the  operation  of  such 
acts  of  the  British  Parliament  as  are 
bona  fide  restrained  to  the  regulation 
of  our  external  commerce,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  securing  the  commercial  ad 
vantages  of  the  whole  empire  to  the 
mother  country,  and  the  commercial 
benefits  of  its  respective  members ;  ex 
cluding  every  idea  of  taxation,  exter 
nal  or  internal,  for  raising  a  revenue 
on  the  subjects  of  America,  without 
their  consent. 

"Resolved, — 5th,  That  the  respect 
ive  colonies  are  entitled  to  the  common 
law  of  England,  and  more  especially 
to  the  great  and  inestimable  privilege 
of  being  tried  by  their  peers  of  the 
vicinage,  according  to  the  course  of 
that  law. 

"  Resolved, — 6th,  That  they  are  en 
titled  to  the  benefit  of  such  of  the 
English  statutes  as  existed  at  the  time 
of  their  colonization ;  and  which  they 
have,  by  experience,  respectively  found 
to  be  applicable  to  their  several  loca? 
and  other  circumstances. 

"  Resolved, — 7th,  That  these,  his  ma 
jesty's  colonies  are  likewise  entitled  to 
all  the  privileges  and  immunities  grant 
ed  and  confirmed  to  them  by  royal  char 
ters,  or  secured  by  their  several  codes 
of  provincial  laws. 

"Resolved, — 8th,  That  they  have  a 
right  peaceably  to  assemble,  consider 
of  their  grievances,  and  petition  the 
king ;  and  that  all  prosecutions,  pro 
hibitory  proclamations,  and  commit 
ments,  for  the  same,  are  illegal. 

"Resolved,— 9th,  Tlftit  the  keeping 
a  standing  army  in  these  colonies  in 


HIT.  XII. J 


PA    ERS   OF   THE   FIRST  CONGRESS. 


323 


times  of  peace,  without  the  consent  of 
the  legislature  of  that  colony  in  which 
-uch  army  is  kept,  is  against  law. 

"  Re-solved, — 10th,  It  is  indispensably 
necessary  to  good  government,  and  ren 
dered  essential  by  the  English  constitu 
tion,  that  the  constituent  branches  of 
the  legislature  be  independent  of  each 
other;  that,  therefore,  the  exercise  of 
legislative  power  in  several  colonies,  by 
a  council  appointed  during  pleasure  "by 
the  crown,  is  unconstitutional,  danger 
ous,  and  destructive  to  the  freedom  of 
American  legislation. 

"All  and  each  of  which  the  afore 
said  deputies,  in  behalf  of  themselves 
and  their  constituents,  do  claim,  de 
mand,  and  insist  on,  as  their  indubit 
able  rights  and  liberties,  which  cannot 
be  legally  taken  from  them,  altered,  or 
abridged  by  any  power  whatever,  with 
out  their  own  consent,  by  their  repre 
sentatives  in  their  several  provincial 
legislatures.  In  the  course  of  our  in 
quiry,  we  find  many  infringements  and 
violations  of  the  foregoing  rights,  which, 
from  an  ardent  desire  that  harmony  and 
mutual  intercourse  of  affection  and  in 
terest  may  be  restored,  we  pass  over  for 
the  present,  and  proceed  to  state  such 
acts  and  measures  as  have  been  adopted 
since  the  last  war,  which  demonstrate  a 
system  formed  to  enslave  America. 

"Resolved. — That  the  following  acts 

'  O 

of  Parliament  are  infringements  and 
violations  of  the  rights  of  the  colonists ; 
and  that  the  repeal  of  them  is  essen 
tially  necessary,  in  order  to  restore  har 
mony  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
American  colonies,  viz.,  the  several  acts 
of  4  Goo.  III.,  ch.  15  and  34;  5  Geo. 
III.,  ch.  25  ;  0  Geo.  Ill,  ch.  52  ;  7  Geo. 


III.,  ch.  41,  and  ch.  46;  8  Geo.  III., 
ch.  22,  which  impose  duties  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  a  revenue  in  America, 
extend  the  power  of  the  admiralty 
courts  beyond  their  ancient  limits,  de 
prive  the  American  subject  of  trial  by 
jury,  authorize  the  judge's  certificate  to 
indemnify  the  prosecutor  from  damages 
that  he  might  otherwise  be  liable  to, 
requiring  oppressive  security  from  a 
claimant  of  ships  and  goods  seized,  be 
fore  he  shall  be  allowed  to  defend  his 
property,  and  are  subversive  of  Ameri 
can  rights. 

"Also,  12  Geo.  III.,  ch.  24,  entitled 
'An  act  for  the  better  securing  his 
majesty's  dock  yards,  magazines,  ships, 
ammunition  and,  stores,'  which  declares 
a  new  offence  in  America,  and  deprives 
the  American  subject,  of  a  constitu 
tional  trial  by  jury  of  the  vicinage,  by 
authorizing  the  trial  of  any  person, 
charged  with  the  committing  any  of 
fence  described  in  the  said  act,  out  of 
the  realm,  to  be  indicted  and  tried  for 
the  same,  in  any  shire  or  county  within 
the  realm. 

"  Also,  the  three  acts  passed  in  the 
last  session  of  Parliament,  for  stopping 
the  port  and  blocking  up  the  harbor 
of  Boston,  for  altering  the  charter  and 
government  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and 
that  which  is  entitled  '  An  act  for  the 
better  administration  of  justice,  etc.' 

"Also,  the  act  passed  in  the  same 
session  for  establishing  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  in  the  province  of 
Quebec,  abolishing  the  equitable  system 
of  English  laws,  and  erecting  a  tyranny 
there,  to  the  great  danger,  (from  so  total 
a  dissimilarity  of  religion,  law  and  gov 
ernment,)  of  the  neighboring  British 


324 


AMERICA    RESISTS  AGGRESSION— THE  CRISIS. 


.  IL 


colonies,  by  the  assistance  of  whose 
blood  and  treasure  the  said  country 
was  conquered  from  France. 

"Also,  the  act  passed  in  the  same 
session,  for  the  better  providing  suitable 
quarters  for  officers  and  soldiers  in  his 
majesty's  service,  in  North  America. 

"Also,  that  the  keeping  a  standing 
army  in  several  of  these  colonies,  in 
time  of  peace,  without  the  consent  of 
the  legislature  of  that  colony  in  which 
such  army  is  kept,  is  against  law. 

"  To  these  grievous  acts  and  measures 
Americans  cannot  submit ;  but  in  hopes 
their  fellow  subjects  in  Great  Britain 
will,  on  a  revision  of  them,  restore  us 
to  that  state,  in  which  both  countries 
found  happiness  and  prosperity,  we 
have,  for  the  present,  only  resolved 
to  pursue  the  following  peaceable 
measures:  1.  To  enter  into  a  non 
importation  association.  2.  To  prepare 
an  address  to  the  people  of  Great 
Britain,  and  a  memorial  to  the  inhab 
itants  of  British  America:  and  3.  To 
prepare  a  loyal  address  to  his  majesty, 
agreeably  to  resolutions  already  entered 
into." 

Congress  prepared  and  adopted  an 
agreement  for  strictly  abstaining  from 
all  commercial  intercourse  with  Britain, 
and  recommended  Americans  univer 
sally  to  carry  out  the  same.  It  was 
also  advised  that  the  names  of  all  per 
sons  rejecting  or  violating  this  agree 
ment  should  be  publicly  proclaimed  as 
enemies  to  the  rights  of  America.  Fol 
lowing  the  instructions  of  many  of  their 
constituents,  they  denounced  the  slave 
trade  as  injurious  and  pernicious  to  the 
best  interests  of  America. 

The   "  Address    to    the   People   of 


1774. 


Great  Britain"  was  drawn  up  by  John 
Jay,  and  justly  deserved  admiration  for 
its  manliness  and  dignity  of  tone  and 
expression.  Richard  Henry  Lee 
drafted  the  "Address  to  the  In 
habitants  of  British  America."  Patrick 
Henry  was  charged  with. the  preparing 
the  Petition  to  the  King;  but  the  draft 
presented  by  him  did  not  give  satisfac 
tion,  and  Dickinson  drew  upx  another 
which  Congress  approved.  Dickinson 
also  prepared  the  "  Address  to  the  In 
habitants  of  Canada;"  but  for  reasons 
alluded  to  on  a  previous  page,  it  did 
not  produce  any  effect  towards  inducing 
them  to  join  with  the  colonies  repre 
sented  in  the  Continental  Congress. 

O 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  give  an  ab 
stract  of  these  able  documents ;  we 
prefer  to  let  the  reader  have  the  oppor 
tunity  of  judging  for  himself,  by  a  care 
ful  perusal  of  them.  He  will  find  them 
in  the  Appendix  to  the  present  chap 
ter. 

In  this  connection  Mr.  Curtis  well 
remarks,  that  "  an  examination  of  the 
relations  of  the  first  Congress  to  the 

o 

colonies  which  instituted  it,  will  not  en 
able  us  to  assign  to  it  the  character  of 
a  government.  Its  members  were  not 
elected  for  the  express  purpose  of  mak 
ing  a  revolution.  It  was  an  Assembly 
convened  from  separate  colonies,  each 
of  which  had  causes  of  complaint 
against  the  imperial  government,  to 
which  it  acknowledged  its  allegiance  to 
be  due,  and  each  of  which  regarded  it 
as  essential  to  its  own  interests,  to  make 
common  cause  with  the  others,  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  redress  of  its  own 
grievances.  The  idea  of  separating 
themselves  from  the  mother  country 


CH.  XI!."1 


MEASURES  OF  CONGRESS  APPROVED. 


325 


had  not  been  generally  entertained  by 
the  people  of  any  of  the  colonies.  All 
their  public  proceedings,  from  the  com 
mencement  of  the  disputes  down  to  the 
election  of  delegates  to  the  first  Con 
gress,  including  the  instructions  given 
to  those  delegates,  proves,  as  we  have 
seen,  that  they  looked  for  redress  and 
relief  to  means  which  they  regarded  as 
entirely  consistent  with  the  principles 
of  the  British  constitution.  Still,  al 
though  this  Congress  did  not  take  upon 
themselves  the  functions  of  a  govern 
ment,  or  propose  revolution  as  a  rem 
edy  for  the  wrongs  of  their  constituents, 
they  regarded  and  styled  themselves  as 
'  the  guardians  of  the  rights  and  liber 
ties  of  the  colonies ;'  and  in  that  ca 
pacity  they  proceeded  to  declare  the 
causes  of  complaint,  and  to  take  the 
necessary  steps  to  obtain  redress,  in 
what  they  believed  to  be  a  constitu 
tional  mode.  These  steps,  however, 
although  not  directly  revolutionary, 
had  a  revolutionary  tendency."* 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  there 
was  no  opposition  to  the  measures 
fmally  determined  upon  by  Congress. 
On  the  contrary,  there  were  many 
wealthy  and  influential  men,  who  both 
doubted  the  propriety  of  the  steps  re 
solved  upon,  and  dreaded  the  prospect 
of  an  open  rupture  with  the  mother 
country.  "  Men  of  very  cUflferent  dis 
positions,"  as  M.  Guizot  well  says,  had 
here  "  met  together.  Some,  full  of  re 
spect  and  attachment  to  the  mother 
country,  others  passionately  absorbed 
in  that  American  fatherland  which  was 


*  Curtis1  s  ''  History  of  the  Constitution  "   vol.  i. 
p.  17-20. 


rising  under  their  eyes  and  by  their 
hands ;  the  former  grieved  and  anxious, 
the  latter  daring  and  confident,  but  all 
governed  and  united  by  the  same  feel 
ing  of  dignity,  a  like  resolve  of  resist 
ance,  giving  free  play  to  the  variety  of 
their  ideas  and  fancies,  without  anv 

/  t/ 

lasting  or  wide  division  occurring  be 
tween  them.  On  the  contrary,  respect 
ing  one  another  in  their  reciprocal 
liberty,  and  discussing  the  great  affair 
of  the  country  together  with  conscien 
tious  respect,  with  that  spirit  of  mutual 
deference  and  of  justice,  which  assures 
success  and  makes  its  purchase  less 
costly."  Whatever  differences  existed 
among  the  members  they  were  not 
known  to  the  public,  who  looked  with 
confiding  trust  to  the  combined  wisdom 
and  patriotism  of  the  country  there  as 
sembled  to  consider  upon  what  ought 
to  be  done  in  a  crisis  of  so  great  mag 
nitude. 

Just  at  the  close  of  October,  after  a 
session  of  fifty-one  days,  Congress  ad 
journed,  having  previously  made  pro 
vision  for  another  Congress  to  meet  the 
May  following.  Every  subject  was  dis 
cussed  fully  and  fairly,  and  the 
papers  issued  by  this  Congress 
have  been  pronounced  masterpieces  of 
political  wisdom  and  truth.'"  Cf  Wash- 

*  The  eulogium  of  Lori  Chatham  on  these  state 
papers  deserves  to  be  quoted  here  :  "  When  your  lord 
ships  have  perused  the  papers  transmitted  to  us  from 
America,  when  you  consider  the  dignity,  the  firmness, 
and  the  wisdom  with  which  Americans  have  actcil, 
you  cannot  but  respect  their  cause.  History,  my 
lords,  has  been  my  favorite  study,  and  in  the  cele 
brated  writings  of  antiquity,  I  have  often  admired 
the  patriotism  of  Greece  and  Rome  ;  but,  my  lords,  I 
must  declare  and  avow  that,  in  the  master  states  of 
the  world,  I  know  not  the  people,  nor  the  senate 
who,  in  such  a  conplication  of  difficult  circumstances. 


1774. 


826 


AMERICA   RESISTS   AGGRESSION— THE   CRISIS. 


[BK.  It. 


incrton's  share  in  the  debates  we  have 

o 

no  means  of  knowing,  but  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  he  exercised  a  power 
ful  influence ;  for  it  is  related  that 
shortly  after  the  return  of  the  mem 
bers,  Patrick  Henry  was  asked  whom 
he  thought  the  greatest  man  in  Con 
gress.  "If  you  speak  of  eloquence," 
he  replied,  "Mr.  Rutledge,  of  South 
Carolina,  is  by  far  the  greatest  orator ; 
but  if  you  speak  of  solid  information 
and  sound  judgment,  Colonel  Washing 
ton  is  unquestionably  the  greatest  man 
on  that  floor." 

Affairs  in  Massachusetts,  meanwhile, 
were  becoming  more  and  more  critical. 

O 

General  Gage  had  issued  wilts  in  August 
for  a  meeting  of  the  General  Court, 
at  Salem,  on  the  5th  of  October ;  but, 
alarmed  at  the  appearance  of  things,  he 
thought  it  expedient  to  coun 
termand  the  writs  by  a  procla 
mation  suspending  the  meeting  of  the 
House.  The  representatives,  however, 
to  the  number  of  ninety,  assembled  at 
the  time  specified,  denying  the  legality 
of  the  governor's  proclamation ;  and  as 
Gage  did  not  appear,  they  resolved 
themselves  into  a  provincial  Congress, 
and  adjourned  to  Concord.  Hancock 
was  chosen  president,  and  a  remon 
strance  was  sent  to  the  governor  against 
all  his  recent  measures,  requesting  also 
that  he  would  desist  from  erecting  for 
tifications  on  Boston  Neck.  Gage  re 
plied,  that  he  was  only  doing  what  was 
necessary  for  the  safety  and  comfort  of 

can  stand  in  preference  to  the  delegates  of  America 
assembled  in  general  Congress  at  Philadelphia.  I 
trust  it  is  obvious  to  your  lordships,  that  all  attempts 
to  impose  servitude  upon  such  men,  to  establish  des 
potism  over  such  a  mighty  continental  nation,  must 
be  in  vain — must  be  futile." 


1774. 


the  troops,  and  warned  the  members  of 
the  House  against  the  illegal  course 
they  were  pursuing.  But  they  boldly 
went  forward  to  meet  the  emergency. 
A  Committee  was  appointed  to  prepare 
a  plan  for  the  defence  of  the  province ; 
orders  were  issued  for  enlisting  a  body 
of  men  to  be  ready,  at  a  minute's  ivarn- 
ing,  to  appear  in  arms ;  three  generals, 
Preble,  Ward,  and  Pomeroy,  were  ap 
pointed  to  command  these  minute-men 
and  the  militia  who  might  be  called 
into  active  service  ;  and  Committees  of 
Safety  and  of  Supplies  were  chosen.  A 
few  weeks  later  they  determined  that 
twelve  thousand  men  should  be  raised 
and  equipped,  and,  besides  appointing 
Thomas  and  Heath  as  generals,  they 
invited  the  co-operation  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut. 
"  The  events  of  this  time,"  says  Ramsay, 
"  may  be  transmitted  to  posterity ;  but 
the  agitation  of  the  public  niiud  can 
never  be  fully  comprehended  but  by 
those  who  were  witnesses  of  it." 

Botta*  gives  a  graphic  account  of 
the  state  of  things  in  Boston  at  this 
time.  The  garrison  was  formidable ; 
the  fortifications  were  carried  to  per 
fection  ;  and  little  hope  remained  that 
this  city  could  be  wrested  from  British 
domination.  Nor  could  the  citizens 
flatter  themselves  more  with  the  hope 
of  escaping  by  sea,  as  the  port  was 
blockaded  by  a  squadron.  Thus  con 
fined  amidst  an  irritated  sc-diery,  the 
Bostonians  found  themselves  exposed  to 
endure  all  the  outrages  to  be  appre 
hended  from  military  license.  Their 

*  "  History  of  the  War  of  Independence?  vol  i. 
p.  272. 


Cii.  XII.] 


STATE  OF  THINGS  IN   BOSTON. 


327 


city  had  become  a  close  prison,  and 
themselves  no  better  than  hostages  in 
the  hands  of  the  British  commanders. 
This  consideration  alone  sufficed  greatly 
to  impede  all  civil  and  military  opera 
tions  projected  by  the  Americans. 
Various  expedients  were  suggested,  in 
order  to  extricate  the  Bostonians  from 
this  embarrassing  situation  ;  which,  if 
they  evinced  no  great  prudence,  cer 
tainly  demonstrated  no  ordinary  ob 
stinacy.  Some  advised,  that  all  the  in 
habitants  of  Boston  should  abandon 
the  city,  and  take  refuge  in  other 
places,  where  they  should  be  succored 
at  the  public  expense ;  but  this  design 
was  totally  impracticable ;  since  it  de 
pended  on  General  Gage  to  prevent  its 
execution.  Others  recommended,  that 
a  valuation  should  be  made  of  the 
houses  and  furniture  belonging  to  the 
inhabitants,  that  the  city  should  then 
be  fired,  and  that  all  the  losses  should 
be  reimbursed  from  the  public  treasure. 
After  mature  deliberation,  this  project 
was  also  pronounced  not  only  very 
difficult,  but  .absolutely  impossible  to 
be  executed.  Many  inhabitants,  how 
ever,  left  the  city  privately,  and  with 
drew  into  the  interior  of  the  country ; 
some,  from  disgust  at  this  species  of 
captivity ;  others,  from  fear  of  the  ap 
proaching  hostilities ;  and  others,  finally, 
from  apprehensions  of  being  questioned 
for  acts  against  the  government ;  but  a 
great  number,  also,  with  a  firm  resolu 
tion,  preferred  to  remain,  and  brave  all 
consequences  whatever.  The  soldiers 
of  the  garrison,  weary  of  their  long 
confinement,  desired  to  sally  forth,  and 
drive  away  these  rebels,  who  interrupt 
ed  their  provisions,  and  for  whom  they 


cherished  so  profound  a  contempt. 
The  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  proudly  indignant 
at  this  opinion  of  their  cowardice,  en 
tertained  by  the  soldiers  ;  and  panted 
for  an  occasion  to  prove,  by  a  signal 
vengeance,  the  falsehood  of  the  re 
proach. 

When  the  proceedings  of  Congress 
were  made  known,  they  were  very  gen 
erally  and  heartily  approved,  and  the 
people  everywhere  began  to  make 
preparation  for  what  might  be  the 
final  issue,  viz.,  resisting  even  unto 
blood.  •  The  New,  York  Assembly, 
strongly  under  royalist  influence,  de 
clined  giving  its  sanction  to  the  re 
solves  and  proceedings  of  Congress; 
and  in  other  colonies,  more  or  less  dis 
satisfaction  and  doubt  existed.  But, 
notwithstanding  these  differences  of 
sentiment  in  different  parts  of  the  coun 
try,  the  people,  as  a  whole,  were  very 
decided :  "  It  is  the  united  voice  of 
America,"  said  Warren,  in  a  letter  to 
Quincy,  "  to  preserve  their  freedom,  or 
lose  their  lives  in  defence  of  it.  Their 
resolutions  are  not  the  results  of  incon 
siderate  rashness,  but  the  sound  result 
of  sober  inquiry  and  deliberation.  I 
am  convinced  that  the  true  spirit  of 
liberty  was  never  so  universally  diffused 
through  all  ranks  and  orders  of  people, 
in  any  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
as  it  now  is  through  all  North  Amer 


ica.77* 

Strangely  but  grossly  deceived  by 
Tory  representations,  it  wTas  supposed 
by  the  English  ministry,  that  coercive 

*  See  "  Memoir  of  the  Life  ofJosiah  Quincy,  Jr.," 
p.  205. 


328 


AMERICA   RESISTS   AGGRESSION—THE   CRISIS 


II. 


1771. 


measures,  if  firmly  persisted  in,  would 
brino:  the  Americans  to  submission,  and 

O  » 

prevent  any  thing  like  union  and  con 
cert  of  action   amonsr   them.     It  was 

O 

ascertained  that  a  portion  of 
the  wealthy  and  aristocratic  in 
habitants  favored  decidedly  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  supremacy  of  England  ; 
and  it  was  thought,  not  unreasonably, 
that  all  the  influence  of  the  numerous 
sect  of  the  Quakers,  who  were  consci 
entiously  opposed  to  bloodshed,  and 
the  no  less  powerful  influence  of  the 
Episcopal  clergy,  on  every  account 
likely  to  favor  the  mother  country, 
would  be  thrown  on  the  royalist  side, 
and  against  the  various  measures  re 
sorted  to  by  the  American  Congress 
and  its  supporters.  But,  what  seems 
the  strangest  of  all,  those  in  power  in 
England,  were  willing  to  believe  the 
silly  braggarts  who  talked  about  the 
cowardice  of  the  Americans !  There 
were  men  who  boasted,  that  with  a  few 
regiments,  they  could  march  from  one 
end  of  America  to  the  other,  and  that 
at  the  first  fire  the  people  would  give 
way,  and  run  for  their  lives !  It  is 
difficult  to  say  which  is  most  to  be  won 
dered  at,  the  overweening  pride  and 
conceit,  or  the  profound  ignorance,  of 
the  men  who  could  indulge  in  such  Ian- 

O 

guage  as  the  government  was  willing  to 
listen  to,  and  be  guided  by,  in  its  course 
o wards  America. 

In  England  there  was  a  general  sen 
timent  in  favor  of  compelling  the  col 
onists  to  submission.     The  king's  per 
sonal  feelings    were  well  known,  and 
the  ministry  were  possessed  of 
a  large  majority  in  Parliament. 
Early  in  November,  after  a  six  weeks' 


passage,  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.,  arrived  in 
England.  His  journey  had  been  un 
dertaken,  partly  on  account  of  weak 
health,  partly  in  behalf  of  his  counti  y's 
interests :  his  whole  soul  was  filled  with 
an  ardent  desire  to  do  something  for 

O 

the  good  of  his  native  land.  Soon  after, 
he  had  an  interview  with  Lord  North, 
as  well  as  Lord  Dartmouth,  at  their 
special  request.  The  former,  on  the 
19th  of  November,  in  conversation  on 
the  subject  of  American  affairs,  re 
minded  Mr.  Quincy  of  the  power  of 
Great  Britain,  and  declared  that  they 
were  determined  "to  exert  it  to  the 
utmost,  in  order  to  effect  the  submis 
sion  of  the  colonies."  "  "We  must  try," 
said  he,  "what  we  can  do  to  support 
the  authority  we  claim  over  America. 
If  we  are  defective  in  power,  we  must- 
sit  down  contented,  and  make  the  best 
terms  we  can ;  and  nobody  can  blame 
us,  after  we  have  done  our  utmost ;  but 
till  we  have  tried  what  we  can  do,  we 
can  never  be  justified  in  receding.  We 
ought,  and  we  shall  be  very  careful,  not 
to  judge  a  thing  impossible,  because  it 
may  be  difficult ;  nay,  we  ought  to  try 
what  we  can  effect,  before  we  deter 
mine  upon  its  impracticability."  The 
language  of  concession  was  not  to  be 
expected  from  such  a  quarter.  Mr. 
Quincy,  however,  from  information  ob 
tained  from  other  sources,  as  well  as 
this  conversation  with  the  prime  minis 
ter,  was  convinced  that  the  Americans 
had  nothing  to  hope  but  from  forcible 
resistance.  This  conviction  was 

1774 

communicated   to  some  of  his 
particular    friends    in    America.      "  1 
cannot  forbear  telling  you,"  he  says,  in 
a  letter  to  Joseph  Reed,  under  date  of 


CH.  XII.] 


LORD   CHATHAM'S  SPEECH. 


329 


December  17th,  1774,  "that  I  look  to 
my  countrymen  with  the  feelings  of 
one  who  verily  believes  they  must  yet 
seal  their  faith  and  constancy  to  their 
liberties  with  Mood.  This  is  a  distress 
ing  witness  indeed  !  But  hath  not  this 
ever  been  the  lot  of  humanity  ?  Hath 
not  blood  and  treasure  in  all  ages  been 
the  price  of  civil  liberty  ?  Can  the 
Americans  hope  a  reversal  of  the  laws 
of  our  nature,  and  that  the  best  of 
blessings  will  be  obtained  and  secured 
without  the  sjprpest  trials?"*  This 
ardent  and  pure-minded  patriot,  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-one,  April  26th, 
1775,  was  removed  from  the  scene  of 
his  labors,  when  the  vessel  on  which 
he  was  returning  home  was  in  sight  of 
his  beloved  country.  Only  a  few  hours 
after  his  death,  the  ship  entered  the 
harbor  of  Gloucester,  Cape  Ann,  and 
Quincy's  mortal  remains  were  all  that 
was  left  to  his  family  and  his  native 
land. 

Parliament  met  at  the  end  of  No 
vember,  and  the  king  took  occasion  to 
speak  strongly  of  the  rebellious  con 
duct  of  Massachusetts  and  other  col 
onies,  and  announced  his  determination 
to  sustain  the  supreme'  authority  of 
Parliament  over  all  his  dominions.  An 
address  proposed  in  the  Commons,  in 
answer  to  the  king's  speech,  produced 
a  warm  debate ;  but  it  was  carried  by 
a  large  majority.  A  similar  address 
was  carried  yi  the  House  of  Lords, 
after  a  spirited  discussion. 

Parliament  met,  after  the  recess,  on 
the  20th  of  January,  1775.  On  the 


*  See  "Memoir  of  the  Life  of  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr.," 
pp.  233.281. 
VOL.  I.— 44 


1775. 


same  day,  Lord  Chatham  moved,  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  "That  an  humble  .ad 
dress  be  presented  to  his  majesty,  most 
humbly  to  advise  and  beseech  his  ma 
jesty,  that,  in  order  to  open  the  way 
towards  our  happy  settlement 
of  the  dangerous  troubles  in 
America,  by  beginning  to  allay  fer 
ments  and  soften  animosities  there; 
and,  above  all,  for  preventing,  in  the 
meantime,  any  sudden  and  fatal  catas 
trophe  at  Boston,  now  suffering  under 
daily  irritation  of  an  army  before  their 
eyes,  posted  in  their  town ;  it  may 
graciously  please  his  majesty,  that  im 
mediate  orders  may  be  dispatched  to 
General  Gage  for  removing  his  ma 
jesty's  forces  from  the  town  of  Bos 
ton,  as  soon  as  the  rigor  of  the  season, 
and  other  circumstances  indispensable 
to  the  safety  and  accommodation  of  the 
said  troops,  may  render  the  same  prac 
ticable."  In  advocating  this  motion, 
Chatham  exhibited  all  his  ancient  fire 
and  eloquence,  and  showed  how  truly 
patriotic  were  the  sentiments  which 
ever  actuated  his  course  in  regard  to 
America.  We  give  some  extracts  from 
his  noble  speech,  which,  even  at  this 
day,  may  be  read  with  profit.  "My 
lords,  these  papers  from  America,  now 
laid  by  the  administration  for  the  first 
time  before  your  lordships,  have  been,  to 
my  knowledge,  five  or  six  weeks  in  the 
pocket  of  the  minister;  and,  notwith 
standing  the  fate  of  this  kingdom  hangs 
upon  the  event  of  this  great  contro 
versy,  we  are  but  this  moment  called  to 
a  consideration  of  this  important  sub 
ject.  My  lords,  I  do  not  wish  to  look 
into  one  of  these  papers ;  I  know  their 
contents  well  enough  already ;  I  know 


330 


AMERICA  RESISTS  AGGRESSION— THE  CRISIS. 


[BK.  II 


that  there  is  not  a  member  in  this 
house  but  is  acquainted  with  their  pur 
port  also.  There  ought,  therefore,  to 
be  no  delay  in  entering  upon  this  mat 
ter  ;  we  ought  to  proceed  to  it  im 
mediately  ;  we  ought  to  seize  the  first 
moment  to  open  the  door  of  reconcilia 
tion.  The  Americans  will  never  be  in 
a  temper  or  state  to  be  reconciled ;  they 
ought  not  to  be,  till  the  troops  are 
withdrawn.  The  troops  are  a  per 
petual  irritation  to  those  people ;  they 
are  a  bar  to  all  confidence  and  all  cor 
dial  reconcilement.  The  way  must  be 
immediately  opened  for  reconciliation. 
It  will  soon  be  too  late.  I  know  not 
who  advised  the  present  measures ;  I 
know  not  who  advises  to  a  persever 
ance  and  enforcement  of  them ;  but 
this  I  will  say,  that  whoever  advises 
them  ought  to  answer  for  it  at  his  ut 
most  peril.  I  know  that  no  one  will 
avow  that  he  advised,  or  that  he  was 
the  author  of  these  measures;  every 
one  shrinks  from  the  charge.  But 
somebody  has  advised  his  majesty  to 
these  measures,  and  if  he  continues  to 
hear  such  evil  counsellors,  his  majesty 
will  be  undone;  his  majesty  may  in 
deed  wear  his  crown,  but,  the  American 
jewel  out  of  it,  it  will  not  be  worth  the 
wearing.  What  more  shall  I  say  ?  I 
must  not  say  the  king  is  betrayed ;  but 
this  I  will  say,  the  nation  is  ruined. 
What  foundation  have  we  for  our 
•claims  over  America?  What  is  our 
right  to  persist  in  such  cruel  and  vin 
dictive  measures  against  that  loyal,  re 
spectable  people  ?  They  say  you  have 
no  right  to  tax  them  without  their  con 
sent.  They  say  truly.  Representation 
and  taxation  must  go  together ;  they 


are  inseparable.  Yet  there  is  scarcely 
a  man  in  our  streets,  though  so  poor  as 
scarcely  to  be  able  to  get  his  daily 
bread,  but  thinks  he  is  the  legislator 
of  America.  '  Our  American  subjects* 
is  a  common  phrase  in  the  mouths  of 
the  lowest  orders  of  our  citizens ;  but 
property,  my  lords,  is  the  sole  and  en- 
tire  dominion  of  the  owner  :  it  excludes 
all  the  world  besides  the  owner.  None. 
can  intermeddle  with  it.  It  is  a  unity, 
a  mathematical  point.  It  is  an  atom  ; 
untangible  by  any  but  the  proprietor. 
Touch  it,  and  the  owner  loses  his  whole 
property.  The  touch  contaminates  the 
whole  mass,  the  whole  property  van 
ishes.  The  touch  of  another  anni 
hilates  it ;  for  whatever  is  a  man's  own, 
is  absolutely  and  exclusively  his  own." 
Having  stated  that  the  Americans 
had  been  shamefully  abused  by  the 
course  pursued  towards  them,  he  went 
on  to  ask,  "How  have  this  respectable 
people  behaved  under  their  grievances  ? 
With  unexampled  patience,  with  un 
paralleled  wisdom.  They  chose  dele 
gates  by  their  free  suffrages.  No 
bribery,  no  corruption,  no  influence 
there,  my  lords.  Their  representatives 
meet,  with  the  sentiments  and  temper, 
and  speak  the  sense  of  the  continent. 
For  genuine  sagacity,  for  singular  mod 
eration,  for  solid  wisdom,  manly  spirit, 
sublime  sentiments,  and  simplicity  of 
language,  for  every  thing  respectable 
and  honorable,  the  Congress  of  Phila 
delphia  shine  unrivalled.  This  wise 
people  speak  out.  They  do  not  hold 
the  language  of  slaves ;  they  tell  you 
what  they  mean.  They  do  not  ask 
you  to  repeal  your  laws  as  a  favor ; 
they  claim  it  as  a  right — they  demand 


CH.  XII.] 


CHATHAM'S   ELOQUENT  APPEAL. 


331 


it.  They  tell  you  they  will  not  submit 
to  them ;  and  I  tell  you  the  acts  must 
be  repealed ;  they  will  be  repealed ; 
you  cannot  enforce  them.  The  minis 
try  are  checkmated  ;  they  have  a  move 
to  make  on  the  board  ;  yet  not  a  move, 
but  they  are  ruined.  Repeal,  there 
fore,  my  lords,  I  say.  But  bare  repeal 
will  not  satisfy  this  enlightened  and 
spirited  people.  What!  repeal  a  bit 
of  paper !  repeal  a  piece  of  parchment ! 
That  alone  will  not  do,  my  lords.  You 
must  go  through  the  work — you  must 
declare  you  have  no  right  to  tax — then 
they  may  trust  you ;  then  they  will 
have  some  confidence  in  you." 

The  eloquent  advocate  of  truth  and 
justice  concluded  in  these  words :  "  My 
lords,  deeply  impressed  with  the  im 
portance  of  taking  some  healing  meas 
ures  at  this  most  alarming,  distracted 
state  of  our  affairs,  though  bowed  down 
with  a  cruel  disease,  I  have  crawled  to 
this  house,  to  give  you  my  best  counsel 
and  experience ;  and  my  advice  is,  to 
beseech  his  majesty  to  withdraw  his 
troops.  This  is  the  best  I  can  think 
of.  It  will  convince  America  that  you 
mean  to  try  her  cause,  in  the  spirit,  and 
by  the  laws  of  freedom  and  fair  in 
quiry,  and  not  by  codes  of  blood.  How 
can  she  now  trust  you,  with  the  bay 
onet  at  her  breast  ?  She  has  all  the 
reason  in  the  world  now  to  believe  you 
mean  her  death,  or  her  bondage.  Thus 
entered  on  the  threshold  of  this  busi 
ness,  I  will  knock  at  your  gates  for  jus 
tice  without  ceasing,  unless  inveterate 
infirmities  stay  my  hand.  My  lords,  I 
pledge  myself  never  to  leave  this  busi 
ness.  I  will  pursue  it  to  the  end  in 
every  shape.  I  will  never  fail  of  my 


attendance  on  it  at  every  step  and 
period  of  this  great  matter,  unless  nail 
ed  down  to  my  bed  by  the  severity  of 
disease.  My  lords,  there  is  no  time  to 
be  lost ;  every  moment  is  big  with  dan- 
gers.  Nay,  while  I  am  now  speaking, 
the  decisive  blow  may  be  struck,  and 
millions  involved  in  the  consequences. 
The  very  first  drop  of  blood  will  make 
a  wound  that  will  not  easily  be  skinned 
over.  Years,  perhaps  ages,  may  not 
heal  it.  It  will  be  immedicabile  vulr 
nus  :  a  wound  of  that  rancorous,  mali^- 

'  O 

nant,  corroding,  festering  nature,  that, 
in  all  probability,  it  will  mortify  the 
whole  botly.  Let  us,  then,  my  lords, 
set  to  this  business  in  earnest ;  not  take 
it  up  by  bits  and  scraps  as  formerly, 
just  as  exigencies  pressed,  without  any 
regard  to  general  relations,  connections, 
and  dependencies.  I  would  not,  by 
any  thing  I  have "  said,  my  lords,  be 
thought  to  encourage  America  to  pro 
ceed  beyond  the  right  line.  I  repro 
bate  all  acts  of  violence  by  her  mobility. 
But  when  her  inherent  constitutional 
rights  are  invaded,  those  rights  which 
she  has  an  equitable  claim  to  enjoy  by 
the  fundamental  laws  of  the  English 
constitution,  and  which  are  engrafted 
thereon  by  the  unalterable  laws  of  na 
ture,  then  I  own  myself  an  American, 
and  feeling  myself  such,  shall,  to  the 
verge  of  my  life,  vindicate  those  rights 
against  all  men  who  strive  to  trample 
upon  or  oppose  them." 

Mr.  Josiah  Quincy,  who  was  in  the 
gallery  of  the  House  at  the  time  and 
heard  this  speech,  speaks  of  it  in  rap 
turous  terms :  it  is  to  him  that  we  are 
indebted  for  the  able  manner  in  which 
it  has  been  reported.  Lord  Camdan 


332 


AMERICA  RESISTS  AGGRESSION— THE  CRISIS. 


[BK.  11, 


and  several  other  noblemen  supported 
the  motion  of  Chatham,  but  the  min 
isterial  majority  was  very  large  against 
it.  In  the  Commons  the  papers  relat 
ing  to  America  were  referred  to  a  com 
mittee  of  the  whole.  The  petition  to 
the  king  issued  by  the  Continental 
Congress  was  among  these  papers. 
Franklin,  Lee,  and  Bollan,  as  agents 
for  the  colonies,  on  the  26th  of  January, 
tendered  a  petition  to  the  House,  stat 
ing  that  they  were  directed  by  Con 
gress  to  present  a  memorial  from  it  to 
Parliament.  They  also  prayed  to  be 
heard  at  the  bar  in  support  of  the 
memorial.  The  House  refused  to  grant 
the  application,  and  the  ministry  derided 
the  complaints  of  America  as  being 
pretended  grievances. 
At  the  beginning  of  February,  Lord 

Chatham  brought  forward  an- 
i  yy> 

other  bill  "  for  settling  the  troub 
les,  and  for  asserting  the  supreme  legis 
lative  authority  and  superintending 
power  of  Great  Britain  over  the  col 
onies."  Though  this  bill,  as  it  contained 
a  direct  avowal  of  the  supreme  author 
ity  of  Parliament  over  the  colonies,  in 
all  cases  except  that  of  taxation,  would 
probably  never  have  received  the 
assent  of  the  Americans,  yet  as  it  ex 
pressly  denied  the  Parliamentary  power 
of  taxing  the  colonies,  without  the  con 
sent  of  their  Assemblies,  and  made 
other  important  concessions,  it  was  re 
jected  by  a  vote  of  two  to  one,  without 
even  the  courtesy  of  a  second  reading. 
Lord  Chatham,  as  Pitkin  relates,  had 
shown  this  bill  to  Dr.  Franklin,  before 
he  submitted  it  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
but  the  latter  had  not  an  opportunity 
•if  proposing  certain  alterations  which 


he  had  sketched.  Dr.  Franklin,  how 
ever,  at  the  special  request  of  Lord 
Chatham,  was  present  at  the  debates 
upon  it.  Lord  Dartmouth  was  at  first 
disposed  to  have  the  bill  lie  upon  the 
table ;  but  Lord  Sandwich  opposed  its 
being  received,  and  moved  that  it  be 
immediately  "rejected  with  the  con 
tempt  it  deserved.  He  could  never 
believe,"  he  said,  "  that  it  was  the  pro 
duction  of  a  British  peer ;  it  appeared 
to  him  rather  the  work  of  some  Ameri 
can"  Turning  his  face  towards  Dr. 
Franklin,  then  standing  at  the  bar, 
"  He  fancied,"  he  said,  "  he  had  in  his 
eye  the  person  who  drew  it  up,  one  of 
the  bitterest  and  most  mischievous  ene 
mies  this  country  had  ever  known."  To 
this  part  of  the  speech  of  Lord  Sand 
wich,  the  great  Chatham  replied,  by 
saying,  "  that  it  was  entirely  his  own 
This  declaration,"  he  said,  "  he  thought 
himself  the  more  obliged  to  make,  as 
many  of  their  lordships  appeared  to 
have  so  mean  an  opinion  of  it ;  for  if  it 
was  so  weak  or  so  bad  a  thing,  it  was 
proper  in  him.  to  take  care  that  no 
other  person  should  unjustly  share  in 
the  censure  it  deserved.  It  had  been 
heretofore  reckoned  his  vice  not  to  be 
apt  to  take  advice;  but  he  made  no 
scruple  to  declare,  that  if  he  were  the 
first  minister  of  this  country,  and  had 
the  care  of  settling  this  momentous 
business,  he  should  not  be  ashamed  of 
publicly  calling  to  his  assistance  a 
person  so  perfectly  acquainted  with  the 
whole  of  American  affairs,  as  the  gen 
tleman  alluded  to,  and  so  injuriously 
reflected  on ;  one  whom  all  Europe 
held  in  estimation  for  his  knowledge 
and  wisdom,  and  ranked  with  our 


CH.  XII.] 


LORD'S  NORTH'S  PLAN   OF  CONCILIATION. 


333 


Boyles  and  Newtons ;  who  was  an 
honor,  not  to  the  English  nation  only, 
but  to  human  nature."  * 

Immediately  after  the  failure  of 
Chatham's  efforts,  a  joint  address  was 
presented  to  the  king  on  American 
affairs.  In  this  address  the  Parliament 
declared,  "that  a  REBELLION  actually 
existed  in  the  province  of  Massachu 
setts  Bay,  besought  his  majesty  to 
adopt  measures  to  enforce  the  author 
ity  of  the  supreme  legislature,  and 
solemnly  assured  him  that  it  was  their 
fixed  resolution,  at  the  hazard  of  their 
lives  and  properties,  to  stand  by  him 
against  his  rebellious  subjects."  Not 
withstanding  the  eloquent  opposition 
made  to  this  address,  it  passed  by  a  large 
majority.  The  king's  reply  was  in  per 
fect  accordance  with  the  tenor  of  that 
address,  and  showed  how  entirely  he 
sanctioned  the  course  pursued  towards 
the  Americans.  On  the  10th  of  Febru 
ary,  Lord  North  introduced  a  bill  re 
stricting  the  commerce  of  Massachu 
setts,  New  Hampshire,  E-hode  Island 
and  Connecticut,  to  Great  Britain,  Ire 
land,  and  the  British  West  Indies,  and 
prohibiting  their  carrying  on  any  fish 
eries  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland, 
and  other  places,  for  a  limited  time; 
the  same  restrictions  were  subsequently 
extended  to  all  the  colonies  represented 
in  the  Congress  at  Philadelphia,  with 
the  exception  of  New  York  and  North 
Carolina.  These  bills  were  opposed  by 
the  minority  in  both  houses,  as  unjust 
and  cruel  towards  the  colonists,  involv 
ing  the  innocent  with  the  guilty,  and 


*  Pitkin's   "Civil  and  Political  History  of  the 
United  States,"  vol.  i.  p.  312. 


1775. 


unwise  and  impolitic  in  regard  to  the 
people  of  Great  Britain.  By  the  loss 
of  their  foreign  trade  and  the  fisheries, 
the  colonists,  it  was  said,  particularly 
those  of  New  England,  would  be  un 
able  to  pay  the  large  balances  due  from 
them  to  the  British  merchants.  But 
every  argument,  however  just  or  reason 
able,  was  urged  in  vain  against  the 
measures  proposed  by  the  minister.  An 
idea  prevailed  in  Great  Britain,  that 
the  people  of  New  England  were  de 
pendent  on  the  fisheries  for  subsistence, 
and  that,  when  deprived  of  these,  they 
would  be  starved  into  obedience  and 
submission.* 

Lord  North,  who,  in  all  personal  re 
lations,  was  an  amiable  and  peace-loving 
man,  ventured  to  propose  a  plan 
of  conciliation,  which,  in  its  sub 
stance,  did  not  differ  much  from  that 
advocated  by  Lord  Chatham.  It  pro 
vided,  "  that  when  the  Governor,  Coun 
cil  and  Assembly,  or  General  Court,  of 
any  of  his  majesty's  colonies  in  Amer 
ica,  shall  propose  to  make  provision, 
according  to  the  condition,  circum 
stances,  and  situation  of  such  province 
or  colony,  for  contributing  their  pro 
portion  for  the  common  defence,  (such 
proportion  to  be  raised  under  the  author 
ity  of  the  General  Court  or  Assembly 
of  such  colony,  and  disposable  by  Par 
liament,)  and  shall  engage  to  make 
provision  also  for  the  support  of  the 
civil  government  and  the  administra 
tion  of  justice  in  such  colony,  it  will  be 

*  The  reader  will  be  interested  in  examining  the 
"Hints  for  conversation  upon  the  subject  of  te-ma, 
that  might  probably  produce  a  durable  union  be 
tween  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies."  See  Frank 
lin's  Autobiography,  pp.  283-94  ;  325,  etc. 


334 


AMERICA  RESISTS  AGGRESSION— THE  CRISIS. 


[BE. 


proper,  if  such  proposal  shall  be  ap 
proved  by  his  majesty  and  the  two 
Houses  of  Parliament,  and  for  so  long 
as  such  provision  shall  be  made  ac 
cordingly,  to  forbear,  in  respect  to  such 
colony,  to  levy  any  duty,  tax,  or  assess 
ment,  except  only  such  duties  as  it  may 
be  expedient  to  levy  or  impose  for  the 
regulation  of  commerce ;  the  net  pro 
ceeds  of  the  duties  last  mentioned  to  be 
carried  to  the  account  of  such  colony  re 
spectively."  Considerable  surprise  was 
excited  by  this  movement  on  the  part 
of  the  minister,  and  it  was  argued  that 
he  was  giving  up  the  very  point  in  dis 
pute.  This  led  to  his  avowing  that  in 
reality  nothing  was  meant  to  be  con 
ceded  ;  he  only  hoped  by  this  measure 
to  divide  the  colonies  and  prevent  their 
united  opposition.  With  this  explana 
tion,  it  was  adopted,  but,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  it  was  productive  of 
none  of  the  wished-for  results  in  favor 
of  the  ministerial  measures. 

The  adoption  of  the  conciliatory 
scheme  proposed  by  Lord  North,  did 
not  prevent  Mr.  Burke  and  Mr.  Hartley 
from  presenting  to  the  House  their  re 
spective  plans  of  reconciliation.  That 
of  the  former,  founded  on  the  principle 
of  expediency,  was  to  permit  the  col 
onies  to  tax  themselves  in  their  Assem 
blies,  according  to  ancient  usage,  and  to 
repeal  all  acts  of  Parliament  imposing 
duties  in  America.  Mr.  Hartley  pro 
posed,  that,  at  the  request  of  Parlia 
ment,  the  secretary  of  state  should  re 
quire  a  contribution  from  the  colonies 
for  the  general  expense  of  the  empire, 
leaving  the  amount  and  application  to 
the  colonial  Assemblies.  These  propo 
sitions,  though  supported  by  all  the 


1775. 


eloquence  and  powerful  talents  of  Mr. 
Burke,  were  rejected  by  the  usual  min 
isterial  majorities.* 

The  Americans,  meanwhile,  were  not 
idle.  The  provincial  Congress  of  Mas 
sachusetts  met,  on  the  1st  of  February, 
1*775,  at  Cambridge,  and  about  the 
middle  of  the  month,  adjourned  to 
Concord.  They  entered  witk 
energy  and  spirit  into  measures 
and  plans  for  resistance.  They  earn 
estly  begged  the  militia,  in  general, 
and  the  minute-men,  in  particular,  to 
be  indefatigable  in  improving  them 
selves  in  military  discipline ;  they  re 
commended  the  making  of  fire-arms 
and  bayonets:  and  they  dissuaded  the 
people  from  supplying  the  troops  in 
Boston  with  any  thing  necessary  for 
military  service.  The  Committee  of 
Safety  resolved  to  purchase  powder, 
artillery,  provisions,  and  other  military 
stores,  and  to  deposit  them  partly  at 
Worcester,  and  partly  at  Concord. 

General  Gage  was  not  an  inattentive 
spectator  of  these  proceedings.  Having 
learned  that  some  military  stores  of  the 
colonists  were  deposited  at  Salem,  he 
thought  it  his  duty  to  send  Colonel 
Leslie  with  a  detachment  of  soldiers  to 
seize  them.  This  was  on  Sunday,  the 
26th  of  February.  The  troops  landed 
at  Marblehead,  and  proceeded  to  Salem ; 
but  not  finding  any  thing  there,  they 
advanced  along  the  road  to  Danvers, 
whither  the  stores  had  been  removed, 


*  Burke,  who  was  agent  for  New  York,  presented, 
towards  the  close  of  the  session,  a  very  strongly 
worded  petition  from  the  General  Assembly  of  thai 
province.  This  was  quite  unlooked  for,  and  disap 
pointed  the  ministry  greatly.  Lord  North  succeeded 
in  preventing  its  being  entertained  by  the  House. 


CH.  XII.l 


THE   BATTLE  OF  LEXINGTON. 


335 


and  reached  tin  drawbridge  across  the 
river.  Here  the  passage  was  disputed ; 
but  the  dispute  did  not  proceed  to 
bloodshed,  owing  to  the  judicious  inter 
ference  of  Barnard,  one  of  the  Congre 
gational  ministers  of  Salem.  This  at 
tempt  on  the  part  of  Gage,  served  to 
rouse  the  activity  of  the  people  to  a 
high  pitch;  it  was  plain  also  that  en 
counters'"  of  this  kind  must  ere  long 
result  very  differently. 

The  second  Virginia  Convention  met 
at  Richmond  on  the  20th  of  March. 
Washington  was  present  as  a  delegate, 
and  the  proceedings  of  Congress  were 
discussed  and  approved.  Patrick  Henry 
introduced  resolutions  setting  forth  the 
importance  of  embodying,  arming,  and 
disciplining  the  militia  of  the  colony. 
Many  of  the  members  were  startled  at 
the  proposition  to  prepare  for  a  contest 
of  arms,  and  the  resolutions  were  op 
posed  earnestly  by  some  of  the  best 
men  in  Virginia,  who  still  clung  to  the 
hope  of  reconciliation  with  the  mother 
country.  Henry,  however,  with  im 
petuous  eloquence,  bore  down  all  op 
position,  asserting  boldly,  "  There  is  no 
longer  any  room  for  hope,  we  must 
fight ! — I  repeat  it,  sir ;  we  must  fight ! 
An  appeal  to  arms  and  the  God  of 
hosts,  is  all  .that  is  left  us  !"  Henry's 
proposition  was  carried.  Washington, 
also,  was  one  of  those  who  had  lost  all 
faith  in  the  success  of  petitions.  The 
Convention  strongly  urged  the  en 
couraging  of  domestic  industry  and 
arts  and  manufactures.  At  this  date,* 
Washington  wrote  to  his  brother,  that 

*  See  Wirt's  Patrick  Henry,  p.  132-142 ;  Sparks's 
Wishington,  p.  124-5. 


it  was  his  full  intention  to  devote  his 
life  and  fortune  to  the  cause  of  hig 
country,  if  it  was  required. 

Little  satisfied  with  the  ill  result  of 
the  previous  attempt  to  seize  upon  the 
colonial  stores,  Gage  determined  upon 
a  fresh  movement,  which,  he  hoped, 
would  produce  the  desired  effect. 
Aware  that  the  Americans  had  collect 
ed  together  a  quantity  of  military  stores 
at  Concord,  about  sixteen  miles  from 
Boston,  he  resolved  to  send  a  strong 
body  of  troops  to  seize  upon  and  de 
stroy  the  magazine.  Great  efforts  were 
made  to  keep  his  intentions  secret ;  but 
the  Americans  were  ever  on  the  alert, 
and  *  news  of  the  expedition  was  in 
stantly  circulated  in  every  direction. 
At  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  April  18th, 
Gage  detached  eight  hundred  grena 
diers  and  light  infantry,  the  flower  of 

the  army,  under  the  command 

lY'ys 
of  Lieutenant-colonel  Smith  and 

Major  Pitcairn,  to  march  secretly  and 
expeditiously  to  Concord.  They  sailed 
up  Charles  River,  landed  at  Phipp's 
farm,  and  advanced  towards  Concord. 
Of  this  movement  some  of  the  friends 
of  the  American  cause  got  notice,  just 
before  the  embarkation  of  the  troops ; 
and  they  instantly  dispatched  mes 
sengers  by  different  routes,  with  the  in 
formation.  The  troops  soon  perceived, 
by  the  ringing  of  bells  and  firing  of 
musketry,  that,  notwithstanding  the 
secrecy  with  which  they  had  quitted 
Boston,  they  had  been  discovered, 
and  that  the  alarm  was  fast  spread 
ing  throughout  the  country.  Between 
four  and  five  o'clock,  on  the  morning 
of  the  19th  of  April,  the  detachment 
|  reached  Lexington,  thirteen  miles  from 


33G 


AMERICA  RESISTS  AGGRESSION— THE  CRISIS. 


.  n. 


Boston.  Here  about  seventy  of  the 
minute-men  were  assembled,  and  were 
standing  near  the  road;  but  their 
number  being  so  small,  they  had  no  in 
tention  of  making  any  resistance  to  the 
military.  Major  Pitcairn,  who  had 
been  sent  forward  with  the  light  in 
fantry,  rode  towards  them,  calling  out, 
"  Disperse,  you  rebels !  throw  down 
your  arms  and  disperse  !"  The  order 
was  not  instantly  obeyed  :  Major  Pit- 
cairn  advanced  a  little  farther,  fired  his 
pistol,  and  flourished  his  sword,  while 
his  men  began  to  fire,  with  a  shout. 
Several  Americans  fell;  the  rest  dis 
persed,  but  the  firing  on  them  was  con 
tinued;  and,  on  observing  this,  some 
of  the  retreating  colonists  returned  the 
fire.  Eight  Americans  remained  dead 
on  the  field. 

At  the  close  of  this  rencounter,  the 
rest  of  the  British  detachment,  under 
Lieutenant-colonel  Smith,  came  up ;  and 
the  party,  without  farther  delay,  pro 
ceeded  to  Concord.  On  arriving  at 
that  place,  they  found  a  body  of  militia 
drawn  up,  who  retreated  across  the 
bridge  before  the  British  light  infantry. 
The  main  body  of  the  royal  troops 
entered  the  town,  destroyed  two  pieces 
of  cannon  with  their  carriages,  and  a 
number  of  carriage- wheels ;  threw  five 
hundred  pounds  of  balls  into  the  river 
and  wells,  and  broke  in  pieces  about 
sixty  flour-barrels.  These  were  all  the 
stores  they  found. 

While  the  main  body  of  the  troops 
Tfas  engaged  in  these  operations,  the 
light  infantry  kept  possession  of  the 
bridge,  the  Americans  having  retired 
to  wait  for  reinforcements.  Reinforce 
ments  arrived  ;  and  Major  Buttrick,  of 


Concord,  who  commanded  the  Amer« 
icans,  ordered  his  men  to  advance : 
but,  ignorant  of  what  had  happened  at 
Lexington,  enjoined  them  not  to  fire, 
unless  the  troops  fired  first.  The  matter 
did  not  long  remain  in  suspense.  The 
Americans  advanced ;  the  troops  fired 
on  them ;  the  Americans  returned  the 
fire;  a  smart  skirmish  ensued,  and  a 
number  of  men  fell  on  each  side. 

The  troops,  having  accomplished  the 
object  of  their  expedition,  began  to  re 
tire.  But  blood  had  been  shed,  and 
the  aggressors  were  not  to  be  allowed 
to  escape  with  impunity.  The  country 
was  alarmed;  armed  men  crowded  in 
from  every  quarter ;  and  the  retreating 
troops  were  assailed  with  an  unceasing 
but  irregular  discharge  of  musketry. 
General  Gage  had  early  information 
that  the  country  was  rising  in  arms ; 
and  about  eight  in  the  morning,  he  dis 
patched  nine  hundred  men,  with  two 
pieces  of  cannon,  under  the  command  of 
Lord  Percy,  to  support  his  first  party. 
According  to  Gordon,  this  detachment 
left  Boston  with  their  music  playing 
Yankee  Doodle,  in  derision  of  "  the  reb 
els,"  as  they  termed  the  colonists. 

Lord  Percy  met  Colonel  Smith's  re 
treating  party,  at  Lexington,  much  ex 
hausted;  and,  being  provided  with 
artillery,  he  was  able  to  keep  the  Amer 
icans  in  check.  The  whole  party  rested 
on  their  arms  till  they  took  some  re 
freshment,  of  which  they  stood  much  in 
need.  But  there  was  no  time  for 
delay;  as  the  militia  and  minute-men 
were  hastening  in  from  all  quarters  to 
the  scene  of  action.  "When  the  troops 
resumed  their  march,  the  attack  was 
renewed;  and  Lord  Percy  continued  the 


.  n. 

er« 

Q    • 
It 

V 


CH.  X1J.] 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


ssa 


no  man  be  condemned  unheard,  or  punished  for 
supposed  rffences,  without  having  an  opportunity 
of  making  his  defence.  That  we  think  the  Legis 
lature  of  Great  Britain  is  not  authorized,  by  the 
constitution,  to  establish  a  religion,  fraught  with 
sanguinary  and  impious  tenets,  or  to  erect  an 
arbitrary  form  of  government,  in  any  quarter  of 
the  globe.  These  rights  we,  as  well  as  you,  deem 
sacred  ;  and  yet,  sacred  as  they  are,  they  have, 
with  many  others,  been  repeatedly  and  flagrantly 
violated. 

Are  not  the  proprietors  of  the  soil  of  Great 
Britain  lords  of  their  own  property  ?  Can  it  be 
taken  from  them  without  their  consent?  "Will 
they  yield  it  to  the  arbitrary  disposal  of  any  man, 
or  number  of  men  whatever  ?  You  know  they 
will  not.  \Yhy  then  are  the  proprietors  of  the 
soil  in  America  less  lords  of  their  property  than 
you  are  of  yours  ?  Or  why  should  they  submit 
it  to  the  disposal  of  your  Parliament,  or  of  any 
other  parliament  or  council  in  the  world,  not  of 
their  election  ?  Can  the  intervention  of  the  sea 
that  divides  us,  cause  disparity  in  rights,  or  can 
any  reason  be  given  why  English  subjects  who 
live  three  thousand  miles  from  the  royal  palace, 
should  enjoy  less  liberty  than  those  who  are  three 
hundred  miles  distant  from  it  ? 

Reason  looks  with  indignation  on  such  distinc 
tions,  and  freemen  can  never  perceive  their  pro 
priety.  And  yet,  however  chimerical  and  unjust 
such  discriminations  arc,  the  Parliament  assert 
they  have  a  right  to  bind  us,  in  all  cases,  without 
exception,  whether  we  consent  or  not ;  that  they 
may  take  and  use  our  property  when  and  in  what 
manner  they  please  ;  that  we  are  pensioners  on 
their  bounty,  for  all  that  we  possess,  and  can 
hold  it  no  longer  than  they  vouchsafe  to  permit. 
Such  declarations  we  .consider  as  heresies  in  Eng 
lish  politics  ;  and  which  can  no  more  operate  to 
deprive  us  of  our  property,  than  the  interdicts  of 
the  pope  can  divest  kings  of  sceptres,  which  the 
laws  of  the  land  and  the  voice  of  the  people 
have  placed  in  their  hands. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  late  war — a  war 
rendered  glorious  by  the  abilities  and  integrity  of 
a  minister,  to  whose  efforts  the  British  empire 
owes  its  safety  and  its  fame  ;  at  the  conclusion  of 
this  war,  which  was  succeeded  by  an  inglorious 
peace,  formed  under  the  auspices  of  a  minister  of 
principles  and  of  a  family  unfriendly  to  the  Pro 
testant  cause,  and  inimical  to  liberty  :  we  say,  at 


this  period,  and  under  the  influence  of  that  man, 
a  plan  for  enslaving  your  fellow  subjects  in  Amer 
ica  was  concerted,  and  has  ever  since  been  pertina 
ciously  carrying  into  execution. 

Prior  to  this  era  you  were  content  with  draw 
ing  from  us  the  wealth  produced  by  our  commerce. 
You  constrained  our  trade  in  every  way  that 
would  conduce  to  your  emoluments.  You  exer 
cised  unbounded  sovereignty  over  the  sea.  You 
named  the  ports  and  nations  to  which  alone  our 
merchandise  should  be  carried,  and  with  whom 
alone  we  should  trade  :  and  though  some  of  these 
restrictions  were  grievous,  we  nevertheless  did 
not  complain  ;  we  looked  up  to  you  as  to  our 
parent  state,  to  which  we  were  bound  by  the 
strongest  ties,  and  were  happy  in  being  instru 
mental  to  your  prosperity  and  your  grandeu-r. 

We  call  upon  you  yourselves,  to  witness  our 
loyalty  and  attachment  to  the  common  interests 
of  the  whole  empire  :  did  we  not,  in  the  last  war, 
add  all  the  strength  of  this  vast  continent  to  the 
force  which  repelled  our  common  enemy  ?  Did 
we  not  leave  our  native  shores,  and  meet  disease 
and  death,  to  promote  the  success  of  British  arms 
in  foreign  climates  ?  Did  you  not  thank  us  for 
our  zeal,  and  even  reimburse  us  large  sums  of 
money,  which  you  confessed  we  had  advanced 
beyond  our  proportion  and  far  beyond  our  abil 
ities  ?  You  did. 

To  what  causes,  then,  are  we  to  attribute  the 
sudden  change  of  treatment,  and  that  system  of 
slavery  which  was  prepared  for  us  at  the  restora 
tion  of  peace  ? 

Before  we  had  recovered  from  the  distresses 
which  ever  attend  war,  an  attempt  was  made  to 
drain  this  country  of  all  its  money,  by  the  oppres 
sive  Stamp  Act.  Paint,  glass,  and  other  commod 
ities,  which  you  would  not  permit  us  to  purchase 
of  other  nations,  were  taxed  ;  nay,  although  no 
wine  is  made  in  any  country  subject  to  the  British 
state,  you  prohibited  our  procuring  it  of  foreigners 
without  paying  a  tax,  imposed  by  your  Parlia 
ment,  on  all  we  imported.  These  and  many  other 
impositions  were  laid  upon  us  most  unjustly  and 
unconstitutionally  for  the  express  purpose  of  rais 
ing  a  revenue.  In  order  to  silence  complaint  it 
was,  indeed,  provided,  that  this  revenue  should 
be  expended  in  America,  for  its  protection  and 
defence.  These  exactions,  however,  can  receive 
no  justification  from  a  pretended  necessity  of  pro 
tecting  and  defending  us ;  they  are  lavishly 


340 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  XII. 


[En.  u 


squandered  on  court  favorites  and  ministerial  de 
pendents,  generally  avowed  enemies  to  America, 
and  employing  themselves  by  partial  represent 
ations  to  traduce  and  embroil  the  colonies.  For 
the  necessary  support  of  government  here  we  ever 
were  and  ever  shall  be  ready  to  provide.  And 
whenever  the  exigencies  of  the  state  may  require 
it,  we  shall,  as  we  have  heretofore  done,  cheer 
fully  contribute  our  full  proportion  of  men  and 
money.  To  enforce  this  unconstitutional  and 
unjust  scheme  of  taxation,  every  fence  that  the 
wisdom  of  our  British  ancestors  had  carefully 
erected  against  arbitrary  power,  has  been  vio 
lently  thrown  down  in  America,  and  the  inestim 
able  right  of  trial  by  jury  taken  away  in  cases 
that  touch  both  life  and  property.  It  was  or 
dained,  that  whenever  offences  should  be  com 
mitted  in  the  colonies  against  particular  acts, 
imposing  various  duties  and  restrictions  upon 
trade,  the  prosecutor  might  bring  his  action  for 
penalties  in  the  courts  of  admiralty  ;  by  which 
means  the  subject  lost  the  advantage  of  being 
tried  by  an  honest  uninfluenced  jury  of  the  vicinage, 
and  was  subjected  to  the  sad  necessity  of  being 
judged  by  a  single  man,  a  creature  of  the  crown, 
and  according  to  the  course  of  a  law,  which 
exempted  the  prosecutor  of  the  trouble  of  proving 
his  accusation,  and  obliges  the  defender  either  to 
evince  his  innocence,  or  suffer.  To  give  this  new 
judiciary  the  greater  importance,  and  as  if  with 
design  to  protect  false  accusers,  it  is  further  pro 
vided,  that  the  judge's  certificate  of  there  having 
been  probable  causes  of  seizure  and  prosecution, 
shall  protect  the  prosecutors  from  actions  at 
common  law  for  recovery  of  damages. 

By  the  course  of  our  laws,  offences  committed 
in  such  of  the  British  dominions,  in  which  courts 
are  established  and  justice  duly  and  regularly 
administered,  shall  be  there  tried  by  a  jury  of  the 
vicinage.  There  the  offenders  and  the  witnesses 
are  known,  and  the  degree  of  credibility  to  be 
given  to  their  testimony  can  be  ascertained. 

In  all  these  colonies,  justice  is  regularly  and 
impartially  administered,  and  yet,  by  the  construc 
tion  of  some,  and  the  direction  of  other  acts  of  Par 
liament,  offenders  are  to  be  taken  by  force,  together 
with  all  such  persons  as  may  be  pointed  out  as  wit 
nesses,  and  carried  to  England,  there  to  be  tried  in 
a  distant  land,  by  a  jury  of  strangers,  and  subject 
to  all  the  disadvantages  that  result  from  want  of 
friends,  want  of  witnesses,  and  want  of  money. 


When  the  design  of  raising  a  revenue,  from  the 
duties  imposed  on  the  importation  of  tea  in  Amer 
ica,  had  in  a  great  measure  been  rendered  abor 
tive,  by  our  ceasing  to  import  that  commodity,  a 
scheme  was  concerted  by  the  ministry  with  the 
East  India  company,  and  an  act  passed,  enabling 
and  encouraging  them  to  transport  and  vend  it 
in  the  colonies.  Aware  of  the  danger  of  giving 
success  to  this  insidious  manoeuvre,  arid  of  per 
mitting  a  precedent  of  taxation  thus  to  be  estab 
lished  among  us,  various  methods  were  adopted 
to  elude  the  stroke.  The  people  of  Boston,  then 
ruled  by  a  governor  whom,  as  well  as  his  prede 
cessor,  Sir  Francis  Bernard,  all  America  considers 
as  her  enemy,  were  exceedingly  embarrassed.  The 
ships  which  had  arrived  with  the  tea  were,  by  his 
management,  prevented  from  returning.  The 
duties  would  have  been  paid,  the  cargoes  landed 
and  exposed  to  sale  ;  a  governor's  influence  would 
have  procured  and  protected  many  purchases 
While  the  town  was  suspended  by  deliberations 
on  this  important  subject,  the  tea  was  destroyed. 
Even  supposing  a  trespass  was  thereby  committed, 
and  the  proprietors  of  the  tea  entitled  to  damages, 
the  courts  of  law  were  open,  and  judges,  appointed 
by  the  crown,  presided  in  them.  The  East  India 
company,  however,  did  not  think  proper  to  com 
mcuce  any  suits,  nor  did  they  even  demand  satis 
faction,  either  from  individuals  or  from  the  com 
munity  in  general.  The  ministry,  it  seems,  officially 
made  the  case  their  own,  and  the  great  council 
of  the  nation  descended  to  intermeddle  with  a 
dispute  about  private  property.  Divers  papers, 
letters,  and  other  unauthenticated  ex  parte  evi 
dence  were  laid  before  them  ;  neither  the  persons 
who  destroyed  the  tea  nor  the  people  of  Boston, 
were  called  upon  to  answer  the  complaint.  The 
ministry,  incensed  by  being  disappointed  in  a 
favorite  scheme,  were  determined  to  recur  from 
the  little  arts  of  finesse,  to  open  force  and  un 
manly  violence.  The  port  of  Boston  was  blocked 
up  by  a  fleet,  and  an  army  placed  in  the  town. 
Their  trade  was  to  be  suspended,  and  thousands 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  gaining  subsistence 
from  charity,  till  they  should  submit  to  pass  undei 
the  yoke,  and  consent  to  become  slaves,  by  con 
fessing  the  omnipotence  of  Parliament,  and  ac 
quiescing  in  whatever  disposition  they  migh* 
think  proper  to  make  of  their  lives  and  prop 
erty. 

Let  justice  and  humanity  cease  to  be  the  boast 


Cn.  XIL] 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


341 


of  your  nation !  Consult  your  history,  examine 
your  records  of  former  transactions  ;  nay,  turn 
to  tbe  annals  ol  the  many  arbitrary  states  and 
kingdoms  that  surround  you,  and  show  us  a  single 
instance  of  men  being  condemned  to  suffer  for  im 
puted  crimes,  unheard,  unquestioned,  and  without 
even  the  specious  formality  of  a  trial ;  and  that, 
too,  by  laws  made  expressly  for  the  purpose,  and 
which  had  no  existence  at  the  time  of  the  fact 
committed!  If  it  be  difficult  to  reconcile  these 
proceedings  to  the  genius  and  temper  of  your 
laws  and  constitution,  the  task  will  become  more 
arduous  when  we  call  upon  our  ministerial  enemies 
to  justify,  not  only  condemning  men  untried  and 
by  hearsay,  but  involving  the  innocent  in  one 
common  punishment  with  the  guilty,  and  for  the 
acts  of  thirty  or  forty,  to  bring  poverty,  distress, 
and  calamity,  on  thirty  thousand  souls,  and  these 
not  your  enemies,  but  your  friends,  brethren,  and 
fellow  subjects. 

It  would  be  some  consolation  to  us,  if  the 
catalogue  of  American  oppressions  ended  here. 
It  gives  us  pain  to  be  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
reminding  you,  that  under  the  confidence  reposed 
in  the  faith  of  government,  pledged  in  a  royal 
charter  from  the  British  sovereign,  the  forefathers 
of  the  present  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
left  their  former  habitations,  and  established  that 
great,  flourishing,  and  loyal  colony.  "Without  in 
curring  or  being  charged  with  a  forfeiture  of  their 
right,  without  being  heard,  without  being  tried, 
and  without  justice,  by  an  act  of  Parliament  this 
charter  is  destroyed,  their  liberties  violated,  their 
constitution  and  form  of  government  changed  ; 
and  all  this  upon  no  better  pretence  than  because 
in  one  of  their  towns  a  trespass  was  committed 
upon  some  merchandise,  said  to  belong  to  one  of 
the  companies,  and  because  the  ministry  were  of 
opinion,  that  such  high  political  regulations  were 
necessary  to  due  subordination  and  obedience  to 
their  mandates. 

Nor  are  these  the  only  capital  grievances  under 
which  we  labor  :  we  might  tell  of  dissolute,  weak, 
and  wicked  governors  having  been  set  over  us ; 
of  legislatures  being  suspended  for  asserting  the 
rights  of  British  subjects  ;  of  needy  and  ignorant 
dependents  on  great  men  advanced  to  the  seats 
of  justice,  and  to  other  places  of  trust  and  im 
portance  ;  of  hard  restrictions  on  commerce,  and 
a  great  variety  of  lesser  evils,  the  recollection  of 
which  is  almost  lost  under  the  pressure  and  weight 


of  greater  and  more  poignant  calamities.  Now 
mark  the  progression  of  the  ministerial  plan  for 
enslaving  \as. 

Well  aware  that  such  hardy  attempts  to  take 
our  property  from  us,  to  deprive  us  of  that  valu 
able  right  of  trial  by  jury,  to  seize  our  persons 
and  carry  us  for  trial  to  Great  Britain,  to  blockade 
our  ports,  to  destroy  our  charters,  and  change  our 
form  of  government,  would  occasion,  and  had 
already  occasioned,  great  discontent  in  the  colo 
nies,  which  would  produce  opposition  to  these 
measures,  an  act  was  passed  to  protect,  indemnify 
and  screen  from  punishment,  such  as  might  be 
guilty  even  of  murder,  in  endeavoring  to  carry 
their  oppressive  edicts  into  execution  ;  and  by 
another  act  the  dominion  of  Canada  is  to  be  so 
extended,  modelled,  and  governed,  as  that  by 
being  disunited  from  us,  detached  from  our  inter 
ests,  by  civil  as  well  as  religious  prejudices,  that 
by  their  numbers  daily  swelling  with  Catholic 
emigrants  from  Europe,  and  by  their  devotion  to 
administration  so  friendly  to  their  religion,  they 
might  become  formidable  to  us,  and  on  occasion, 
be  fit  instruments  in  the  hands  of  power  to  reduce 
the  ancient,  free  Protestant  colonies  to  the  same 
state  of  slavery  with  themselves. 

This  was  evidently  the  object  of  the  act  ;  and 
in  this  view,  being  extremely  dangerous  to  our 
liberty  and  quiet,  we  cannot  forbear  complaining 
of  it,  as  hostile  to  British  America.  Superadded 
to  these  considerations,  we  cannot  help  deploring 
the  unhappy  condition  to  which  it  has  reduced 
the  many  English  settlers,  who,  encouraged  by 
the  royal  proclamation,  promising  the  enjoyment 
of  all  their  rights,  have  purchased  estates  in  that 
country.  They  are  now  the  subjects  of  an  arbi 
trary  government,  deprived  of  trial  by  jury,  and 
when  imprisoned,  cannot  claim  the  benefit  of  the 
habeas  corpus  act,  that  great  bulwark  and  palla 
dium  of  English  liberty  ;  nor  can  we  suppress 
our  astonishment,  that  a  British  Parliament  should 
ever  consent  to  establish  in  that  country  a  reli 
gion  that  has  deluged  your  island  in  blood,  and 
dispersed  impiety,  bigotry,  persecution,  murder, 
and  rebellion,  through  every  part  of  the  world. 

This  being  a  true  state  of  facts,  let  us  beseech 
you  to  consider  to  what  end  they  lead. 

Admit  the  ministry,  by  the  powers  of  Britain, 
and  the  aid  of  our  Roman  Catholic  neighbors, 
should  be  able  to  carry  the  point  of  taxation,  and 
reduce  us  to  a  state  of  perfect  humilifition  and 


342 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  XII. 


slavery.  Such  an  enterprise  would  doubtless 
make  some  addition  to  your  national  debt,  which 
already  presses  down  your  liberty,  and  fills  you 
with  pensioners  and  placemen.  We  presume, 
also,  that  your  commerce  will  be  somewhat  di 
minished.  However,  suppose  you  should  prove 
victorious,  in  what  condition  will  you  then  be  ? 
What  advantages  or  what  laurels  will  you  reap 
from  such  a  conquest  ? 

May  not  a  ministry  with  the  same  armies  en 
slave  you  ?  It  may  be  said,  you  will  cease  to  pay 
them;  but  remember  the  taxes  from  America, 
the  wealth,  and  we  may  add  the  men,  and  parti 
cularly  the  Roman  Catholics  of  this  vast  continent, 
will  then  be  in  the  power  of  your  enemies  ;  nor 
will  you  have  any  reason  to  expect,  that  after 
making  slaves  of  us,  many  among  us  should  refuse 
to  assist  in  reducing  you  to  the  same  abject  state. 

Do  not  treat  this  as  chimerical.  Know,  that 
in  less  than  half  a  century,  the  quit  rents  reserved 
for  the  crown,  from  the  numberless  grants  of  this 
vast  continent,  will  pour  large  streams  of  wealth 
into  the  royal  coffers  ;  and  if  to  this  be  added  the 
power  of  taxing  America  at  pleasure,  the  crown 
will  be  rendered  independent  of  you  for  supplies, 
and  will  possess  more  treasure  than  may  be  neces 
sary  to  purchase  the  remains  of  liberty  in  your 
island.  In  a  word,  take  care  that  you  do  not  fall 
into  the  pit  that  is  preparing  for  us. 

We  believe  there  is  yet  much  virtue,  much 
justice,  and  much  public  spirit  in  the  English 
nation.  To  that  justice  we  now  appeal.  You 
have  been  told  that  we  are  seditious,  impatient 
of  government,  and  desirous  of  independency.  Be 
assured  that  these  are  not  facts,  but  calumnies. 
Permit  us  to  be  as  free  as  yourselves,  and  we 
shall  ever  esteem  a  union  with  you  to  be  our 
greatest  glory  and  our  greatest  happiness  ;  we 
shall  ever  be  ready  to  contribute  all  in  our  power 
to  the  welfare  of  the  empire  ;  we  shall  consider 
your  enemies  as  our  enemies,  and  your  interest  as 
our  own.  But,  if  you  are  determined  that  your 
ministers  shall  wantonly  sport  with  the  rights  of 
mankind — if  neither  the  voice  of  justice,  the  dic 
tates  of  the  law,  the  principles  of  the  constitution, 
aor  the  suggestions  of  humanity,  can  restrain  your 
hands  from  shedding  human  blood  in  such  an 
impious  cause,  we  must  tell  you,  that  we  will 
never  submit  to  be  hewers  of  wood  or  drawers  of 
water,  for  any  ministry  or  nation  in  the  world. 

Place  us  in  thp  same  situation  that  we  were  at 


the  close  of  the  last  war,  and  our  former  harmony 
will  be  restored. 

But,  lest  the  same  supineness,  and  the  same  in 
attention  to  our  common  interest,  which  you  have 
for  several  years  shown,  should  continue,  we  think 
it  prudent  to  anticipate  the  consequences. 

By  the  destruction  of  the  trade  of  Boston,  the 
ministry  have  endeavored  to  induce  submission  tc 
their  measures.  The  like  fate  may  befall  us  all. 
We  will  endeavor,  therefore,  to  live  without  trade, 
and  recur,  for  subsistence,  to  the  fertility  and 
bounty  of  our  native  soil,  which  will  afford  us  all 
the  necessaries,  and  some  of  the  conveniences,  of 
life.  We  have  suspended  our  importation  from 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  ;  and,  in  less  than  a 
year's  time,  unless  our  grievances  should  be  re 
dressed,  shall  discontinue  our  exports  to  those 
kingdoms  and  to  the  West  Indies. 

It  is  with  the  utmost  regret,  however,  that  we 
find  ourselves  compelled,  by  the  overruling  prin 
ciples  of  self-preservation,  to  adopt  measures  detri 
mental  in  their  consequences  to  numbers  of  our 
fellow  subjects  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  But 
we  hope  that  the  magnanimity  and  justice  of  the 
British  nation  will  furnish  a  Parliament  of  such 
wisdom,  independence,  and  public  spirit,  as  may 
save  the  violated  rights  of  the  whole  empire  from 
the  devices  of  wicked  ministers  arid  evil  coun 
sellors,  whether  in  or  out  of  office  ;  and  thereby 
restore  that  harmony,  friendship,  and  fraternal 
affection,  between  all  the  inhabitants  of  his  Ma 
jesty's  kingdoms  and  territories,  so  ardently  wished 
for  by  every  true  and  honest  American. 


I  [I. —ADDRESS   TO   THE   INHABITANTS   OF   THE 
SEVERAL  ANGLO-AMERICAN  COLONIES.* 

WE,  the  delegates  appointed,  by  the  good 
people  of  these  colonies,  to  meet  at  Philadelphia, 
in  September  last,  for  the  purposes  mentioned  by 
our  respective  constituents,  have,  in  pursuance 
of  the  trust  reposed  in  us,  assembled,  and  taken 
into  our  most  serious  consideration,  the  important 
matters  recommended  to  the  Congress.  Our  reso 
lutions  thereupon  will  be  herewith  communicated 
to  you.  But,  as  the  situation  of  public  affairs 
grows  daily  more  and  more  alarming  ;  and  as  it 

*  Adopted  October  21.  1774. 


CH.  XII.] 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ANGLO-AMERICAN   COLONIES. 


may  be  more  satisfactory  to  yon  to  be  informed 
by  us  in  a  collective  body,  than  in  any  other  manner 
of  those  sentiments  that  have  been  approved  upon 
a  full  and  free  discussion,  by  the  representatives  of 
so  great  a  part  of  America,  we  esteem  ourselves 
obliged  to  add  this  address  to  these  resolutions. 

In  every  case  of  opposition  by  a  people  to  their 
rulers,  or  of  one  state  to  another,  duty  to  Al 
mighty  God,  the  Creator  of  all,  requires  that  a 
true  ani  impartial  judgment  be  formed  of  the 
measures  leading  to  such  opposition  ;  and  of  the 
causes  by  which  it  has  been  provoked,  or  can  in 
any  degree  be  justified,  that  neither  affection  on 
one  hand,  nor  resentment  on  the  other,  being  per 
mitted  to  give  a  wrong  bias  to  reason,  it  may  be 
enabled  to  take  a  dispassionate  view  of  all  circum 
stances,  and  to  settle  the  public  conduct  on  the 
solid  foundations  of  wisdom  and  justice. 

From  councils  thus  tempered  arise  the  surest 
hopes  of  the  divine  favor,  the  firmest  encourage 
ment  of  the  parties  engaged,  and  the  strongest 
recommendation  of  their  cause  to  the  rest  of  man 
kind. 

With  minds  deeply  impressed  by  a  sense  of 
these  truths,  we  have  diligently,  deliberately,  and 
cfclmly  inquired  into  and  considered  those  exer 
tions,  both  of  the  legislative  and  executive  power 
of  Great  Britain,  which  have  excited  so  much  un 
easiness  in  America,  and  have  with  equal  fidelity 
and  attention  considered  the  conduct  of  the  col 
onies.  Upon  the  whole,  we  find  ourselves  re 
duced  to  the  disagreeable  alternative  of  being 
silent  and  betraying  the  innocent,  or  of  speaking 
out  and  censuring  those  we  wish  to  revere.  In 
making  our  choice  of  these  distressing  difficulties, 
we  prefer  the  course  dictated  by  honesty  and  a 
regard  for  the  welfare  of  our  country. 

Soon  after  the  conclusion  of  the  late  war  there 
commenced  a  memorable  change  in  the  treatment 
of  these  colonies.  By  a  statute  made  in  the 
fourth  year  in  the  present  reign,  a  time  of  pro 
found  peace,  alleging  "  the  expediency  of  new 
provisions  and  regulations  for  extending  the  com 
merce  between  Great  Britain  and  his  majesty's 
dominions  in  America,  and  the  necessity  of  rais 
ing  a  revenue  in  the  said  dominions,  for  defraying 
the  expenses  of  defending,  protecting,  and  secur 
ing  the  same,"  the  Commons  of  Great  Britain  un 
dertook  to  give  and  to  grant  to  his  majesty  many 
rates  and  duties  to  be  paid  in  these  colonies.  To 
enforce  the  observance  of  this  act,  it  prescribes  a 


great  number  of  severe  penalties  and  forfeitures ; 
and  in  two  sections  makes  a  remarkable  distinc 
tion  between  the  subjects  in  Great  Britain  and 
those  in  America.  By  the  one,  the  penalties  and 
forfeitures  incurred  there  are  to  be  recovered  in 
any  of  the  king's  courts  of  record  at  Westmin 
ster,  or  in  the  court  of  exchequer  in  Scotland  ; 
and  by  the  other,  the  penalties  and  forfeitures  in 
curred  here  are  to  be  recovered  in  any  court  of 
record,  or  in  any  court  of  admiralty  or  vice- 
admiralty,  at  the  election  of  the  informer  or  prose 
cutor. 

The  inhabitants  of  these  colonies,  confiding  in 
the  justice  of  Great  Britain,  were  scarcely  allowed 
sufficient  time  to  receive  and  consider  this  act,  be 
fore  another,  well  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  passed  in  the  fifth  year  of  this 
reign,  engrossed  their  whole  attention.  By  this 
statute  the  British  Parliament  exercised  in  the 
most  explicit  manner  a  power  of  taxing  us,  and 
extending  the  jurisdiction  of  courts  of  admiralty 
and  vice-admiralty  in  the  colonies  to  matters 
arising  within  the  body  of  a  country,  and  directed 
the  numerous  penalties  and  forfeitures  thereby  in 
flicted,  to  be  recovered  in  the  said  courts. 

In  the  same  year  a  tax  was  imposed  upon  us 
by  an  act  establishing  several  new  fees  in  the  cus 
toms.  In  the  next  year  the  Stamp  Act  was  re 
pealed,  not  because  it  was  founded  in  an  erron 
eous  principle,  but,  as  the  repealing  act  recites, 
because  "  the  continuance  thereof  would  be  at 
tended  with  many  inconveniences,  and  might  be 
productive  of  consequences  greatly  detrimental 
to  the  commercial  interest  of  Great  Britain." 

In  the  same  year,  and  by  a  subsequent  act,  it 
was  declared,  "that  his  majesty  in  Parliament, 
of  right,  had  power  to  bind  the  people  of  these 
colonies  by  statutes  in  all  cases  whatsoever."  In 
the  same  year  another  act  was  passed  for  impo 
sing  rates  and  duties  payable  in  these  colonies. 
In  this  statute  the  Commons,  avoiding  the  terms 
of  giving  and  granting,  "  humbly  besought  his 
majesty,  that  it  might  be  enacted,  etc."  But 
from  a  declaration  in  the  preamble,  that  the  rates 
and  duties  were  "  in  lieu  of"  several  others  grant 
ed  by  the  statute  first  before  mentioned  for  rais 
ing  a  revenue,  and  from  some  other  expressions, 
it  appears  that  these  duties  were  intended  for  that 
purpose. 

In  the  next  year,  (1767)  an  act  was  made,  "to 
enable  his  majesty  to  put  the  customs  and  other 


344 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  XII. 


duties  in  America  under  the  management  of  com 
missioners,"  etc.,  and  the  king  thereupon  erected 
the  present  expensive  Board  of  Commissioners, 
for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying  into  execution 
the  several  acts  relating  to  the  revenue  and  trade 
in  America. 

After  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  having 
again  resigned  ourselves  to  our  ancient  unsus 
picious  affections  for  the  parent  state,  and  anxious 
to  avoid  any  controversy  with  her,  in  hopes  of  a 
favorable  alteration  in  sentiments  and  measures 
towards  us,  we  did  not  press  our  objections  against 
the  above-mentioned  statutes  made  subsequent  to 
that  repeal. 

Administration  attributing  to  trifling  causes,  a 
conduct  that  really  proceeded  from  generous  mo 
tives,  were  encouraged  in  the  same  year,  (1767) 
to  make  a  bolder  experiment  on  the  patience  of 
America. 

By  a  statute  commonly  called  the  Glass,  Paper, 
and  Tea  Act,  made  fifteen  months  after  the  re 
peal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  the  Commons  of  Great 
Britain  resumed  their  former  language,  and  again 
undertook  to  "give  and  grant  rates  and  duties  to 
be  paid  in  these  colonies,"  for  the  express  purpose 
of  "  raising  a  revenue  to  defray  the  charges  of  the 
administration  of  justice,  the  support  of  civil  gov 
ernment,  and  defending  the  king's  dominions,"  on 
this  continent.  The  penalties  and  forfeitures  in 
curred  under  this  statute,  are  to  be  recovered  in 
the  same  manner  with  those  mentioned  in  the 
foregoing  acts. 

To  this  statute,  so  naturally  tending  to  disturb 
the  tranquillity  then  universal  throughout  the 
colonies,  Parliament  in  the  same  session  added 
another  no  less  extraordinary. 

Ever  since  the  making  the  present  peace,  a 
standing  army  has  been  kept  in  these  colonies. 
From  respect  for  the  mother  country,  the  innova 
tion  was  not  only  tolerated,  but  the  provincial 
legislatures  generally  made  provision  for  supply 
ing  the  troops. 

The  Assembly  of  the  province  of  New  York 
having  passed  an  act  of  this  kind,  but  differing  in 
6  Dine  articles  from  the  directions  of  the  Act  of 
Parliament  made  in  the  fifth  year  of  this  reign, 
the  House  of  Representatives  in  that  colony  was 
prohibited  by  a  statute  made  in  the  last  session 
mentioned  from  making  any  bill,  order,  resolution, 
nr  vote,  except  for  adjourning  or  choosing  a 
speaker,  until  Drovision  should  be  made  by  the 


said  Assembly  for  furnishing  the  troops  within 
that  province,  not  only  with  all  such  necessaries 
as  were  required  by  the  statute,  which  they  were 
charged  with  disobeying,  but  also  with  those  re 
quired  by  two  other  subsequent  statutes,  which 
were  declared  to  be  in  force  until  the  twenty- 
fourth  day  of  March,  1769. 

The  statutes  of  the  year  1767  revived  the 
apprehensions  and  discontents  that  had  entirely 
subsided  on  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act ;  and, 
amidst  the  just  fears  and  jealousies  thereby  oc 
casioned,  a  statute  was  made  in  the  next  year, 
(1768)  to  establish  courts  of  admiralty  and  vice- 
admiralty  on  a  new  model,  expressly  for  the  end 
of  more  effectually  recovering  of  the  penalties  and 
forfeitures  inflicted  by  Acts  of  Parliament,  framed 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue  in  America 
etc.  The  immediate  tendency  of  these  statutes  is 
to  subvert  the  right  of  having  a  share  in  legisla 
tion,  by  rendering  Assemblies  useless  ;  the  right 
of  property,  by  taking  the  money  of  the  colonists 
without  their  consent ;  the  right  of  trial  by  jury, 
by  substituting  in  their  places  trials  in  admiralty 
and  vice-admiralty  courts,  where  single  judge? 
preside,  holding  their  commissions  during  pleas 
ure,  and  unduly  to  influence  the  courts  of  commor 
law,  by  rendering  the  judges  thereof  totally  de 
pendent  on  the  crown  for  their  salaries. 

These  statutes,  not  to  mention  many  others 
exceedingly  exceptionable,  compared  one  with 
another,  will  be  found  not  only  to  form  a  regular 
system  in  which  every  part  has  great  force,  buj, 
also  a  pertinacious  adherence  to  that  system  for 
subjugating  these  colonies,  that  are  not,  and  fron. 
local  circumstances  cannot,  be  represented  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  to  the  uncontrollable  and 
unlimited  power  of  Parliament,  in  violation  of 
their  undoubted  rights  and  liberties,  in  contempt 
of  their  humble  and  repeated  supplications. 

This  conduct  must  appear  equally  astonishing 
and  unjustifiable,  when  it  is  considered  how  un 
provoked  it  has  been  by  any  behavior  of  these 
colonies.  From  their  first  settlement,  their  bit 
terest  enemies  never  fixed  on  any  of  them  an; 
charge  of  disloyalty  to  their  sovereign,  or  disaffcc 
tion  to  their  mother  country.  In  the  wars  she 
has  carried  on,  they  have  exerted  themselves, 
whenever  required,  in  giving  her  assistance  ;  and 
have  rendered  her  services  which  she  has  publicly 
acknowledged  to  be  extremely  important.  Their 
fidelity,  duty,  and  usefulness  during  the  last  war, 


'JH.    XII.] 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ANGLO-AMERICAN  COLONIES. 


345 


were  frequently  and  affectionately  confessed  by 
his  late  majesty  and  the  present  king. 

The  reproaches  of  those  who  are  most  un 
friendly  to  the  freedom  of  America,  are  prin 
cipally  levelled  against  the  province  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay,  but  with  what  little  reason  will  ap 
pear  by  the  following  declarations  of  a  person,  the 
truth  of  whose  evidence  in  their  favor  will  not  be 
questioned.  Governor  Bernard  thus  addresses 
the  two  Houses  of  Assembly  in  his  speech  on  the 
24th  of  April,  1162,  "The  unanimity  and  des 
patch  with  which  you  have  complied  with  the 
requisitions  of  his  majesty  require  my  particular 
acknowledgment,  and  it  gives  me  additional  pleas 
ure  to  observe,  that  you  have  therein  acted  under 
no  other  influence,  than  a  due  sense  of  your  duty, 
both  as  members  of  a  general  empire  and  as  the 
body  of  a  particular  province." 

In  another  speech,  on  the  27th  of  May,  in  the 
same  year,  he  says,  "  Whatever  shall  be  the  event 
of  the  war,  it  must  be  no  small  satisfaction  to  us, 
that  this  province  hath  contributed  its  full  share 
to  the  support  of  it.  Everything  that  hath  been 
required  of  it  hath  been  complied  with  ;  and  the 
execution  of  the  powers  committed  to  me  for 
raising  the  provincial  troops  hath  been  as  full  and 
complete  as  the  grant  of  them.  Never  before 
were  regiments  so  easily  levied,  so  well  composed, 
and  so  early  in  the  field  as  they  have  been  this 
year  :  the  common  people  seem  to  be  animated 
with  the  spirit  of  the  general  court,  and  to  vie 
with  them  in  their  readiness  to  serve  the  king." 

Such  was  the  conduct  of  the  people  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  during  the  last  war.  As  to 
their  behavior  before  that  period,  it  ought  not  to 
have  been  forgot  in  Great  Britain,  that  not  only 
on  every  occasion,  they  had  constantly  and  cheer 
fully  complied  with  the  frequent  royal  requisitions, 
but  that  chiefly  by  their  vigorous  efforts  Nova 
Scotia  was  subdued  in  1710,  and  Louisbourg  in 
1745. 

Foreign  quarrels  being  ended,  and  the  domestic 
disturbances  that  quickly  succeeded  on  account 
of  the  Stamp  Act  being  quieted  by  its  repeal,  the 
Assembly  of  Massachusetts  Bay  transmitted  an 
humble  address  of  thanks  to  the  king  and  divers 
noblemen,  and  soon  after  passed  a  bill  for  grant 
ing  a  compensation  to  the  sufferers  in  the  disorder 
occasioned  by  that  act. 

Those  circumstances  and  the  following  extracts 
from  Governor  Bernard's  letters,  in  1768,  to  the 
VOL.  I.— 48 


Earl  of  Shelburne,  Secretary  of  State,  clearly  show 
with  what  grateful  tenderness  they  strove  to  bury 
in  oblivion  the  unhappy  occasion  of  the  late  dis 
cords,  and  with  what  respectful  deference  they 
endeavored  to  escape  other  subjects  of  future 
controversy.  "  The  House,"  says  the  governor, 
"  from  the  time  of  opening  the  session  to  this  day, 
has  shown  a  disposition  to  avoid  all  dispute  with 
me  ;  ererything  having  passed  with  as  much  good 
humor  as  I  could  desire,  except  only  their  con 
tinuing  to  act  in  addressing  the  king,  remonstrat 
ing  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  employing  a 
separate  agent.  It  is  the  importance  of  this  in 
novation,  without  any  wilfulness  of  my  own,  which 
induces  me  to  make  this  remonstrance  at  a  time, 
when  I  have  a  fair  prospect  of  having  in  all  other 
business  nothing  but  good  to  say  of  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  House." 

"  They  have  acted  in  all  things,  even  in  their 
remonstrance,  with  temper  and  moderation  ;  they 
have  avoided  some  subjects  of  dispute,  and  have 
laid  a  foundation  for  removing  some  causes  of 
former  altercation." 

"  I  shall  make  such  a  prudent  and  proper  use 
of  this  letter  as  I  hope  will  perfectly  restore  the 
peace  and  tranquillity  of  this  province,  for  which 
purpose  considerable  steps  have  been  made  by  the 
House  of  Representatives." 

The  vindication  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  contained  in  these  letters,  will  have  greater 
force  if  it  be  considered  that  they  were  written 
several  months  after  the  fresh  alarm  given  to  the 
colonies  by  the  statutes  passed  in  the  preceding 
year. 

In  this  place  it  seems  proper  to  take  notice  of 
the  insinuation  of  one  of  those  statutes,  that  the 
interference  of  Parliament  was  necessary  to  pro 
vide  for  "defraying  the  charges  of  the  administra 
tion  of  justice,  the  support  of  civil  government, 
and  defending  the  king's  dominions  in  America." 

As  to  the  first  two  articles  of  expense,  every 
colony  had  made  such  provision  as  by  their  re 
spective  assemblies,  the  best  judges  on  such  occa 
sions,  was  thought  expedient  and  suitable  to  their 
several  circumstances  ;  respecting  the  last,  it  is 
well  known  to  all  men,  the  least  acquainted  with 
American  affairs,  that  the  colonies  were  estab 
lished  and  generally  defended  themselves  without 
the  least  assistance  from  Great  Britain  ;  and  that 
at  the  time  of  her  taxing  them  by  the  statutes 
before  mentioned,  most  of  th«m  were  laboring 


34G 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XII. 


H. 


under  very  heavy  debts  contracted  in  the  last  war. 
So  far  were  they  from  sparing  their  money  when 
their  sovereign  constitutionally  asked  their  aids, 
that  during  the  course  of  that  war  Parliament 
repeatedly  made  them  compensations  for  the  ex 
penses  of  those  strenuous  efforts  which,  consult 
ing  their  zeal  rather  than  their  strength,  they  had 
cheerfully  incurred. 

Severe  as  the  acts  of  Parliament  before  men 
tioned  are,  yet  the  conduct  of  administration  hath 
been  equally  injurious  and  irritating  to  this  de 
voted  country. 

Under  pretence  of  governing  them,  so  many 
new  institutions  uniformly  rigid  and  dangeroos 
have  been  introduced,  as  could  only  be  expected 
from  incensed  masters  for  collecting  the  tribute 
or  rather  the  plunder  of  conquered  provinces. 

By  an  order  of  the  king,  the  authority  of  the 
comnifinder-in-chicf,  and  under  him  of  the  briga 
dier-generals,  in  time  of  peace,  is  rendered  su 
preme  in  all  civil  governments  in  America,  and 
thus  an  uncontrollable  military  power  is  vested  in 
officers  not  known  to  the  constitutions  of  these 
colonies. 

A  large  body  of  troops,  and  a  considerable 
armament  of  ships  of  war,  have  been  sent  to  assist 
in  taking  their  money  without  their  consent. 

Expensive  and  oppressive  offices  have  been 
multiplied,  and  the  acts  of  corruption  industrious 
ly  practised  to  divide  and  destroy. 

The  judges  of  the  admiralty  and  vice-admiralty 
courts  are  empowered  to  receive  their  salaries  and 
fees  from  the  effects  to  be  condemned  by  them 
selves. 

The  commissioners  of  the  customs  are  empow 
ered  to  break  open  and  enter  houses  without  the 
authority  of  any  civil  magistrate,  founded  on  legal 
information. 

Judges  of  courts  of  common  law  have  been 
made  entirely  dependent  on  the  crown  for  their 
commissions  and  salaries.  A  court  has  been  es 
tablished  at  Rhode  Island  for  the  purpose  of  tak 
ing  colonists  to  England  to  be  tried.  Humble 
and  reasonable  petitions  from  the  representatives 
of  the  people  have  been  frequently  treated  with 
contempt,  and  assemblies  have  been  repeatedly 
and  arbitrarily  dissolved. 

From  some  few  instances  it  will  sufficiently 
appear  on  what  pretences  of  justice  those  disso 
lutions  have  been  founded. 

The  tranquillity  of  the  colonies  having  been 


again  disturbed,  as  has  been  mentioned,  by  the 
statutes  of  the  year  1767,  the  Earl  of  Hills- 
borough,  Secretary  of  State,  in  a  letter  to  Gov 
ernor  Bernard,  dated  April  22,  1768,  censures 
the  "presumption"  of  the  House  of  Represen 
tatives  for  "  resolving  upon  a  measure  of  so 
inflammatory  a  nature,  as  that  of  writing  to  the 
other  colonies  on  the  subject  of  their  intended 
representations  against  some  late  acts  of  Parlia* 
ment,"  then  declares  that  "  his  Majesty  considers 
this  step  as  evidently  tending  to  create  unwarran  • 
able  combinations,  to  excite  an  unjustifiable  oppo 
sition  to  the  constitutional  authority  of  Parlia 
ment,"  and  afterwards  adds,  "  It  is  the  king's 
pleasure,  that  as  soon  as  the  general  court  is  again 
assembled  at  the  time  prescribed  by  the  charter, 
you  should  require  of  the  House  of  Represent 
atives,  in  His  Majesty's  name,  to  rescind  the 
resolutions  which  gave  birth  to  Ihe  circular  letter 
from  the  speaker,  and  to  declare  their  disapproba 
tion  of  and  dissent  to  that  rash  and  hasty  pro 
ceeding." 

"  If  the  new  assembly  should  refuse  to  comply 
with  his  majesty's  reasonable  expectation,  it  is  the 
king's  pleasure  that  you  should  immediately  difr 
solve  them." 

This  letter  being  laid  before  the  House,  and 
the  resolution  not  being  rescinded,  according  to 
order  the  assembly  was  dissolved.  A  letter  of  a 
similar  nature  was  sent  to  other  governors  to 
procure  resolutions  approving  the  conduct  of  the 
Representatives  of  Massachusets  Bay,  to  be  re 
scinded  also  ;  and  the  Houses  of  Representatives 
in  other  colonies  refusing  to  comply,  assemblies 
were  dissolved. 

These  mandates  spoke  a  language  to  which  the 
ears  of  English  subjects  had  for  several  genera 
tions  been  strangers.  The  nature  of  assemblies 
implies  a  power  and  right  of  deliberation  ;  but 
these  commands  proscribing  the  exercise  of  judg 
ment  on  the  propriety  of  the  requisitions  made, 
left  to  the  assemblies  only  the  election  between 
dictated  submission  and  threatened  punishment : 
a  punishment,  toe,  founded  on  no  other  act  than 
such  as  is  deemed  innocent  even  in  slaves,  of 
agreeing  in  petitions  for  redress  of  grievances  that 
equally  affect  all. 

The  hostile  and  unjustifiable  invasion  of  the 
town  of  Boston  soon  followed  these  events  in  the 
same  year  ;  though  that  town,  the  province  in 
which  it  is  situated,  and  all  the  colonies,  from 


CH.  XII.] 


ADDRESS  To  THE  ANGLO-AMERICAN  COLONIES. 


341 


abhorrence  of  a  contest  with  their  parent  state, 
permitted  the  execution  even  of  those  statutes 
against  which  they  were  so  unanimously  complain 
ing,  remonstrating,  and  supplicating. 

Administration,  determined  to  subdue  a  spirit 
of  freedom  which  English  ministers  should  have 
rejoiced  to  cherish,  entered  into  a  monopolizing 
combination  with  the  East  India  company  to  send 
to  this  continent  vast  quantities  of  tea,  an  article 
on  which  a  duty  was  laid  by  a  statute  that  in  a 
particular  manner  attacked  the  liberties  of  Amer 
ica,  and  which,  therefore,  the  inhabitants  of  these 
colonies  had  resolved  not  to  import.  The  cargo 
sent  to  South  Carolina  was  stored  and  not  allowed 
to  be  sold.  Those  sent  to  Philadelphia  and  New 
York  were  not  permitted  to  be  lauded.  That 
sent  to  Boston  was  destroyed,  because  Governor 
Ilutchinson  would  not  suffer  it  to  be  returned. 

On  the  intelligence  of  these  transactions  arriv 
ing  in  Great  Britain,  the  public-spirited  town  last 
mentioned  was  singled  out  for  destruction,  and  it 
was  determined  the  province  it  belongs  to  should 
partake  of  its  fate.  In  the  last  session  of  Parlia 
ment,  therefore,  were  passed  the  acts  for  shutting 
up  the  port  of  Boston,  indemnifying  the  murderers 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and 
changing  their  chartered  constitution  of  govern 
ment.  To  enforce  these  acts,  that  province  is 
again  invaded  by  a  fleet  and  army. 

To  mention  these  outrageous  proceedings,  is 
sufficient  to  explain  them.  For  though  it  is 
pretended  the  province  of  Massuchusetts  Bay  has 
been  particularly  disrespectful  to  Great  Britain, 
yet,  in  truth,  the  behavior  of  the  people  in  other 
colonies  has  been  an  equal  "  opposition  to  the  power 
assumed  by  Parliament."  No  step,  however,  has 
been  taken  against  any  of  the  rest.  This  artful 
conduct  conceals  several  designs.  It  is  expected 
that  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  will  be 
irritated  into  some  violent  action  that  may  dis 
please  the  rest  of  the  continent,  or  that  may  in 
duce  the  people  of  Great  Britain  to  approve  the 
meditated  vengeance  of  an  imprudent  and  ex 
asperated  ministry.  If  the  unexampled  pacific 
temper  of  that  province  shall  disappoint  this  part 
of  the  plan,  it  is  hoped  the  other  colonies  will  be 
so  far  intimidated  as  to  desert  their  brethren 
Buffering  in  a  common  cause,  and  that  thus  dis 
united  all  may  be  subdued. 

To  promote  these  designs  another  measure 
has  been  pursued.  In  the  session  of  Parliament 


last  mentioned,  an  act  was  passed  for  changing 
the  government  of  Quebec,  by  which  act  the  Ro 
man  Catholic  religion,  instead  of  being  tolerated, 
as  stipulated  by  the  treaty  of  peace,  is  estab 
lished,  and  the  people  there  are  deprived  of  a 
right  to  an  Assembly,  trials  by  jury,  and  the  Eng 
lish  laws  in  civil  cases  are  abolished,  and  instead 
thereof,  the  French  laws  are  established,  in  direct 
violation  of  his  majesty's  promise  by  his  royal 
proclamation,  under  the  faith  of  which  many  Eng 
lish  subjects  settled  in  that  province  ;  and  the 
limits  of  that  province  are  extended  so  as  to  com 
prehend  those  vast  regions  that  lie  adjoining  to 
the  northerly  and  westerly  boundaries  of  these 
colonies. 

The  authors  of  this  arbitrary  arrangement  flat 
ter  themselves  that  the  inhabitants,  deprived  of 
liberty,  and  artfully  provoked  against  those  of 
another  religion,  will  be  proper  "instruments  for 
assisting  in  the  oppression  of  such  as  differ  from 
them  in  modes  of  government  and  faith. 

From  the  detail  of  facts  hereinbefore  recited, 
as  well  as  from  authentic  intelligence  received,  it 
is  clear,  beyond  a  doubt,  that  a  resolution  is 
formed,  and  now  carrying  into  execution,  to  ex- 
tiuguish  the  freedom  of  these  colonies,  by  subject 
ing  them  to  a  despotic  government. 

At  this  unhappy  period,  we  have  been  au 
thorized  and  directed  to  meet  and  consult  to 
gether,  for  the  welfare  of  our  common  country. 
We  accepted  the  important  trust  with  diffidence, 
but  have  endeavored  to  discharge  it  with  integ 
rity.  Though  the  state  of  these  colonies  would 
certainly  justify  other  measures  than  we  have  ad 
vised,  yet  weighty  reasons  determined  us  to  pre 
fer  those  which  we  have  adopted.  In  the  first 
place,  it  appeared  to  us  a  conduct  becoming  the 
character  these  colonies  have  ever  sustained,  to 
perform,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  unnatural  dis 
tresses  and  immediate  dangers  which  surround 
them,  every  act  of  loyalty,  and,  therefore,  we 
were  induced  once  more  to  offer  to  his  majesty 
the  petitions  of  his  faithful  and  oppressed  subjects 
in  America.  Secondly,  regarding,  with  the  ten 
der  affection  which  we  knew  to  be  so  universal 
among  our  countrymen,  the  people  of  the  kingdom 
from  which  we  derive  our  origin,  we  could  not  for 
bear  to  regulate  our  steps  by  an  expectation  of 
receiving  full  conviction  that  the  colonists  are 
equally  dear  to  them.  Between  those  provinces 
and  that  body  subsists  the  social  baud,  which  we 


348 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XII 


.  II. 


ardently  wish  may  never  be  dissolved,  and  which 
cannot  be  dissolved,  until  their  minds  shall  be 
come  indisputably  hostile,  or  their  inattention 
shall  permit  those  who  are  thus  hostile,  to  persist 
in  prosecuting,  with  the  powers  of  the  realm,  the 
destructive  measures  already  operating  against 
the  colonists,  and  in  either  case,  shall  reduce  the 
latter  to  such  a  situation,  that  they  shall  be  com 
pelled  to  renounce  every  regard  but  that  of  self- 
preservation.  Notwithstanding  the  violence  with 
which  affairs  have  been  impelled,  they  have  not 
yet  reached  that  fatal  point.  We  do  not  incline  to 
accelerate  their  motion,  already  alarmingly  rapid  ; 
we  have  chosen  a  method  of  opposition  that  does 
not  preclude  a  hearty  reconciliation  with  our  fel 
low-citizens  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
We  deeply  deplore  the  urgent  necessity  that 
presses  us  to  an  immediate  interruption  of  com 
merce  that  may  prove  injurious  to  them.  We 
trust  they  will  acquit  us  of  any  unkind  intentions 
towards  them,  by  reflecting  that  we  are  driven  by 
the  hands  of  violence  into  unexperienced  and  un 
expected  public  convulsions,  and  that  we  are  cou- 
tending  for  freedom,  so  often  contended  for  by 
our  ancestors. 

The  people  of  England  will  soon  have  an  op 
portunity  of  declaring  their  sentiments  concern 
ing  our  cause.  In  their  piety,  generosity,  and 
good  sense,  we  repose  high  confidence  ;  and  can 
not,  upon  a  review  of  past  events,  be  persuaded 
that  they,  the  defenders  of  true  religion,  and  the 
asserters  of  the  rights  of  mankind,  will  take  part 
against  their  affectionate  Protestant  brethren  in 
the  colonies,  in  favor  of  our  open  and  their  own 
secret  enemies,  whose  intrigues,  for  several  years 
past,  have  been  wholly  exercised  in  sapping  the 
foundations  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

Another  reason  that  engaged  us  to  prefer  the 
commercial  mode  of  opposition,  arose  from  an  as 
surance  that  the  mode  will  prove  efficacious,  if  it 
be  persisted  in  with  fidelity  and  virtue  ;  and  that 
your  conduct  will  be  influenced  by  these  laudable 
principles,  cannot  be  questioned.  Your  own  sal- 
Tation,  and  that  of  your  posterity,  now  depends 
upon  yourselves.  You  have  already  shown  that 
you  entertain  a  proper  sense  of  the  blessings  you 
are  striving  to  retain.  Against  the  temporary 
inconveniences  you  may  suffer  from  a  stoppage 
of  trade,  you  will  weigh  in  the  opposite  balance, 
the  endless  miseries  you  and  your  descendants 
ccnst  endure  from  an  established  arbitrary  power. 


You  will  not  forget  the  honor  of  your  country, 
that  must,  from  your  behavior,  take  its  title  in 
the  estimation  of  the  world,  to  glory,  or  to  shame  ; 
and  you  will,  with  the  deepest  attention,  reflect, 
that  if  the  peaceable  mode  of  opposition  recom 
mended  by  us,  be  broken  and  rendered  ineffectual, 
as  your  cruel  and  haughty  ministerial  enemies, 
from  a  contemptuous  opinion  of  your  firmness,  in 
solently  predict  will  be  the  case,  you  must  in 
evitably  be  reduced  to  choose  either  a  more  dan 
gerous  contest,  or  a  final,  ruinous,  and  infamous 
submission. 

Motives  thus  cogent,  arising  from  the  emergency 
of  your  unhappy  condition,  must  excite  your  ut 
most  diligence  and  zeal,  to  give  all  possible 
strength  and  energy  to  the  pacific  measures  cal 
culated  for  your  relief:  but  we  think  ourselves 
bound,  in  duty,  to  observe  to  you,  that  the  schemes 
agitated  against  these  colonies,  have  been  so  con 
ducted,  as  to  render  it  prudent  that  you  should 
extend  your  views  to  mournful  events,  and  be,  in 
all  respects,  prepared  for  every  contingency. 
Above  all  things,  we  earnestly  entreat  you,  with 
devotion  of  spirit,  penitence  of  heart,  and  amend 
ment  of  life,  to  humble  yourselves,  and  implore 
the  favor  of  Almighty  God  :  and  we  fervently 
beseech  his  divine  goodness  to  take  you  into  his 
gracious  protection. 


IV.— PETITION  OF  CONGRESS  TO  THE  KING.* 
To  the  King's  most  excellent  Majesty. 

MOST  GRACIOUS  SOVEREIGN  : — WE,  your  ma 
jesty's  faithful  subjects,  of  the  colonies  of  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode  Island 
and  Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  the  counties  of 
New  Castle,  Kent,  and  Sussex,  on  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Corolina,  and  South 
Carolina,  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and  the  inhabit 
ants  of  these  colonies,  who  have  deputed  us  to 
represent  them  in  general  Congress,  by  this  our 
humble  petition,  beg  leave  to  lay  our  grievances 
before  the  throne. 

A  standing  army  has  been  kept  in  these  colonies 
ever  since  the  conclusion  of  the  late  war,  without 
the  consent  of  our  assemblies;  and  this  army, 

«  Adopted  October  26, 1774 


CH.  XII.] 


PETITION  TO  THE  KING. 


349 


with  a  considerable  naval  armament,  has  been 
employed  to  enforce  the  collection  of  taxes. 

The  authority  of  the  commander-in-chief,  and 
under  him  the  brigadier-general,  has  in  time  of 
peace  been  rendered  supreme  in  all  the  civil  gov 
ernments  in  America. 

The  commander-in-chief  of  all  your  majesty's 
forces  in  North  America,  has,  in  time  of  peace, 
been  appointed  governor  of  a  colony. 

The  charges  of  usual  officers  have  been  greatly 
increased,  and  new,  expensive,  and  oppressive 
offices  have  been  multiplied. 

The  judges  of  admiralty  and  vice-admiralty 
courts  are  empowered  to  receive  their  salaries  and 
fees  from  the  effects  condemned  by  themselves. 

The  officers  of  the  customs  are  empowered  to 
break  open  and  enter  houses  without  the  au 
thority  of  any  civil  magistrate,  founded  on  legal 
information. 

The  judges  of  courts  of  common  law  have  been 
made  entirely  dependent  on  one  part  of  the  legis 
lature  for  their  salaries,  as  well  as  for  the  dura 
tion  of  their  commissions. 

Counsellors,  holding  their  commissions  during 
pleasure,  exercise  legislative  authority. 

Humble  and  reasonable  petitions,  from  the  rep 
resentatives  of  the  people,  have  been  -fruitless. 

The  agents  of  the  people  have  been  discoun 
tenanced,  and  governors  have  been  instructed  to 
prevent  the  payment  of  the  salaries. 

Assemblies  have  been  repeatedly  and  injuriously 
dissolved. 

Commerce  has  been  burdened  with  many  use 
less  and  oppressive  restrictions. 

By  several  Acts  of  Parliament  made  in  the 
fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  years  of 
your  majesty's  reign,  duties  are  imposed  on  us  for 
the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue  ;  and  the  powers 
of  admiralty  and  vice-admiralty  courts  are  ex 
tended  beyond  their  ancient  limits,  whereby  our 
property  is  taken  from  us  without  our  consent,  the 
trial  by  jury  in  many  civil  cases  is  abolished, 
enormous  forfeitures  are  incurred  for  slight  offences, 
vexatious  informers  are  exempted  from  paying 
damages  to  which  they  are  justly  liable,  and  op 
pressive  security  is  required  from  owners  before 
they  are  allowed  to  defend  their  right. 

Both  Houses  of  Parliament  have  resolved  that 
colonists  may  be  tried  in  England  for  offences 
alleged  to  have  been  committed  in  America,  by 
virtue  of  a  statute  passed  in  the  thirty-fifth  year 


of  Henry  the  Eighth,  and  in  consequence  thereof, 
attempts  have  been  made  to  enforce  that  statute. 
A  statute  was  passed  in  the  twelfth  year  of 
your  majesty's  reign,  directing  that  persons 
charged  with  committing  any  offence  therein  de 
scribed  in  any  place  out  of  the  realm,  may  be  in 
dicted  and  tried  for  the  same  in  any  shire  or 
county  within  the  realm,  whereby  inhabitants  of 
these  colonies  may,  in  sundry  cases,  by  that 
statute  made  capital,  be  deprived  of  a  trial  by 
their  peers  of  the  vicinage. 

In  the  last  session  of  Parliament  an  act  was 
passed  for  blocking  up  the  harbor  of  Boston  ; 
another,  empowering  the  governor  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Bay,  to  send  persons  indicted  for  mur 
der  in  that  province  to  another  colony,  or  even  to 
Great  Britain,  for  trial,  whereby  such  offenders 
may  escape  legal  punishment  ;  a  third,  for  alter 
ing  the  chartered  constitution  of  government  in 
that  province  ;  and  a  fourth,  for  altering  the 
limits  of  Quebec,  abolishing  the  English  and  re 
storing  the  French  laws,  whereby  great  numbers 
of  British  Frenchmen  are  subjected  to  the  latter, 
and  establishing  an  absolute  government  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  religion  throughout  those  vast 
regions  that  border  on  the  westerly  and  northerly 
boundaries  of  the  free,  Protestant,  English  settle 
ments  ;  and  a  fifth,  for  the  better  providing  suita 
ble  quarters  for  officers  and  soldiers,  in  his  ma 
jesty's  service,  in  North  America. 

To  a  sovereign,  who  glories  in  the  name  of 
Britain,  the  bare  recital  of  these  acts  must,  we 
presume,  justify  the  loyal  subjects,  who  fly  to  the 
foot  of  his  throne,  and  implore  his  clemency  for 
protection  against  them. 

From  this  destructive  system  of  colony  admin 
istration,  adopted  since  the  conclusion  of  the  last 
war,  have  flowed  those  distresses,  dangers,  fears, 
and  jealousies,  that  overwhelm  your  majesty's 
dutiful  colonists  with  affliction  ;  and  we  defy  our 
most  subtile  and  inveterate  enemies  to  trace  the 
unhappy  differences  between  Great  Britain  and 
these  colonies  from  an  earlier  period,  or  from 
other  causes,  than  we  have  assigned. 

Had  they  proceeded  on  our  part  from  a  restless 
levity  of  temper,  unjust  impulses  of  ambition,  or 
artful  suggestions  of  seditious  persons,  we  should 
merit  the  opprobrious  terms  frequently  bestowed 
upon  us  by  those  we  revere.  But  so  far  from 
promoting  innovations,  we  have  only  opposed 
them,  and  can  be  charged  with  no  offence,  unless 


350 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XII. 


[Bit.  II 


it  be  one  to  receive  injuries,  and  be  sensible  of 
them. 

Had  our  Creator  been  pleased  to  give  us  exist 
ence  in  a  land  of  slavery,  the  sense  of  our  con 
dition  might  have  been  mitigated  by  ignorance 
and  habit.  But,  thanks  be  to  his  adorable  good 
ness,  we  were  born  the  heirs  of  freedom,  and  ever 
enjoyed  our  right  under  the  auspices  of  your  royal 
ancestors,  whose  family  was  seated  on  the  throne 
to  rescue  and  secure  a -pious  and  gallant  nation 
from  the  popery  and  despotism  of  a  superstitious 
and  inexorable  tyrant.  Your  majesty,  we  are 
confident,  justly  rejoices  that  your  title  to  the 
crown  is  thus  founded  on  the  title  of  your  people 
to  liberty  ;  and,  therefore,  we  doubt  not  but  your 
royal  wisdom  must  approve  the  sensibility  that 
teaches  your  subjects  anxiously  to  guard  the 
blessing  they  received  from  divine  Providence, 
and  thereby  to  prove  the  performance  of  that 
compact  which  elevated  the  illustrious  house  of 
Brunswick  to  the  imperial  dignity  it  now  pos 
sesses. 

The  apprehension  of  being  degraded  into  a 
state  of  servitude,  from  the  pre-eminent  rank  of 
English  freemen,  while  our  minds  retain  the 
strongest  love  of  liberty,  and  clearly  foresee  the 
miseries  preparing  for  us  and  our  posterity,  ex 
cites  emotions  in  our  breasts,  which,  though  we 
cannot  describe,  we  should  not  wish  to  conceal. 
Feeling  as  men,  and  thinking  as  subjects  in  the 
manner  we  do,  silence  would  be  disloyalty.  By 
giving  this  faithful  information,  we  do  all  in  our 
power  to  promote  the  great  objects  of  your  royal 
cares,  the  tranquillity  of  your  government,  and 
the  welfare  of  your  people. 

Duty  to  your  majesty,  and  regard  for  the  pres 
ervation  of  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  the  pri 
mary  obligations  of  nature  and  society,  command 
us  to  entreat  your  royal  attention  ;  and  as  your 
majesty  enjoys  the  signal  distinction  of  reigning 
over  freemen,  we  apprehend  the  language  of  free 
men  cannot  be  displeasing.  Your  royal  indigna 
tion,  we  hope,  will  rather  fall  on  those  designing 
and  dangerous  men,  who,  daringly  interposing 
themselves  between  your  royal  person  and  your 
faithful  subjects,  and  for  several  years  past  inces 
santly  employed  to  dissolve  the  bonds  of  society, 
by  abusing  your  majesty's  authority,  misrepresent 
ing  your  American  subjects,  and  prosecuting  the 
most  desperate  and  irritating  projects  of  oppres 
sion,  have  at  length  compelled  us,  by  the  force  of 


accumulated  injuries,  too  severe  to  be  any  longer 
tolerable,  to  disturb  your  majesty's  repose  by  our 
complaints. 

These  sentiments  are  extorted  from  hearts  that 
much  more  willingly  would  bleed  in  your  ma 
jesty's  service.  Yet  so  greatly  have  we  been  mis 
represented,  that  a  necessity  has  been  alleged  of 
taking  away  our  property  from  us  without  our 
consent,  "to  defray  the  charge  of  the  administra 
tion  of  justice,  the  support  of  civil  government, 
and  the  defence,  protection,  and  security  of  the 
colonies."  But  we  beg  leave  to  assure  your  ma 
jesty,  that  such  provision  has  been,  and  will  be 
mado  for  defraying  the  two  first  articles,  as  has 
been,  and  shall  be  judged,  by  the  legislatures  of 
the  several  colonies,  just  and  suitable  to  their  re 
spective  circumstances  :  and,  for  the  defence,  pro 
tection,  and  security  of  the  colonies,  their  militia, 
if  properly  regulated,  as  they  earnestly  desire  may 
immediately  be  done,  would  be  fully  sufficient,  at 
least  in  times  of  peace  ;  and,  in  case  of  war,  your 
faithful  colonists  will  be  ready  and  willing,  as 
they  ever  have  been,  when  constitutionally  re 
quired,  to  demonstrate  their  loyalty  to  your  ma 
jesty,  by  exerting  their  most  strenuous  efforts  in 
granting  supplies  and  raising  forces.  Yielding  to 
no  British  subjects  in  affectionate  attachment  to 
your  majesty's  person,  family,  and  government, 
we  too  dearly  prize  the  privilege  of  expressing 
that  attachment  by  those  proofs,  that  are  honor 
able  to  the  prince  who  receives  them,  and  to  the 
people  who  give  them,  ever  to  resign  it  to  any 
body  of  men  upon  earth. 

Had  we  been  permitted  to  enjoy,  in  quiet,  thc% 
inheritance  left  us  by  our  forefathers,  we  should, 
at  this  time,  have  been  peaceably,  cheerfully,  and 
usefully  employed  in  recommending  ourselves,  by 
every  testimony  of  devotion,  to  your  majesty,  and 
of  veneration  to  the  state  from  which  we  derive 
our  origin.  But  though  now  exposed  to  unex 
pected  and  unnatural  scenes  of  distress,  by  a  con 
tention  with  that  nation,  in  whose  parental  guid 
ance  on  all  important  affairs,  we  have  hitherto, 
with  filial  reverence,  constantly  trusted,  and 
therefore  can  derive  no  instruction  in  our  present 
unhappy  and  perplexing  circumstances  from  any 
former  experience  ;  yet  we  doubt  not,  the  purity 
of  our  intention,  and  the  integrity  of  our  conduct, 
will  justify  us  at  that  grand  tribunal,  before  which 
all  mankind  must  submit  to  judgment. 

We  ask  but  for    peace,  liberty,   and  safety. 


CH.  XII.] 


PETITION  TO  THE  KING. 


351 


We  wish  not  a  diminution  of  the  prerogative,  nor 
do  we  solicit  the  grant  of  any  new  right  in  our 
favor.  Your  royal  authority  over  us,  and  our 
connection  with  Great  Britain,  we  shall  always 
carefully  and  zealously  endeavor  to  support  and 
maintain. 

Filled  with  sentiments  of  duty  to  your  majesty, 
and  of  affection  to  our  parent  state,  deeply  im 
pressed  by  our  education,  and  strongly  confirmed 
by  our  reason,  and  anxious  to  evince  the  sincerity 
of  these  dispositions,  we  present  this  petition 
only  to  obtain  redress  of  grievances,  and  relief 
from  fears  and  jealousies  occasioned  by  the  sys 
tem  of  statutes  and  regulations  adopted  since  the 
close  of  the  late  war,  for  raising  a  revenue  in 
America  ;  extending  the  powers  of  courts  of  ad 
miralty  and  vice-admiralty ;  trying  persons  in 
Great  Britain  for  offences  alleged  to  be  committed 
in  America,  affecting  the  province  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay  ;  and  altering  the  government  and 
extending  the  limits  of  Quebec  ;  by  the  abolition 
of  which  system,  the  harmony  between  Great 
Britain  and  these  colonies,  so  necessary  to  the 
happiness  of  both,  and  so  ardently  desired  by  the 
latter,  and  the  usual  intercourses  will  be  im 
mediately  restored.  In  the  magnanimity  and  jus 
tice  of  your  Majesty  and  Parliament,  we  confide 
for  a  redress  of  our  other  grievances,  trusting  that 
when  the  causes  of  our  apprehensions  are  re 
moved,  our  future  conduct  will  prove  us  not  un 
worthy  of  the  regard  we  have  been  accustomed, 
in  our  happier  days,  to  enjoy.  For,  appealing  to 
that  Being  who  searches,  thoroughly,  the  hearts 


of  his  creatures,  we  solemnly  profess  that  our 
councils  have  been  influenced  by  no  other  motives 
than  a  dread  of  impending  destruction. 

Permit  us,  then,  most  gracious  Sovereign,  in 
the  name  of  all  your  faithful  people  in  America, 
with  the  utmost  humility,  to  implore  you,  for 
the  honor  of  Almighty  God,  whose  pure  religion 
our  enemies  are  undermining  ;  for  your  glory, 
which  can  be  advanced  only  by  rendering  your 
subjects  happy,  and  keeping  them  united  ;  for  the 
interests  of  your  family,  depending  on  an  ad 
herence  to  the  principles  that  enthroned  it ;  for 
the  safety  and  welfare  of  your  kingdoms  and  do 
minions,  threatened  with  almost  unavoidable  dan 
gers  and  distresses  ;  that  your  majesty,  as  the 
loving  father  of  your  whole  people,  connected  by 
the  same  bonds  of  law,  loyalty,  faith,  and  blood, 
though  dwelling  in  various  countries,  will  not 
suffer  the  transcendent  relation  formed  by  these 
ties  to  be  further  violated,  in  uncertain  expecta 
tion  of  effects,  that,  if  attained,  never  can  compen 
sate  for  the  calamities  through  which  they  must 
be  gained. 

We,  therefore,  most  earnestly  beseech  your 
majesty,  that  your  royal  authority  and  interposi 
tion  may  be  used  for  our  relief,  and  that  a  gracious 
answer  may  be  given  to  this  petition. 

That  your  majesty  may  enjoy  every  felicity 
through  a  long  and  glorious  reign,  over  loyal  and 
happy  subjects,  and  that  your  descendants  may 
inherit  your  prosperity  and  dominions  till  time 
shall  be  no  more,  is,  and  always  will  be,  our  sin 
cere  and  fervent  prayer. 


352 


THE  LAST  YEAR  OF  COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 


[BK.  II. 


CHAPTEE    XIII. 

1775. 

THE  LAST  YEAR  OF  COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 

The  spirit  roused  by  the  battle  of  Lexington  —  Stark  and  Putnam — "Washington's  sentiments  —  Action  of  Massachu 
setts  Congress  —  Troops  raised  —  Boston  besieged  — "Ward  captain-general  —  Ethan  Allen  and  Green  Mountain 
Boys  —  Ticonderoga  taken  —  Crown  Point  also  —  Second  Continental  Congress  —  Difficulties  and  embarrassments 
in  its  -way  —  Time  of  trial  —  Course  pursued  —  Various  papers  issued  —  Congress  authorize  $3,000,000  in  paper 
money  —  Provincial  Congress  in  New  York  —  Appointment  of  a  commander-in-chief  —  Not  an  easy  question  to 
decide  —  Washington  unanimously  chosen  —  His  acceptance  and  speech  —  Declines  all  pay  for  services  —  His 
commission  —  Four  major-generals  and  eight  brigadier-generals  appointed  —  "Washington  enters  upon  his  duties 
—  Arrival  of  reinforcements  at  Boston  —  Gage  purposes  active  measures  —  Breed's  Hill  fortified  by  mistake  — • 
British  greatly  surprised  —  Attempt  to  dislodge  the  Americans  —  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill  —  Great  slaughter  of  the 
royal  troops  —  Importance  of  this  battle  —  Loss  of  "Warren  —  "Washington  finds  the  army  sadly  in  want  of  every 
thing  —  Vigorous  efforts  to  organize  and  discipline  the  army  —  Further  issue  of  paper  money  by  Congress  — 
Papers  set  forth  by  Congress  —  Efforts  as  respected  the  Indians  —  Speech  to  these  —  Colonel  Guy  Johnson's 
course  —  Georgia  joins  the  other  colonies  —  Delegates  sent  —  THE  THIRTEEN  UNITED  COLONIES  —  Washington's 
trials  and  vexations  —  Necessity  of  a  regular  army  —  Correspondence  with  General  Gage  —  Large  body  of 
colonists  not  yet  ready  for  separation  from  the  mother  country  —  Documents  quoted  —  Mecklenburg  Declaration 
of  Independence  —  Expedition  into  Canada  —  Montreal  taken  —  Quebec  assaulted  —  Montgomery  killed  — 
Americans  finally  driven  out  of  Canada  —  Washington  confers  with  Congress  as  to  the  troops  —  Council  of  war 
dscide  sgainst  Washington's  wish  to  attack  Boston  —  Outrages  by  English  vessels  —  Congress  lay  the  foundation 
of  the  Navy.  APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XIIL  —  I.  A  Declaration  setting  forth  the  causes  and  necessity  of  the 
colonies  taking  up  arms.  —  II.  Second  Petition  to  the  King. 


1775. 


IT  is  well  nigh  impossible  for  us,  at 
this  day,  fully  to  realize  the  intense 
and  burning  indignation  which  was 
aroused  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land,  by  the  news  of  the 
battle  at  Lexington.  Blood  had 
been  shed;  and  the  blood  of 
murdered  brethren  cried  from  the 
ground  for  vengeance.  Volunteers  im 
mediately  hastened  towards  the  scene  of 
action,  and  within  a  few  days  Boston 
was  besieged  by  the  outraged  people. 
Stark,  of  New  Hampshire,  ten  minutes 
after  the  news  reached  him,  was  on  his 
way  to  join  the  patriot  force.  Israel 
Putnam,  of  Connecticut,  sixty  years  of 
age,  was  peacefully  occupied  in  plough 
ing,  when  the  tidings  of  the  battle 


arrived,  and  he  left  his  plough  in  the 
field,  and  without  even  going  to  his 
house,  sped  on  his  way  to  the  camp 
All  Virginia  was  aroused.  Lord  Dun- 
more  had  attempted  a  similar  exploit 
to  that  of  Gage,  in  seizing  upon  mili 
tary  stores,  which  caused  great  excite 
ment,  and  nothing  but  timely  conces 
sion  on  the  part  of  the  governor  pre 
vented  bloodshed.  In  New  York,  in 
Philadelphia,  and  farther  south,  the 
spirit  of  the  people  showed  how  deep 
ly  they  sympathized  with  their  coun 
trymen  in  Massachusetts.  It  was  felt 
everywhere  that  the  sword  had  been 
drawn,  and  that  now  the  contest  must 
be  decided  by  the  sword.  "  Unhappy 
is  it,"  said  Washington,  writing  to  Fair- 


CH.  XIII.] 


BOSTON  BESIEGED   BY  THE  PEOPLE. 


353 


177*. 


tax  in  England,  in  regard  to  the  de 
plorable  commencement  of  hostilities 
at  Lexington,  "  to  reflect,  that  a  broth 
er's  sword  has  been  sheathed  in  a 
brother's  breast ;  and  that  the  once 
happy  and  peaceful  plains  of  America 
are  to  be  either  drenched  with  blood 
or  inhabited  by  slaves.  Sad  alterna 
tive  !  Hut  can  a  virtuous  man  hesitate 
in  his  choice  ?  " 

The  Massachusetts  Congress  was  in 
session  at  the  time,  and  immediately 
took  measures  for  sending  depositions 
to  England,  to  prove — as  was  no  doubt 
the  case — that  the  British  troops  were 
the  aggressors.  They  also,  while 
professing  undiminished  loyalty 
to  the  king,  "appealed  to  heaven  for 
the  justice  of  their  cause,  and  deter 
mined  to  die  or  be  free."  The  forts, 
magazines,  and  arsenals,  were  speedily 
seized  upon  by  the  people  in  all  direc 
tions.  Troops  were  raised,  and  a  new 
issue  of  paper  money  made.  Boston 
was  soon  besieged  by  a  force  of  twenty 
thousand  men,  who  formed  a  line  of 
encampment  from  Roxbury  to  the 
River  Mystic.  Artemas  Ward  was  ap 
pointed  captain-general  of  the  troops 
thus  brought  together  from  the  neigh 
boring  colonies,  who  promptly  deter 
mined  to  sustain  Massachusetts  in  the 
impending  conflict. 

Some  bold  spirits,  perceiving  clearly 
that  war  was  at  hand,  had  conceived 
a  plan  for  capturing  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point.  Ethan  Allen*  with  his 


*  A  good  story  is  told  of  the  Vermont  hero  at  a 

later  date,  when  he  was  a  prisoner  on  parole  in 

New  York.     Rivington,  the  king's  printer,  had  said 

some  very  severe  and  offensive  things  of  tha  whigs, 

VOT    I. —47 


Green  Mountain  Boys,  less  than  three 
hundred  in  number,  assembled  at  Castle- 
ton,  May  2d,  and  were  there  joined  by 
Benedict  Arnold,  who  had  also  set  out 
on  the  same  errand.  Arnold  had  a 


in  his  Gazette,  and  Allen  had  declared  with  an  oath 
that  "  he  would  lick  him  the  very  first  opportunity 
be  had."  We  quote  Rivington  himself  for  the  rest 
of  the  story.  "  I  was  sitting,"  says  he,  "  after  a  good 
dinner,  alone,  with  my  bottle  of  madeira  before'  me, 
when  I  heard  an  unusual  noise  in  the  street,  and  a 
huzza  from  the  boys.  I  was  in  the  second  story, 
and  stepping  to  the  window,  saw  a  tall  figure  in 
tarnished  regimentals,  with  a  large  cocked  hat  and 
an  enormous  long  sword,  followed  by  a  crowd  of 
boys,  who  occasionally  cheered  him  with  huzzas, 
of  which  he  seemed  insensible.  He  came  up  to  my 
door  and  stopped.  I  could  see  no  more.  My  heart 
told  me  it  was  Ethan  Allen.  I  shut  down  my  win 
dow,  and  retired  behind  my  table  and  bottle.  I  was 
certain  the  hour  of  reckoning  had  come.  There  waa 
no  retreat.  Mr.  Staples,  my  clerk,  came  in  paler 
than  ever,  and  clasping  his  hands,  said,  '  Master,  he 
is  come ! '  'I  know  it.'  ' He  entered  the  store  and 
asked,  if  James  Rivington  lived  there.'  I  answered, 
'  Yes,  sir.'  '  Is  he  at  home  1'  '  I  will  go  and  see,  sir,' 
I  said.  '  And  now,  master,  what  is  to  be  done?  There 
he  is  in  the  store,  and  the  boys  peeping  at  him  from 
the  street.'  I  had  made  up  my  mind.  I  looked  at 
the  bottle  of  madeira — possibly  took  a  glass.  *  Show 
him  up,'  said  I ;  '  and  if  such  madeira  cannot  mollify 
him,  he  must  be  harder  than  adamant.'  There  was 
a  fearful  moment  of  suspense.  I  heard  him  on  the 
stairs,  his  long  sword  clanking  at  every  step.  In  he 
stalked.  '  Is  your  name  James  Rivington  ]'  '  It  is, 
sir,  and  no  man  could  be  more  happy  than  I  am  to 
see  Colonel  Ethan  Allen.'  '  Sir,  I  have  come — '  '  Not 
another  word,  my  dear  colonel,  until  you  have  taken 
a  seat  and  a  glass  of  old  madeira.'  '  But,  sir,  I  don't 
think  it  proper — '  '  Not  another  word,  colonel. 
Taste  this  wine ;  I  have  had  it  in  glass  for  ten  years. 
Old  wine,  you  know,  unless  it  is  originally  sound, 
never  improves  by  age.'  He  took  the  glass,  swal 
lowed  the  wine,  smacked  his  lips,  and  shook  his 
head  approvingly.  '  Sir,  I  come — '  '  Not  another 
word  until  you  have  taken  another  glass,  and  then, 
my  dear  colonel,  we  will  talk  of  old  affairs,  and  I 
have  some  droll  events  to  detail.'  In  short,  we 
finished  two  bottles  of  madeira,  and  parted  as  good 
friends  as  if  we  had  never  had  cause  to  be  other 
wise." — De  Puy's  "  Ethan  Allen  and  the  GreenMoun- 
tain  Heroes  of  '76,"  p.  262. 


854 


THE  LAST  YMAR  OF  COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 


K.  II. 


colonel's  commission  from  Massachu 
setts,  and  claimed  the  command ;  but 
the  Vermonters  refused  flatly,  and  he 
was  forced  to  serve  as  volunteer  or  not 
at  all.  The  party  arrived  at  Shoreham, 
opposite  Ticonderoga,  on  the  night  of 
the  9th  of  May.  Never  dreaming  of 
such  a  thing  as  an  attack,  the  vigilance 
of  the  garrison  was  quite  relaxed.  Hav 
ing-  obtained  a  boy,  named  Nathan 
Bemau,  as  a  guide,  Allen  and  Arnold 
crossed  over  during  the  night  with  only 
eighty-three  of  their  men,  the  rest  be 
ing  unable  to  follow  them  for  want  of 
a  supply  of  boats.  Landed  under  the 
walls  of  the  fort,  they  found  their  posi 
tion  extremely  critical ;  the  dawn  was 
beginning  to  break,  and  unless  they 
could  succeed  in  instantly  surprising 
the  garrison,  they  ran  themselves  the 
most  imminent  risk  of  capture.  Ethan 
Allen  did  not  hesitate  a  moment,  but, 
drawing  up  his  men,  briefly  explained 
to  them  the  position  of  affairs,  and 
then,  with  Arnold  by  his  side,  hurried 
up  immediately  to  the  sally-port.  The 
sentinel  snapped  his  fusee  at  them,  and 
rushing  into  the  fort,  the  Americans 
followed  close  at  his  heels,  and  entering 
the  open  parade,  awoke  the  sleeping 
garrison  with  three  hearty  cheers.  The 
English  soldiers  started  from  their 
beds,  and  rushing  below,  were  imme 
diately  taken  prisoners.  Meanwhile  Al 
len,  attended  by  his  guide,  hurried  up 
to  the  chamber  of  the  commandant, 
Captain  Delaplace,  who  was  in  bed, 
and  knocking  at  his  door  with  the  hilt 
of  his  huge,  sword,  ordered  him  in  a 
stentorian  voice  to  make  his  instant  ap 
pearance,  or  the  entire  garrison  should 
immediately  be  put  to  death.  The 


commandant  appeared  at  his  door,  half 
dressed,  "the  frightened  face  of  his 
pretty  wife  peering  over  his  shoulder." 
Gazing  in  bewildered  astonishment  at 
Allen,  he  exclaimed,  "By  whose  au 
thority  do  you  act  ?"  "  In  the  name  of 
the  Great  Jehovah,  and  the  Continental 
Congress !"  replied  Allen,  with  a  flourish 
of  his  long  sword,  and,  we  are  sorry  to 
say,  with  an  oath  following  it.  There 
was  no  alternative  and  Delaplace  sur 
rendered.  Two  days  afterwards,  Crown 
Point  was  surprized  and  taken.  More 
than  two  hundred  pieces  of  artillery, 
and  a  large  and  valuable  supply  of 
powder,  which  was  greatly  needed,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Americans.  By 
these  daring  movements,  the  command 
of  Lakes  George  and  Champlain  was 
won,  and  the  great  highway  to  Canada 
was  thrown  open. 

The  Second  Continental  Congress  as 
sembled  at  Philadelphia  on  the  10th 
of  May.  Peyton  Randolph  was 
again  chosen  president  and 
Charles  Thomson  secretary.  Randolph 
being  obliged  to  be  absent  in  Virginia, 
Hancock  was  placed  in  the  chair.  The 
crisis  had  now  been  reached,  and  it  was 
felt  at  once  what  an  exceedingly  difficult 
and  responsible  position  Congress  now 
occupied.  At  the  meeting  of  the  First 
Congress,  war  was  apprehended ;  now  it 
had  commenced ;  and  it  must  be  pushed 
on  with  vigor.  Then,  as  it  usually  hap 
pens  in  all  new  enterprises,  minds  were 
full  of  ardor,  and  tended,  by  a  certain 
natural  proclivity,  towards  the  object ; 
at  present,  though  greatly  inflamed  by 
the  same  sentiments,  it  was  to  be 
feared  they  might  cool,  in  consequence 
of  those  vicissitudes  so  common  in 


1775. 


CH.  XIII.] 


WASHINGTON  CHOSEN   COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 


357 


struggle  with  the  mother  country,  and 
the  necessity  of  doing  every  thing  rea 
sonable  to  keep  alive  the  ardent  patri 
otism  and  self-sacrificing  spirits  of  its 
wealthy  aristocracy,  rendered  it  every 
way  desirable  to  choose  a  commander- 
in-chief  from  that  colony.  Accord 
ingly,  June  15th,  Washington  was 
nominated  by  Johnson  of  Maryland, 
and  unanimously  chosen.*  We  who 
have  the  advantage  of  retrospect,  can 
now  see  most  clearly,  that  Washington 
was  the  man,  if  not  the  onl/y  man,  com 
petent  for  the  discharge  of  the  duties 
whicli  were  imposed  upon  him.  All 
his  previous  course  had  tended  to  fit 
him  for  the  post,  and  we  may  rever 
ently  believe,  that  God  favored  the 
cause  of  our  country,  when  He  raised 
up  such  a  man  to  take  command  of  her 
army,  and  conduct  to  a  successful  issue 
the  American  Revolution. 

The  next  day  Washington  returned 
thanks  to  the  House  for  the  signal 
honor  done  him.  by  Congress,  and 
modestly  expressing  his  doubt  in  re 
spect  to  his  fitness  for  the  post,  and 
asking  it  to  be  remembered  by  every 
gentleman  in  the  room,  in  view  of  what 
might  happen,  that  he  did  not  think 
himself  equal  to  the  command  placed 
in  his  trust,  he  begged  to  decline  re 
ceiving  any  pay  for  his  services.  "As 
no  pecuniary  consideration  could  have 
tempted  me,"  were  his  words,  "to  ac 
cept  this  arduous  employment,  at  the 


*  Mr.  Curtis  has  a  long  and  interesting  note  on  this 
point,  the  conclusion  of  which  is,  "  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  that  Washington  was  chosen  commander-in- 
chief  for  his  unquestionable  merits,  and  not  as  a 
compromise  between  sectional  interests  and  local 
jealousies." — "  History  of  the  Constitution"  vol.  i., 
p.  11-48. 


1775. 


expense  of  my  domestic  ease  and  hap 
piness,  I  do  not  wish  to  make  any 
profit  from  it.  I  will  keep  an  exact 
account  of  my  expenses.  Those,  I 
doubt  not,  Congress  will  discharge; 
and  that  is  all  I  desire." 

On  the  20th  of  June,  Washington 
received  his  commission,*  and  the  mem 
bers  of  Congress  pledged  themselves, 
by  a  unanimous  resolve,  to  maintain, 
assist,  and  adhere  to  him,  with 
their  lives  and  fortunes,  in  the 
cause  of  liberty  and  right.  Four  major- 
generals,  Arternas  Ward,  Israel  Put 
nam,  Philip  Schuyler,  and  Charles  Lee, 
were  appointed  directly  after  ;  as  were 
also  eight  brigadier-generals,  Seth 
Pomeroy,  Richard  Montgomery,  David 
Wooster,  William  Heath,  Joseph 


*  It  was  in  the  following  words :  "  To  George 
Washington,  Esq.  : — We,  reposing  special  trust  and 
confidence  in  your  patriotism,  valor,  conduct,  and 
fidelity,  do,  by  these  presents,  constitute  and  appoint 
you  to  be  general  and  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  of  the  United  Colonies,  and  of  all  the  forces  now 
raised,  or  to  be  raised  by  them,  and  of  all  others  who 
shall  voluntarily  offer  their  services,  and  join  the  said 
army  for  the  defence  t f  American  Liberty,  and  for 
repelling  every  hostile  invasion  thereof;  and  you  are 
hereby  vested  with  full  power  and  authority  to  act 
as  you  shall  think  for  the  good  and  welfare  of  the 
service.  And  we  do  hereby  strictly  charge  and  re 
quire  all  officers  and  soldiers  under  your  command, 
to  be  obedient  to  your  orders,  and  diligent  in  the  ex 
ercise  of  their  several  duties.  And  we  do  also  en 
join  and  require  you,  to  be  careful  in  executing  the 
great  trust  reposed  in  you,  by  causing  strict  discipline 
and  order  to  be  observed  in  the  army,  and  that  the 
soldiers  be  duly  exercised,  and  provided  with  all  con 
venient  necessaries.  And  you  are  to  regulate  your 
conduct  in  every  respect,  by  the  rules  and  discipline 
of  war,  (as  here  given  you,)  and  punctually  to  ob 
serve  and  follow  such  orders  and  directions,  from 
time  to  time,  as  you  shall  receive  from  this,  or  a 
future  Congress  of  these  United  Colonies,  or  com 
mittee  of  Congress.  This  commissicn  is  to  continue 
in  force,  until  revoked  by  this,  or  a  future  Congress 
Signed,  JOHN  HANCOCK,  President." 


358 


THE  LAST  YEAR  OF   COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 


II. 


Spencer,  John  Thomas,  John  Sullivan, 
and  Nathaniel  Greene.  Horatio  Gates, 
at  Washington's  request,  was  added,  as 
adjutant-general,  with  the  rank  of  brig 
adier.  Both  Gates  and  Lee  were  foreign 
born,  and  Congress  would  not  have 
appointed  them  to  these  high  posts, 
had  not  Washington  requested  it.  Un 
fortunately  they  were,  both  of  them, 
sources  of  trouble  and  annoyance  to  the 
commander-in-chief  at  a  later  date. 

Washington  made  all  speed  to  enter 
upon  his  command.  He  left  Philadel 
phia  on  the  21st  of  June,  receiving 
everywhere  on  the  road  the  most  cor 
dial  expressions  of  regard  and  confi 
dence  ;*  heard  in  New  York  the  news 
of  the  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill ;  and,  on 
the  2d  of  July,  reached  head-quarters 
at  Cambridge.  It  is  hardly  needful  to 
§ay,  that  the  army  received  him  with 
enthusiasm  and  hearty  welcome. 

Previous  to  this,  at  the  latter  end  of 
May,  General  Gage  had  received  large 
reinforcements,  under  Burgoyne,  Clin 
ton,  and  Howe.  As  the  ships  entered 
the  harbor,  says  Mr.  Irving,  and  the 
"rebel  camp"  was  pointed  out,  ten 
thousand  yeomanry  beleaguering  a 
town  garrisoned  by  five  thousand  reg- 


*  In  New  York,  Mr.  Livingston,  as  president  of 
the  New  York  Congress,  delivered  a  congratulatory 
address  to  Washington.  The  latter  part  of  it  is  worth 
quoting,  because  of  its  significant  hint  of  the  prevalent 
unwillingness  to  entrust  extensive  military  powers 
to  any  man  :  "  Confiding  in  you,  sir,  and  in  the 
worthy  generals  immediately  under  your  command, 
we  have  the  most  flattering  hopes  of  success  in  the 
glorious  struggle  for  American  liberty,  and  the  fullest 
assurances,  that  whenever  this  important  contest  shall 
be  decided,  by  that  fondest  wish  of  every  American 
Boul,  an  accommodation  with  our  mother  country,  you 
will  cheerfully  resign  the  important  deposit  com 
mitted  to  your  hands,  and  reassume  the  character  of 
our  worthiest  citizen." 


ulars,  Burgoyne  could  not  restrain  a 
burst  of  surprise  and  scorn.  "  What ''' 
cried  he,  "  ten  thousand  peasants  keep 
five  thousand  king's  troops  shut  up ! 
Well ;  let  us  get  in,  and  we'll  soon  find 
elbow  room."  On  the  12th  of  June, 
Gage  proclaimed  the  province  under 
martial  law,  offering  pardon  to  all  who 
would  lay  down  their  arms,  excepting, 
however,  John  Hancock,  and  Samuel 
Adams,  whose  offences,  it  was  said,  were 
"too  flagitious,  not  to  meet  with  con 
dign  punishment."  The  Continental 
troops  now  numbered  some  sixteen 
thousand  men,  and  it  was  thought  high 
time  for  something  more  decisive  to  be 
done.  Private  information  having  been 
received,  that  Gage  intended  to  assume 
the  offensive,  Colonel  Prescott,  in  order 
more  completely  to  cut  off  the  com 
munication  with  the  country,  was  dis 
patched  with  about  a  thousand  men, 
including  a  company  of  artillery  and 
two  field-pieces,  to  proceed  at  nightfall 
and  take  possession  of  Bunker's  Hill, 
a  bold  eminence  at  the  northern  ex 
tremity  of  the  peninsula  of  Charles- 
town.  By  some  mistake,  however,  the 
party  went  past  Bunker's  Hill,  and 
commenced  operations  on  Breed's  Hill, 
near  the  southern  termination  of  the 
peninsula,  and  overlooking  and  com 
manding  Boston.  There,  directed  by 
the  engineer,  Colonel  Gridley,  and  un 
der  cover  of  the  darkness,  they  worked 
away,  silently,  but  very  vigorously ;  so 
that  when  morning  dawned,  they  had 
thrown  up  a  considerable  redoubt  on 
the  crest  of  the  hill,  and  were  still  ac 
tively  employed  in  endeavoring  to  com 
plete  the  remainder  of  the  entrench 
ments. 


CH.  XI.II.l 


THE  BATTLE  OF  BUNKER'S  HILL. 


859 


1775. 


It  was  a  matter  of  very  great  aston 
ishment  to  the  British  general,  to  find 
that  the  Americans  had  dared  to  take 
the  bold  step  of  occupying  the  hill, 
where  they  were  entrenching  them 
selves.  A  cannonading  was  im 
mediately  opened  upon  them 
by  the  ships  in  the  harbor  and  the  bat 
teries  in  Boston.  But  the  provincials, 
though  at  first  somewhat  shaken  by 
the  death  of  one  of  their  party,  who 
had  ventured  outside  the  works,  labored 
on,  undisturbed  by  the  firing  of  the 
British.  By  noon,  they  had  thrown  up 
a  breastwork,  extending  from  the  re 
doubt  down  the  northern  slope  of  the 
hill  toward  the  water.  It  was  plain, 
that  if  the  Americans  succeeded  in 
mounting  cannon  in  the  redoubt,  they 
would  command  the  harbor,  and  might 
render  it  impossible  to  hold  Boston  it 
self.  General  Gage,  therefore,  resolved 
to  dislodge  the  Americans  at  once.  De 
spising  the  raw  militia,  he  ordered  the 
troops  to  land  in  front  of  the  works, 
and  push  directly  up  the  hill,  it  never 
having  entered  his  mind  that  they 
would  stand  their  ground  against  vet 
eran  soldiers.  Three  thousand  men, 
picked  corps  of  the  British  army,  led 
by  Generals  Howe  and  Pigot,  under 
took  this  service  of  expelling  the  Ameri 
cans  from  their  position.  To  all  appear 
ance  this  would  not  be  a  difficult  task ; 
for  the  provincial  troops,  jaded  with 
their  severe  work  throus-h  the  ni^ht 

c >  o 

just  past,  hungry  and  thirsty,  hav 
ing  brought  but  scanty  supplies,  op 
pressed  by  the  heat,  and  unsupported 
by  reinforcements  or  provisions  needful 
hi  the  emergency,  were  in  but  an  ill 
condition  to  sustain  an  attack  from 


hearty,  vigorous  soldiers,  such  as  were 
now  marching  up  the  hill  side.  Yet 
they  faltered  not ;  they  were  ready  to 
do  and  to  die  in  defence  of  liberty. 
Just  before  the  action  commenced, 
Stark,  with  two  New  Hampshire  regi 
ments,  reached  the  battle-ground,  and 
took  up  a  position  on  the  left  of  the 
breastwork,  but  at  some  considerable 
distance  in  the  rear,  under  cover  of  a 
novel  kind  of  rampart,  made  by  pulling 
up  the  rail  fences,  placing  them  in  par 
allel  lines  some  three  or  four  feet  apart, 
and  filling  the  intervening  space  with 
new  mown  hay  from  the  adjacent 
meadows. 

It  was  about  three  in  the  afternoon, 
when  the  British  troops  advanced  to 
the  assault.  Formed  in  two  lines,  and 
stopping  at  times  to  give  the  artillery 
opportunities  to  play,  they  marched 
slowly  forward,  confident  of  victory, 
and  supported  by  redoubled  fire  from 
the  ships  and  batteries.  The  hills  all 
about  Boston,  and  the  roofs  and  stee 
ples  of  the  churches,  were  crowded  with 
spectators,  anxiously  watching  the  ap 
proaching  conflict.  Not  a  single  shot 
was  wasted  by  the  Americans.  In  deep 
but  ominous  silence,  they  allowed  the 
enemy  to  approach  within  thirty  or 
forty  paces,  when  they  opened  upon 
them,  with  a  most  deadly  discharge ; 
every  shot  telling  upon  the  British 
troops.  The  slaughter  was  immense, 
and  the  regulars  fell  back  in  disorder 
to  the  landing  place.  Rallied  by  their 
officers,  who  were  equally  astounded 
and  angry  at  the  result,  they  advanced 
again  ;  and  again  the  same  deadly  fire, 
drove  them  back,  some  even  retreating 
to  the  boats.  Charlestown  was  set  on 


SCO 


THE  LAST  YEAR  OF  COLONIAL   DEPENDENCE. 


[BK.  n. 


fire  by  Gage's  orders,  adding  new  hor 
rors  to  the  scene.  General  Clinton 
hastened  from  Boston,  to  give  aid  and 
encouragement,  but  it  was  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  that  the  troops  were 
rallied  and  led  a  third  time  up  the  hill. 
•'  The  thunder  of  artillery  from  batteries 
%nd  ships ;  the  bursting  of  bombshells ; 
the  sharp  discharges  of  musketry ;  the 
shouts  and  yells  of  the  combatants; 
the  crasli  of  burning  buildings,  and  the 
dense  volumes  of  smoke,  which  ob 
scured  the  summer  sun,  all  formed  a 
tremendous  spectacle,"  The  ammuni 
tion  of  the  Americans  was  nearly  ex 
pended,  and  no  supply  was  at  hand. 
The  British  troops  also  brought  some 
cannon  to  bear,  which  raked  the  inside 
of  the  breastwork  from  end  to  end. 
The  fire  from  the  ships,  batteries,  and 
field  artillery  was  incessant,  and  the 
soldiers  were  goaded  on  by  their  offi 
cers.  The  redoubt  was  attacked  on 
three  sides  at  once.  Under  these  cir 
cumstances,  Prescott  ordered  a  retreat, 
but  the  provincials  delayed,  and  made 
resistance  with  their  discharged  mus 
kets,  as  if  they  had  been  clubs,  so 
long,  that  the  regulars,  who  easily 
mounted  the  works,  had  half 'filled  the 
redoubt,  before  it  was  given  up  to  them. 
While  these  operations  were  going  on 
at  the  breastwork  and  redoubt,  the 
British  light  infantry  were  attempting 
to  force  the  left  point  of  the  former, 
that  they  might  take  the  American 
line  in  flank.  Though  they  exhibited 
undaunted  courage,  they  met  with  an 
opposition  which  called  for  its  greatest 
exertions.  The  provincials  here,  under 
the  veteran  Stark,  in  like  manner,  re- 
"".rn-d  their  fire  till  their  adversaries 


were  near,  and  then  poured  it  upon  the 
light  infantry,  with  such  an  incessant 
stream,  and  in  so  true  a  direction,  as 
mowed  down  their  ranks.  The  engage 
ment  was  kept  up  on  both  sides  with 
great  resolution.  The  persevering  ex 
ertions  of  the  regulars  could  not  com 
pel  the  Americans  to  retreat,  till  they 
observed  that  their  main  body  had  left 
the  hill.  They  then  slowly  retired, 
disputing  the  ground,  inch  by  inch,  and 
made  good  their  retreat  over  the  Neck, 
under  a  galling  fire  from  the  ships  and 
batteries,  which,  however,  was  not  pro 
ductive  of, serious  injury.  They  fell 
back,  and  entrenched  themselves  on 
Prospect  Hill,  only  about  a  mile  from 
the  field  of  battle.  The  English  troop? 
felt  no  disposition  to  pursue  them,  but 
were  content  to  remain  in  possession  of 
their  dearly  bought  victory. 

We  have  dwelt  somewhat  at  large 
upon  the  incidents  just  narrated.  The 
occasion  well  deserves  it,  for  no  subse 
quent  conflict  was  of  more  importance 
than  this,  in  its  effect  upon  the 
Americans  as  well  as  the  British.  It 
was  truly,  as  Mr.  Irving  says,  "most 
eventful  in  its  consequences.  The 
British  had  gained  the  ground  for 
which  they  contended ;  but,  if  a  vic 
tory,  it  was  more  disastrous  and  humili 
ating  to  them  than  an  ordinary  defeat. 
They  had  ridiculed  and  despised  their 
enemy,  representing  them  as  dastardly 
and  inefficient;  yet  here  their  best 
troops,  led  on  by  experienced  officers, 
had  repeatedly  been  repulsed  by  an  in 
ferior  force  of  that  enemy, — mere  yeo 
manry, — from  works  thrown  up  in  a 
single  night,  and  had  suffered  a  loss 
rarely  paralleled  in  battle  with  the 


Cn.  XIII.  J 


PAPERS  OF  THE  SECOND   CONGRESS. 


363 


1775. 


difference  of  opinion;  the  opponents 
of  the  measure  yielded,  and 
on  July  8th,  the  petition  was 
adopted.  No  further  attempt  was 
ever  made  towards  a  reconciliation.* 
Another  Address  to  the  Inhabitants 
of  Great  .Britain  was  prepared,  and 
they  were  besought  as  "friends,  coun 
trymen,  and  brethren,"  not  to  sanction 
the  tyrannous  course  of  government 
towards  America.  Eepudiating  the 
charge  that  they  were  aiming  at  inde 
pendence,  they  recounted  in  forcible 
language  the  injuries  they  had  received, 
and  the  necessity  they  were  under  of 
defending  themselves.  "We  are  ac 
cused,"  they  say,  "of  aiming  at  inde 
pendence  ;  but  how  is  this  accusation 
supported  ?  By  the  allegations  of  your 
ministers,  not  by  our  actions.  Abused, 
insulted,  and  contemned,  what  steps 
have  we  pursued  to  obtain  redress? 
We  have  carried  our  dutiful  petitions 
to  the  throne.  We  have  applied  to 
your  justice  for  relief.  What  has  been 
the  success  of  our  endeavors?  The 
clemency  of  our  sovereign  is  unhappily 
diverted  ;  our  petitions  are  treated  with 
indignity  ;  our  prayers  answered  by  in 
sults.  Our  application  to  you  remains 
unnoticed,  and  leaves  us  the  melancholy 
apprehension  of  your  wanting  either 
the  will,  or  the  power  to  Assist  us. 
Even  under  these  circumstances,  what 
measures  have  we  taken  that  betray  a 
desire  of  independence?  Have  we 
called  in  the  aid  of  those  foreign  powers, 
ivlio  are  the  rivals  of  your  grandeur  f 
When  your  troops  were  few  and  de- 

*  See  Appendix  II.,   at  the   end  of    the  present 
chapter. 


fenceless,  did  we  take  advantage  of 
their  distress,  and  expel  them  our 
towns?  Or  have  we  permitted  them 
to  fortify,  to  receive  new  aid,  and  to 
acquire  additional  strength?"  Two 
other  papers  were  drawn  up ;  an  Ad 
dress  to  the  People  of  Ireland,  and  a 
Letter  to  the  Assembly  of  Jamaica, 
both  documents  of  force  and  pungency, 
which  might  have  helped  to  convince 
the  English  ministry,  that  the  colonists 
knew  how  to  use  the  pen  as  well  as  the 
sword. 

Congress,  aware  of  the  importance 
of  securing  the  aid,  or  at  least  neutrality 
of  the  Indians,  appointed  three  boards 
for  Indian  affairs,  and  a  good  deal  of 
attention  was  bestowed  upon  the  red 
men  and  their  peculiarities.  During 
this  session  of  Congress,  also,  the  first 
line  of  posts  for  the  communication  of 
intelligence  through  the  United  States, 
was  established.  Benjamin  Franklin 
was  appointed,  by  an  unanimous  vote, 
postmaster-general,  with  power  to  ap 
point  as  many  deputies  as  he  might 
deem  proper  and  necessary,  for  the  con 
veyance  of  the  mail  from  Falmouth,  in 
New  England,  to  Savannah,  in  Georgia. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Church  was  put  at  the 
head  of  an  army  hospital ;  but  a  few 
months  afterwards,  as  Holmes,  in  his 
Anuals,  notes,  Dr.  Church  was  detected 
in  a  traitorous  correspondence  with  the 
British  in  Boston.  He  was  tried,  and 
convicted,  and  Congress  ordered  him 
to  be  closely  confined.  Some  time 
subsequently,  being  allowed  to  depart 
with  his  family  for  the  West  Indies,  the 
vessel  foundered  at  sea,  and  all  wero 
lost. 

In    consideration    of    "the  present 


364 


THE  LAST  YEAR  OF  COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 


[BK. 


critical,  alarming,  and  calamitous  state" 
of  the  colonies,  Congress  recommended 
that  the  20th  of  July  be  observed,  by 
the  inhabitants  of  all  the  English  col 
onies,  as  a  day  of  public  humiliation, 
fasting  and  prayer.  The  day  was  ob 
served  accordingly;  and  it  was,  as 
Holmes  states,  the  first  general  fast 
ever  kept  on  one  day,  since  the  settle 
ment  of  the  colonies.  When  the  news 
of  this  recommendation  reached  the 
army,  Lee,  who  was  given  to  scoffing, 
spoke  contemptuously  of  beseeching 
God's  blessing  upon  the  American 
arms ;  but  Washington  ordered  the 
day  to  be  exactly  observed.  All  labor 
was  suspended,  and  the  officers  and 
soldiers  were  required  to  attend  divine 
service. 

Besides  their  ill  success  with  the  Ca 
nadians,  whom  they  could  not  persuade 
to  arm  against  the  Americans,  the  Brit 
ish  ministry  found  the  Indians  rather 
impracticable.      No  reasoning  seemed 
to  make  much  .impression  upon  the  red 
men.  They  were,  however,  more  dispos 
ed  to  listen  to  what  was  said  on  the  other 
side.     Congress  set  forth  that  the  Eng 
lish  had  taken  up  arms  to  enslave,  not 
only  their  countrymen  in  America,  but 
the   Indians    also  ;    and,   if  the  latter 
should  enable  them  to   overcome  the 
colonists,  they  themselves  would  soon 
be  reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery  also. 
By  arguments  of  this  kind  it  was  hoped 
that  these  savages  might  be  engaged  to 
remain  neuter ;  and  thus  the  colonists 
be  freed  from  a  most  dangerous  enemy. 
On  this  occasion  it  was  thought  proper 
to  hold  a  solemn  conference  with  the 
Six   Nations,  convened   in   council   in 
Philadelphia.      The   speech   made    to 


them  is  curious  in  many  respects.  We 
give  a  specimen  of  it,  as  showing  the 
ground  taken  in  endeavoring  to  enlist 
the  sympathy  and  support  of  the  In 
dians  :  "  Brothers,  sachems,  and  war 
riors  !  We  are  the  delegates  from  the 
Twelve  United  Provinces,  now  sitting 

o 

in  General  Congress  at  Philadelphia, 
who  have  sent  their  talk  to  you,  our 
brothers.  Brothers  and  friends,  now 
attend  !  When  our  fathers  crossed  the 
great  water,  and  came  over  to  this 
land,  the  King  of  England  gave  them 
a  talk,  assuring  them  that  they  and 
their  children  should  be  his  children ; 
and  that,  if  they  would  leave  their  ua 
tive  country,  and  make  settlements, 
and  live  here,  and  buy  and  sell,  and 
trade  with  their  brethren  beyond  the 
water,  they  should  still  keep  hold  of 
the  same  covenant-chain,  and  enjoy 
peace  ;  and  it  was  covenanted,  that  the 
fields,  houses,  goods,  and  possessions 
which  our  fathers  should  acquire,  should 
remain  to  them  as  their  own,  and  be 
their  children's  for  ever,  and  at  their 
sole  disposal.  Brothers  and  friends, 
open  a  kind  ear  !  We  will  now  tell  you 
of  the  quarrel  betwixt  the  counsellors 
of  King  George  and  the  inhabitants 
and  colonies  of  America,  Many  of  his 
counsellors  have  persuaded  him  to 
break  the  covenant-chain,  and  not  to 
send  us  any  more  good  talks.  They 
have  prevailed  upon  him  to  enter  into 
a  covenant  against  us ;  and  have  torn 
asunder,  and  cast  behind  their  backs, 
the  good  old  covenant  which  their  an 
cestors  and  ours  entered  into,  and  took 
strong  hold  of.  They  now  tell  us  they 
will  put  their  hands  into  our  pockets 
without  asking,  as  though  it  were  their 


Cn    XIII. ] 


A  TALK   WITH  THE  INDIANS. 


305 


own  ;  and  at  their  pleasure  they  will 
take:  from  us  our  charters,  or  written 
civil  constitution,  which  we  love  as  our 
lives ;  also  our  plantations,  or  houses, 
and  goods,  whenever  they  please,  with 
out  asking  our  leave.  They  tell  us  that 
our  vessels  may  go  to  that  or  this  island 
in  the  sea,  but  to  this  or  that  parti 
cular  island  we  shall  not  trade  any 
more ;  and,  in  case  of  our  non-compli 
ance  with  these  new  orders,  they  shut 
up  our  harbors.  Brothers,  we  live  on  the 
same  ground  with  you ;  the  same  land 
is  our  common  birth-place.  We  desire 
to  sit  down  under  the  same  tree  of  peace 
with  you ;  let  us  water  its  roots,  and 
cherish  the  growth,  till  the  large  leaves 
and  flourishing  branches  shall  extend 
to  the  setting  sun,  and  reach  the  skies. 
If  any  thing  disagreeable  should  ever 
fall  out  between  us,  the  Twelve  United 
Colonies,  and  you,  the  Six  Nations,  to 
wound  our  peace,  let  us  immediately 
seek  measures  for  healing  the  breach. 
From  the  present  situation  of  our  af 
fairs,  we  judge  it  expedient  to  kindle 
up  a  small  fire  at  Albany,  where  we 
may  hear  each  others'  voice,  and  dis 
close  our  minds  fully  to  one  another." 

A  similar  talk  was  prepared  for  the 
other  Indian  nations,  and  it  was  trusted 
that  their  neutrality  might  be  secured. 
We  are  sorry  to  state,  however,  that 
through  the  powerful  influence  of  Col. 
Guy  Johnson,  Intendant-general  of  the 
King  for  Indian  Affairs,  the  Six  Na 
tions,  who  were  bigotedly  attached  to 
the  Johnson  family,  were  induced  to 
offer  their  aid  to  General  Carleton,  at 
Montreal,  against  the  Americans.  This, 
Bays  Holmes,  was  the  origin  of  the  In 
dian  war. 


Early  in  July,  Georgia  entered  into 
the  opposition  made  to  the  claims  of 
the  British  Parliament  to  tax  America, 
and  chose  delegates  to  Congress  ;  after 
which  the  style  of  "  THE  THIR 
TEEN  UNITED  COLONIES"  was 
assumed,  and,  by  that  title  the  English 
provinces,  confederated  and  in  arms, 
were  thenceforth  designated.  Lord 
North's  plan  for  conciliation  was  taken 
up  and  discussed  in  Congress.  After 
full  examination,  its  want  of  definite- 
ness,  and  its  consequently  unsatisfactory 
character,  were  pointed  out,  and  it  was 
rejected.  During  the  month  of  August, 
Congress  took  a  recess,  and,  early  in 
September,  reassembled,  the  Georgia 
delegates  being  present  in  their  seats. 

The  position  of  Washington  was  in 
no  respect  to  be  envied.  In  Congress 
there  was  a  considerable  amount  of 
jealous  apprehension  of  military  power, 
and  a  fear  that  the  temptation  to  undue 
exercise  of  that  power  might  lead  even 
the  great  hero  and  patriot  Commander- 
in-chief  somewhat  astray.  A  standing 
army  was  a  terrible  spectre  to  their 
imaginations,  and  it  was  not  without 
extreme  difficulty,  that  Washington 
could  bring  them  to  realize  the  convic 
tion  in  his  own  mind  that  the  cause 
was  hopeless,  unless  he  could  have  an 
army  of  sufficient  size,  and  enlisted  to 
serve  for  the  whole  time  of  the  war.* 


*  "  This  error  (of  enlisting  men  for  only  a  year) 
may  have  be.en  owing  to  the  character  of  the  gov 
ernment,  to  the  opinions  and  prejudices  prevailing 
in  Congress,  and  to  the  delusive  idea,  which  still 
lingered  in  the  minds  of  many  of  the  members,  that, 
although  the  sword  had  been  drawn,  the  scabbard 
was  not  wholly  thrown  aside,  and  that  they  should 
be  able  to  coerce  the  British  ministry  into  a  redress 
of  grievances,  which  might  be  followed  by  a  restore- 


366 


THE  LAST  YEAR  OF   COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 


.  n. 


Washington,  however  deeply  in  his 
own  bosom  he  might  have  felt  hurt  at 
unworthy  suspicions,  was  not  moved  for 
a  moment  from  the  course  which  he 
knew  must  be  pursued,  if  he  hoped  for 
success ;  and  his  patience  and  forbear 
ance  and  fortitude  were  put  to  a  severe 
test.  Congress  could  only  sanction  and 
aid  his  exertions ;  the  labor  of  invent 
ing,  combining,  organizing,  establish 
ing,  and  sustaining  a  proper  military 
system,  must  fall  upon  him.  "To  this 
end  he  kept  up  an  unremitted  corre 
spondence  with  Congress  during  the 
whole  war.  His  letters  were  read  to 
the  House  in  full  session,  and  almost 
every  important  resolution  respecting 
the  army  was  adopted  on  his  sugges 
tion  or  recommendation,  and  emanated 
from  his  mind.  He  was  thus  literally 
the  centre  of  motion  to  this  immense 
and  complicated  machine,  not  more  in 
directing  its  operations  than  in  pro 
viding  for  its  existence,  and  preserving 
from  derangement  and  ruin  its  various 
parts.  His  perplexities  were  often  in 
creased  by  the  distance  at  which  he 
was  stationed  from  Congress,  the  tardy 
movements  of  that  body,  and  the  long 

tion  of  the  relations  between  the  colonies  and  the 
mother  country,  upon  a  constitutional  basis.  No 
such  idea  was  entertained  by  Washington  from  the 
beginning.  He  entertained  no  thought  of  accommo 
dation,  after  the  measures  adopted  in  consequence  of 
the  battle  of  Bunker's  Hill.  But  at  the  time  of 
which  we  are  treating,  the  issue  had  not  been  made, 
as  Washington  would  have  made  it,  and,  when  we 
consider  the  state  of  things  before  the  Declaration 
»f  Independence  was  adopted,  and  look  attentively 
a.t  the  objects  for  which  Congress  had  been  assem 
bled,  and  at  the  nature  of  their  powers,  we  may 
perceive  how  they  came  to  make  the  mistake  of  not 
organizing  a  military  establishment  on  a  more  per 
manent  footing  "  —  Curtis's  "History  of  the  Consti 
tution,"  vol.  ',  p.  61. 


time  it  took  to  obtain  the  results  of 
their  deliberations.  By  a  constant 
watchfulness  and  forethought,  and  by 
anticipating  the  future  in  his  commu 
nications,  he  contrived  to  lessen  this 
inconvenience  as  far  as  it  could  be 
done."*  Besides  this  severe  task  up 
on  his  energies,  the  Commander-in-chief 
was  obliged  to  correspond  very  exten 
sively  with  various  public  bodies 
throughout  the  colonies,  and  as  far  as. 
possible  stimulate  their  zeal,  rouse  their 
patriotism,  and  prevail  upon  them  to 
give  immediate  and  efficient  aid.  And 
this,  too,  despite  the  necessity  which  he 
felt  laid  upon  him  to  refuse  to  detach 
troops  at  various  points  to  protect  the 
sea  coast  from  the  ravages  of  the  En 
glish  navy. 

Early  in  August,  IT 75,  Washington 
having  heard  that  the  prisoners  taken 
by  the  British  at  Bunker's  Hill  were 
treated  with  severity  and  harshness, 
unworthy  of  civilized  warfare,  deemed 
it  a  duty  to  write  to  General  Gage  on 
the  subject.  They  had  both 
served  as  aides  to  General  Brad- 
dock,  and  had  fought  side  by  side  at 
the  bloody  battle  of  the  Monongahela. 
Ever  since  a  friendly  correspondence 
had  been  maintained  between  them; 
and  now  they  were  occupying  a  posi 
tion  of  antagonism  in  support  of  prin 
ciples  and  views  diametrically  opposite. 
Gage  denied  the  charge  of  ill-usage,  and 
took  occasion  to  speak  in  rather  insult 
ing  terms  of  the  "  rebels,"  and  of  those 
"whose  lives  by  the  law  of  the  land 
were  destined  to  the  cord."  Washing 
ton  felt  compelled  to  order  retaliatory 

•Sparks's  "  Life  of  Washington,'1'1  p.  139. 


1773. 


CH.  XIII.l 


INDEPENDENCE  NOT  YET  RESOLVED   UPON. 


367 


measures  to  be  pursued  towards  the 
prisoners  in  his  hands,  but  he  speedily 
relented,  and  with  noble  generosity  re 
leased  them  upon  parole,  in  the  hope 
that  "  such  conduct  would  compel  their 
grateful  acknowledgments  that  Ameri 
cans  are  as  merciful  as  they  are  brave." 
His  reply  to  Gage's  letter  was  dignified 
and  worthy  of  the  man :  "  You  affect, 
sir,''  he  said,  "to  despise  all  rank  not 
derived  from  the  same  source  as  your 
own.  I  cannot  conceive  one  more  hon 
orable  than  that  which  flows  from  the 
uncorrupted  choice  of  a  brave  and  free 
people,  the  purest  source  and  original 
fountain  of  all  power.  Far  from  mak 
ing  it  a  plea  for  cruelty,  a  mind  of  true 
magnanimity  and  enlarged  ideas  would 
apprehend  and  respect  it." 

Shortly  after,  General  Gage  was  re 
called  to  England,  ostensibly  "  in  order 
to  give  his  Majesty,- exact  information 
of  every  thing,  and  suggest  such  matters 
as  his  knowledge  and  experience  of  the 
service  enabled  him  to  furnish."  He 
was  succeeded  by  General  Howe,  a  bro 
ther  of  Lord  Howe,  who  had  been 
killed  before  Ticonderoga,  and  whose 
memory  was  cherished  by  the  Ameri 
cans. 

Although  there  was  no  difference  of 
opinion  among  the  colonists  as  to  the 
necessity  of  defending  their  rights  and 
liberties ;  although,  too,  the  people  did 
not  hesitate  to  take  possession  of  public 
stores  and  ammunition,  and  to  assume 
all  the  powers  of  government ;  still 
the  large  body  of  the  colonists  had  not 
yet  resolved  upon  independence  and  a 
complete  separation  from  the 
mother  country.  This  is  evinced, 
as  Pitkin  properly  states,  not  only  by 


the  declarations  of  Congress,  but  from 
the  proceedings  and  declarations  of 
the  colonial  assemblies  and  conventions, 
in  the  course  of  this  year.  Some  of 
these  we  shall  bring  to  the  notice  of  the 
reader.  In  August,  a  plan  of  confed 
eracy,  submitted  to  Congress  by  Dr. 
Franklin,  in  the  preceding  July,  was 
also  laid  before  the  convention  of  North 
Carolina — they  declared,  "  that  a  con 
federation  of  the  colonies  was  not,  at 
present,  eligible ;  that  the  present  asso 
ciation  ought  to  be  further  relied  on, 
for  bringing  about  a  reconciliation  with 
the  parent  country,  and  a  further  con 
federacy  ought  only  to  be  adopted,  in 
case  of  the  last  extremity."  In  Sep 
tember  following,  the  same  convention, 
in  an  address  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
British  empire,  used  still  stronger  lan 
guage  on  this  subject:  "We  again  de 
clare,"  they  say,  "that  we  invoke  that 
Almighty  Being,  who  searches  the  re 
cesses  of  the  human  heart,  and  knows 
our  most  secret  intentions,  that  it  is  our 
most  earnest  wish  and  prayer,  to  be  re 
stored,  with  the  other  united  colonies, 
to  that  state  in  which  we  and  they  were 
placed,  before  the  year  1763 ;  disposed 
to  glance  over  any  regulations  which 
Britain  had  made,  previous  to  this,  and 
which  seem  to  be  injurious  and  oppres 
sive  to  those  colonies ;  hoping  that,  at 
some  future  day,  she  will  willingly  in 
terpose,  and  remove  from  us,  any  cause 
of  complaint." 

While  the  convention  of  Virginia, 
which  met  on  the  18th  of  July, 

t 

proceeded  to  place  that  colony 
in  a  state  of  defence,  and  to  give  their 
reasons  for  this  measure ;  they,  "  before 
God  and  the  world,"  made  the  follow- 


THE  LAST  YEAH  OF   COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 


IBs.  II. 


ing  declaration  :  "  We  do  bear  faith  and 
true  allegiance  to  his  Majesty,  and  will, 
so  lon^  as  it  may  be  in  our  power,  de 
fend  him  and  his  government,  as  found 
ed  on  the  laws  and  well-known  prin 
ciples  of  the  constitution :  we  will,  to 
the  utmost  of  our  power,  endeavor,  by 
every  honorable  means,  to  promote  a 
restoration  of  that  friendship  and  amity 
which  so  long  and  so  happily  subsisted 
between  our  fellow  subjects  in  Great 
Britain,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Amer 
ica;  and  as,  on  the  one  hand,  we  are 
determined  to  defend  our  lives  and  pro 
perty,  and  maintain  our  just  rights  and 
privileges,  at  even  the  extremest  haz 
ard,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  our 
fixed  and  unalterable  resolution,  to  dis 
band  such  forces  as  may  be  raised  in 
this  colony,  whenever  our  dangers  are 
removed,  and  America  is  restored  to  its 
former  state  of  tranquillity  and  happi 
ness." 

"  We  declare,"  said  the  members  of 
the  South  Carolina  Convention,  in  their 
address  to  their  new  governor,  Lord 
William  Campbell,  "  that  no  love  of  in 
novation,  no  desire  of  altering  the  con- 

'  O 

stitution  of  government,  no  lust  of  in 
dependence,  have  had  the  least  influence 
upon  our  counsels ;  but,  alarmed  and 
roused,  by  a  long  succession  of  arbi 
trary  proceedings,  by  wicked  adminis 
trations  ;  impressed  with  the  greatest 
apprehensions  of  instigated  insurrec 
tions,  and  deeply  affected  by  the  com 
mencement  of  hostilities  by  the  British 
troops  against  this  continent ;  solely  for 
the  preservation  and  in  defence  of  our 
lives,  liberties,  and  property,  we  have 
been  impelled  to  associate  and  take  up 
amis.  We  only  dea;re  the  same  en- 


joyment  of  our  invaluable  rights,  and 
we  wish  for  nothing  more  ardently  than 
a  speedy  reconciliation  with  our  mother 
country,  upon  constitutional  principles. 
Conscious,"  they  added,  "  of  the  justice 
of  our  cause,  and  the  integrity  of  our 
views,  we  readily  profess  our  loyal  at 
tachment  to  our  sovereign,  his  crown 
and  dignity ;  and  trusting  the  event  to 
Providence,  we  prefer  death  to  slavery." 

Though  the  Assembly  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  in  the  -instructions  to  their  dele 
gates  to  Congress,  in  November,  de 
clared  that  the  oppressive  measures  of 
the  British  Parliament  and  administra 
tion  had  compelled  them  to  resist  their 
violence  by  force  of  arms ;  yet  they 
strictly  enjoined  them,  in  behalf  of  that 
colony,  "  to  dissent  from,  and  reject  any 
proposition,  should  such  be  made,  that 
may  cause  or  lead  to  a  separation  from 
the  mother  country,  or  a  change  in  the 
form  of  their  government." 

The  delegates  of  Maryland  were  also 
instructed  not  to  assent,  without  the 
previous  knowledge  and  approbation 
of  the  convention  of  that  province,  to 
any  proposition,  to  declare  these  colo 
nies  independent  of  the  crown  of  Great 
Britain,  unless  a  majority  of  them 
should  judge  it  absolutely  necessary, 
for  the  presei  vatiou  of  the  liberties  of 
the  United  Colonies.  The  governor  of 
New  Jersey  having,  in  his  address  to 
the  Assembly,  declared,  "That  senti 
ments  of  independency  were,  by  some, 
of  present  consequence,  openly  avowed, 
and  that  essays  were  already  appear 
ing  in  the  public  papers,  to  ridicule  the 
people's  fears  of  that  horrid  measure  ;" 
the  House  in  answer,  said,  "There  is 
nothing  we  desire  with  greater  anxiety, 


On.  XIII.] 


THE  MECKLENBURG  DECLARATION. 


3(39 


than  a  reconciliation  with  our  parent 
state,  on  constitutional  principles.  We 
know  of  no  sentiments  of  independency 
that  are,  by  men  of  any  consequence, 
openly  avowed ;  nor  do  we  approve  of 
any  essays,  tending  to  encourage  such  a 
measure.  We  have  already  expressed 
our  detestation  of  such  opinions,  and  we 
have,  so  frequently  and  freely  declared 
our  sentiments  on  this  subject,  that  we 
should  have  thought  ourselves,  as  at 
present  we  really  deserve  to  be,  exempt 
from  all  suspicion  of  this  nature." 

The  provincial  convention  of  New 
York,  in  December,  declared,  that 
u  the  turbulent  state  of  that  colony  did 
not  arise  from  a  want  of  attachment  to 
the  king,  from  a  desire  to  become  inde 
pendent  of  the  British  crown,  or  a 
spirit  of  opposition  to  the  ancient  and 
established  form  of  government  to 
which  they  had  been  subjected;  but 
solely  from  the  oppressive  acts  of  the 
British  Parliament,  directed  to  enslav 
ing  the  colonies,  and  the  hostile  at 
tempts  of  the  ministry  to  carry  these 
acts  into  execution.1'  The  people  of 
'New  Hampshire,  in  establishing  a  new 
government,  in  January,  1776,  de 
clared,  "  we  conceive  ourselves  reduced 
to  the  necessity  of  establishing  a  new 
form  of  government,  to  continue  dur 
ing  the  present  unhappy  and  unnat 
ural  contest  with  Great  Britain ;  pro 
testing  and  declaring,  that  we  never 
sought  to  throw  off  our  dependence  on 
Great  Britain,  but  felt  ourselves  happy 
under  her  protection,  whilst  we  could 
enjoy  our  constitutional  rights  and  pri 
vileges  ;  and  that  we  shall  rejoice,  if 
Buch  a  reconciliation  between  us  and 
our  parent  state,  can  be  effected,  as 

Voi,.  I.— 49 


1775. 


shall  be  approved  by  the  Continental 
Congress,  in  whose  prudence  and  wis 
dom  we  confide."* 

It  is  true,  notwithstanding  what  has 
been  stated  above  in  regard  to  the 
general  feeling  in  North  Caro 
lina,  that  a  portion  of  the  in 
habitants  entertained  much  stronger 
sentiments  of  opposition  to  Parliament 
ary  misrule,  and  much  more  ardent  as 
pirations  for  political  freedom  than  the 
Convention  were  willing  to  adopt.  This 
was  remarkably  shown  by  the  fact  that 
the  citizens  of  Mecklenburg  county,  on 
the  21st  of  May,  wrent  so  far  as  to  pre 
pare  and  set  forth  resolutions  embody 
ing  a  formal  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  a  step  quite  beyond  any  thing 
which  had  as  yet  been  done  elsewhere, 
and  which  the  Continental  Congress 
were  not  ready  at  this  date  to  sanction. 
These  resolutions  are  worthy  of  being 
quoted  in  full,  and  no  doubt  were  in 
the  hands  of  the  Committee  of  Con 
gress  who,  the  year  following,  wero 
charged  with  the  drawing  up  the  Dec 
laration  of  Independence,  issued  in  be 
half  of  all  the  colonies. 

"Resolved,  \st.  That  whosoever,  di 
rectly  or  indirectly,  abetted,  or  in  any 
way,  form,  or  manner,  countenanced  the 
unchartered  and  dangerous  invasion  of 
our  rights,  as  claimed  by  Great  Britain, 
is  an  enemy  to  this  county,  to  Ameri 
ca,  and  to  the  inherent  and  unalienable 
rio-hts  of  man. 

O 

"  Unsolved,  2d.  That  we,  the  citizens 
of  Mecklenburg  county,  do  hereby  dis 
solve  the  political  bonds  which  have 


*  Pitkin's   "  Oirif  and  Political  History  of  ihf. 
United  States,"  vol.  i.,  p«.  348-51. 


370 


THE  LAST  YEAR  OF  COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 


connected  us  with  the  mother  country, 
and  hereby  absolve  ourselves  from  all 
allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and 

O  ' 

abjure  all  political  connection,  contract, 
or  association  with  that  nation,  who 
have  wantonly  trampled  on  our  rights 
and  liberties,  and  inhumanly  shed  the 
blood  of  American  Patriots  at  Lexinsr- 

O 

ton. 

"Resolved,  §d.  That  we  do  hereby 
declare  ourselves  a  free  and  indepen 
dent  people ;  are,  and  of  right  ought  to 
be,  a  sovereign  and  self-governing  asso 
ciation,  under  the  control  of  no  power, 
other  than  that  of  our  God,  and  the 
general  government  of  the  Congress ; 
—  to  the  maintenance  of  which  inde 
pendence,  we  solemnly  pledge  to  each 
other,  our  mutual  co-operation,  our  lives, 
our  fortunes,  and  our  most  sacred 
honor. 

"  Hesolved,  Uh.  That,  as  we  ac 
knowledge  the  existence  and  control 
of  no  law,  nor  legal  office,  civil  or  mili 
tary,  within  this  county,  we  do  hereby 
ordain  and  adopt,  as  a  rule  of  life,  all, 
each,  and  every  of  our  former  laws  ; 
wherein,  nevertheless,  the  crown  of 
Great  Britain  never  can  be  considered 
as  holding  rights,  privileges,  immuni 
ties,  or  authority  therein. 

"Resolved,  5tli.  That  it  is  further  de 
creed  that  all,  each,  and  every  military 
officer  in  this  county  is  hereby  retained 
in  his  former  command  and  authority, 
he  acting  conformably  to  these  regula 
tions.  And  that  every  member  pres 
ent  of  this  delegation  shall  henceforth 
be  a  civil  officer,  viz. :  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  in  the  character  of  a  committee- 
man,  to  issue  process,  hear  and  deter 
mine  all  matters  of  controversy,  accord- 


ing  to  said  adopted  laws  ;  and  to  pre 
serve  peace,  union,  and  harmony  in 
said  county ;  and  to  use  every  exertion 
to  spread  the  love  of  country  and  fire 
of  freedom  throughout  America,  until 
a  general  organized  government  be 
established  in  this  province." 

After  the  taking  of  Ticonderoga  and 
Crown  Point,  both  Allen  and  Arnold 
had  strenuously  urged  upon  Congress 
the  desirableness  of  advancing  into 
Canada,  where  the  British  force  was 
very  small,  and  of  seizing  upon  the  im 
portant  strongholds  of  that  country. 
This  measure  was  at  first  looked  upon 
with  disapprobation,  as  stepping  out  of 
the  line  of  resistance  marked  out  for 
the  present  struggle,  and  commencing 
a  war  of  aggression.  But,  as  the  de 
signs  of  the  British  to  reduce  the  colo 
nies  to  obedience,  by  an  increased  dis 
play  of  force,  became  apparent,  the 
contest  assumed  another  character,  and 
Congress  was  willing  to  adopt  the  pro 
ject  of  an  attack  upon  Canada  as  a 
measure  of  self-defence,  which  was  fully 
sanctioned  by  Washington  himself,  who 
regarded  it  as  "being  of  the  utmost 
consequence  to  the  interests  and  liber 
ties  of  America."  Two  expeditions 
were  accordingly  organized  and  dis 
patched,  one  by  the  way  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain,  under  General  Schuyler,  the  otheT 
by  the  way  of  the  River  Kennebeck, 
under  the  command  of  Arnold.  General 
Lee,  with  twelve  hundred  volunteers 
from  Connecticut,  was  also  directed  to 
repair  to  New  York,  and  with  the  aid 
of  the  inhabitants,  fortify  the  city,  and 
the  Highlands  on  the  Hudson  River. 

In  pursuance  of  the  plan  of  guarding 
the  northern  frontier  by  taking  Canada, 


CH.  XJU 


ALLEN'S  ATTACK  ON  MONTREAL. 


371 


Generals  Scliuyler  and  Montgomery, 
with  two  regiments  of  New  York 
militia,  and  a  body  of  New  England 
men,  amounting  in  the  whole  to  about 
two  thousand,  were  ordered  to  move 
towards  Ticonderoga,  which  had  re 
mained  in  possession  of  the  Americans 
since  the  expedition  of  Colonels  Arnold 
and  Allen. 

Brigadier-general  Montgomery  was 
ordered  to  proceed  in  advance,  with 
the  troops  then  in  readiness,  and  lay 
siege  to  St.  John's,  the  first  British  post 
in  Canada,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  north  of  Ticonderoga.  General 
Schuyler  soon  followed,  and  on  arriving 
at  the  Isle  aux  Noix,  twelve  miles  south 
of  St.  John's,  sent  circular  letters  to  the 
Canadians,  exhorting  them  to  arouse 
and  assert  their  liberties,  declaring  that 
the  Americans  entered  their  country  as 
friends  and  protectors,  not  as  enemies. 
The  intelligence  received  of  the  situa 
tion  of  St.  John's,  determined  them  to 
wait  at  the  Isle  aux  Noix,  for  their  re 
maining  troops  and  artillery.  General 
Schuyler  returned  to  Albany  to  hasten 
their  departure  ;  but,  being  prevented 
by  sickness  from  again  joining  the 
army,  the  chief  command  devolved  on 
Montgomery.  On  receiving  the  rein 
forcement  he  invested  St.  John's  ;  but, 
being  almost  destitute  of  battering  can 
non  and  of  powder,  he  made  no  progress 
in  the  siege. 

Colonel  Allen,  the  hero  of  Ticonde 
roga,  had  a  command  under  General 
Montgomery  ;  and  was  dispatched  by 
him  with  about  eighty  men,  to  secure  a 
party  of  hostile  Indians.  Allen,  hav 
ing  effected  his  object,  was  returning 
to  he  ad -quarters,  when  he  was  met 


by  Major  Brown,  who,  with  a  party, 
had  been  on  a  tour  into  the  country,  to 
observe  the  dispositions  of  the  people, 
and  attach  them,  if  possible,  to  the 
American  cause.  It  was  agreed  between 
them  to  make  a  descent  upon  Montreal. 
They  divided  into  two  parties,  intend 
ing  to  assail  the  city  at  two  opposite 
points.  Allen  crossed  the  river  in  the 
night,  as  had  been  proposed;  but  by 
some  means  Brown  and  his  party 
failed.  Instead  of  returning,  Allen, 
with  great  rashness,  determined  to 
maintain  his  ground.  In  the  morning 
the  British  general,  Carleton,  at  the 
head  of  a  few  regulars  and  several 
hundred  militia,  marched  to  attack  him. 
Allen,  with  his  little  band  of  eighty, 
fought  with  desperate  courage  ;  but  he 
was  compelled  to  yield,  and  he  and  his 
brave  associates  were  loaded  with  irons, 
and  in  that  condition  sent  to  England. 
Allen,  after  undergoing  every  species 
of  outrage  and  hardship,  was  brought 
back  to  the  coast  of  America,  and  kept 
under  restraint  in  New  York,  till  the 
victory  of  Saratoga  effected  his  release 
in  May,  17T8. 

On  the  13th  of  October,  a  small  fort 
at  Chamblet,  which  was  but  slightly 
guarded,  was  taken.  Several  pieces  of 
artillerv,  and  about  one  hundred  and 

*/  / 

twenty  barrels  of  gunpowder,  were  the 
fruits  of  this  victory,  which  enabled 
General  Montgomery  to  proceed  with 
vio-or  against  St.  John's.  In  defiance  of 

o  o 

the  continual  fire  of  the  enemy,  the 
Americans  erected  a  battery  near  the 
fort  St.  John's,  and  made  preparations 
for  a  severe  cannonade,  and  an  assault, 
if  necessary. 

General  Carleton,  hearing  of  the  situ- 


572 


THE  LAST  YEAR  OF  COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 


n. 


ation  of  St.  John's,  raised  a  force  for 
its  relief.  He  had  posted  Colonel 
McLean,  with  a  Scotch  regiment,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Sorel,  and  attempted  to 
cross  at  Longueil,  for  the  purpose  of 
forming  a  junction,  and  marching  to 
the  relief  of  St.  John's.  Colonel  War 
ner,  who  was  stationed  at  Longueil  with 
three  hundred  mountaineers  and  a 
small  piece  of  artillery,  kept  up  so 
warm  a  fire  upon  their  boats,  that  they 
were  compelled  to  return  to  Montreal. 

When  the  news  of  this  repulse  reached 
Montreal,  he  sent  a  flag  to  Major  Pres 
ton,  who  commanded  the  besieged  fort 
ress,  summoning  him  to  surrender ;  as 
all  hope  of  relief  was  cut  off  by  Carle- 
ton's  repulse,  and  further  resistance 
could  only  lead  to  useless  destruction 
of  lives.  It  was  accordingly  surren 
dered,  November  3d,  and  soon  entered 
by  the  American  troops. 

General  Carleton  now  abandoned 
Montreal  to  its  fate,  and  made  his  es 
cape  down  the  river  in  the  night,  in  a 
small  canoe,  with  muffled  oars.  The 
next  day,  General  Montgomery,  after 
engaging  to  allow  the  inhabitants  their 
own  laws,  the  free  exercise  of  their  re 
ligion,  and  the  privilege  of  governing 
themselves,  entered  the  town.  His  be 
nevolent  conduct  induced  many  to  join 
his  standard:  yet  some  of  his  own  army 
deserted  from  severity  of  climate,  and 
many  whose  time  of  enlistment  had  near 
ly  expired,  insisted  on  returning  home. 

With  the  remnant  of  his  army,  con 
sisting  of  three  hundred  men,  he  began 
his  march  towards  Quebec,  expecting 
to  meet  there  the  detachment  of  troops 
under  Arnold,  who  were  to  penetrate 
by  the  way  of  Maine. 


1775. 


Arnold  commenced  his  march  with 
one  thousand  men,  about  the  middle  of 
September.  After  sustaining  almost  in 
credible  hardships,  he  arrived  at  Point 
Levi,  opposite  Quebec,  on  the  9th  of 
November.  On  the  13th,  he  crossed 
the  St.  Lawrence  in  the  night,  and  as 
cended  the  precipice  which  Wolfe  had 
ascended  before  him,  formed  his  army, 
which,  from  the  hardships  it  had  en 
dured,  was  reduced  to  seven  hundred 
men,  on  the  heights  near  the  memorable 
plains  of  Abraham.  He  then  marched 
towards  Quebec,  in  the  hope  of  sur 
prising  it.  But,  being  convinced  by  a 
cannon-shot  from  the  walls,  that 
the  garrison  were  ready  to  re 
ceive  him,  he  was  obliged  to  retire  ;  and 
on  the  18th,  marched  to  Point  aux  Trem 
bles  to  await  the  arrival  of  Montgomery 

On  the  13th  of  October,  Arnold  had 
intrusted  an  Indian  whom  he  met,  with 
a  letter  for  General  Schuyler,  giving 
him  information  of  his  progress,  which 
the  Indian  delivered  to  General  Carle- 
ton  ;  and  thus,  in  all  probability,  was 
the  enterprise  frustrated.  General 
Carleton,  who  had  escaped  the  vigi 
lance  of  the  Americans,  proceeded  at 
once  to  put  Quebec  in  a  state  of  defence 
against  the  contemplated  attack  of  the 
invaders. 

Montgomery  arrived  on  the  1st  of 
December,  and  took  command  of  the 
forces,  which  amounted  only  to  nine 
hundred  men.  After  clothing  the  half- 
naked  troops  of  Arnold  with  garments 
which  he  had  brought  with  him.  the 

c?  / 

whole  force  set  forward  together  foi 
Quebec.  On  their  march  thither,  they 
were  now  exposed  to  all  the  severities 
of  a  Canadian  winter;  the  driving  sleet 


CH.  XIII.] 


WASHINGTON'S  DIFFICULTIES. 


375 


1775. 


forces  at  Crown  Point,  and  in  due  time 
was  able  to  put  an  effectual  stop  upon 
the  vainly  confident  advance  of  Bur- 
goyne,  as  will  be  related  in  a  subse 
quent  chapter.  „ 

Toward  the  close  of  September, 
Washington  felt  compelled  to  write  to 
Congress  in  regard  to  the  position  in 
which  he  was  placed  before  Boston. 
"  It  gives  me  great  distress,"  he 
said,  "  to  oblige  me  to  solicit  the 
attention  of  the  honorable  Congress  to 
the  state  of  this  army,  in  terms  which 
imply  the'  slightest  apprehension  of 
being  neglected.  But  my  situation  is 
inexpressibly  distressing,  to  see  the 
winter  fast  approaching  upon  a  naked 
army ;  the  time  of  their  service  within 
a  few  weeks  of  expiring ;  and  no  pro 
vision  yet  made  for  such  important 
events.  Added  to  these,  the  military 
chest  is  totally  exhausted;  the  pay 
master  has  not  a  single  dollar  in  hand. 
The  commissary-general  assures  me  he 
has  strained  his  credit  for  the  subsist 
ence  of  the  army  to  the  utmost.  The 
quartermaster-general  is  precisely  in 
the  same  situation ;  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  troops  are  in  a  state  not  far 
from  mutiny,  upon  a  deduction  from 
their  stated  allowances."  Congress  re- 

O 

sponded  to  the  commander-in-chiefs 
appeal.  About  the  middle  of  October, 
a  committee  of  that  body,  Franklin, 
Lynch  and  Harrison,  arrived  at  Cam 
bridge,  to  meet  delegates  from  the 
New  England  colonies,  to  take  the 
steps  necessary  in  the  present  emer 
gency.  Twenty-six  regiments  were,  in 
accordance  with  Washington's  recom 
mendation,  authorized  to  be  enrolled, 
making  in  all,  rather  more  than  twenty 


thousand  men.  It  was  supposed  that 
thirty-two  thousand  men  might  be 
raised  in  the  four  New  England  col 
onies  for  one  year,  which  was  the  extent 
of  time  that  Congress  was  willing  to 
fix  for  all  the  enlistments.  This  short 
term  of  enlistment,  as  we  have  before 
poiffted  out,  was  a  well  nigh  fatal  error, 
and  the  consequences  of  it  were  se 
verely  felt  throughout  the  whole  war. 
Washington's  discretion,  prudence,  and 
firmness,  were  severely  tried,  before  he 
succeeded  in  accomplishing  the  difficult 
task  of  organizing  the  army  according 
to  the  plan  agreed  upon. 

Beside  the  troops  already  engaged 
for  service,  Congress  had  made  arrange 
ments  for  increasing  the  number,  by 
various  regiments  from  the  southern 
colonies,  and  also  from  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey,  and  New  York.  Congress 
likewise  issued  a  proclamation,  in  which 
it  was  threatened,  that  measures  of  se 
verity  would  be  retorted  upon  the  sup 
porters  of  royal  authority,  in  case  any 
attempt  were  made  to  act  towards  the 
Americans  in  a  way  not  usual  in  hon 
orable  warfare. 

The  alarming  deficiency  of  powder 
in  the  camp,  and  the  extreme  difficulty 
of  getting  supplies,  rendered  Washing 
ton's  position  not  only  very  uncomfort 
able  but  also  very  critical;  for  had 
General  Howe  been  disposed  to  ven 
ture  upon  more  active  measures,  and 
had  he  attacked  the  Americans  in  the 
midst  of  the  annoyance  and  perplexity 
arising  out  of  a  part  of  the  troops  L-av- 
ing  and  going  home,  and  new  recruits 
being  brought  in,  it  is  almost  certain 
that  victory  must  have  attended  his 
arms,  and  disaster  and  ruin  have  fallen 


376 


THE  LAST  YEAR  OF  COLONIAL  DEPENDENCE. 


[BK.  II. 


upon  the  army  of  Washington  *  But 
the  British  general  kept  himself  very 
quiet,  and,  after  a  time,  the  Commander- 
in-chief  felt  somewhat  relieved  of  his 
anxiety  on  this  point. 

The  feeling  in  Congress  and  else 
where  was,  that  Washington  ought  to 
do  something  more  than  besiege  Bos- 

o  o 

ton ;  murmurs,  more  or  less  loud,  were 
heard  against  the  inactivity  of  the 
forces;  and  it  was  thought  strange 
that  Washington  did  not  attack  the 
city.  His  own  impulses  urged  him  to 
this  step,  and  lie  called  a  council  of 
war,  early  in  January,  1776,  to  consider 
the  expediency  of  such  a  movement. 
The  council  opposed  the  plan  decidedly, 
and  the  commander-in-chief  felt  obliged 

o 

*  The  Connecticut  troops  determined  to  go  off  in 
a  body  when  their  term  of  service  was  about  to  ex- 
Tire,  which  would  have  left  a  fearful  blank  in  the 
army,  already  weak  enough.  Their  extraordinary 
conduct  hurt  Washington's  feelings  very  much,  and 
notwithstanding  all  his  efforts,  they  could  not  be  in 
duced  to  remain  more  than  ten  days,  to  allow,  mean 
while,  the  militia  to  be  called  in.  Washington  wrote 
to  Governor  Trumbull  on  this  subject,  and  the  latter, 
as  quoted  by  Mr.  Sparks,  replied  in  the  following 
terms  :  "  There  is  great  difficulty  to  support  liberty, 
te  exercise  government,  and  maintain  subordination, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  prevent  the  operation  of 
licentious  and  levelling  principles,  which  many  very 
easily  imbibe.  The  pulse  of  a  New  England  man 
beats  high  for  liberty,  his  engagement  in  the  service 
he  thinks  purely  voluntary  ;  therefore,  when  the 
time  of  enlistment  is  out,  he  thinks  himself  not 
holden  without  further  engagement.  This  was  the 
case  in  the  last  war.  I  greatly  fear  its  operation 
amongst  the  soldiers  of  the  other  colonies,  as  I  am 
sensible  this  ic  the  spirit  and  genius  of  our  people.*' 
Mr.  Irving  mentioue  in  this  connection,  that  these 
Connecticut  men  found  s&  little  sympathy  on  the 
I  >ad  homeward,  that  they  could  hai-uly  get  any  thing 
to  eat,  and  also  that  when  the  women  at  home  got 
hold  of  them,  they  expressed  their  feelings  in  such 
plain  terms,  that  the  recreant  soldiers  deemed  it 
better  to  face  the  enemy  and  British  cannon,  than 
bear  the  vigorous  thrusts  of  the  patriot  wives  and 
mothers  of  fonr 


to  yield;  but  he  yielded  unwillingly. 
"  Could  I  have  foreseen  the  difficulties 
which  have  come  upon  us,"  said  he,  in 
a  letter  written  at  the  time  ;  "  could  I 
have  known  that  such  backwardness 
would  have  been  discovered  by  old  sol 
diers  to  the  service,  all  the  generals 
upon  earth  should  not  have  convinced 
me  of  the  propriety  of  delaying  an 
attack  upon  Boston  until  this  time." 

A  month  later,  writing  to  Joseph 
Reed,  he  gives  expression  to  his  feel 
ings,  under  the  severe  trials  and  dis 
couragements  which  had  come  upon 
him  during  several  months  past:  "I 
knew  the  unhappy  predicament  in 
which  I  stand.  I  know  that  much  is 
expected  from  me.  I  know  that,  with 
out  men,  without  arms,  without  ammu 
nition,  without  any  thing  fit  for  the  ac 
commodation  of  a  soldier,  little  is  to  be 
done ;  and  what  is  mortifying,  I  know 
that  I  cannot  stand  justified  to  the 
world  without  exposing  my  own  weak 
ness,  and  injuring  the  cause,  by  declar 
ing  my  wants,  which  I  am  determined 
not  to  do,  further  than  unavoidable 
necessity  brings  every  man  acquainted 
with  them.  My  situation  is  so  irksome 
to  me  at  times,  that  if  I  did  not  consult 
the  public  good  more  than  my  own 
tranquillity,  I  should  long  ere  this  have 
put  every  thing  on  the  cast  of  a  die.  So 
far  from  my  having  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  men  well  armed,  I  have  been 
here  with  less  than  half  that  number, 
including  sick,  furloughed,  and  on  com 
mand,  and  those  neither  armed  nor 
clothed  as  they  should  be.  In  short, 
my  situation  has  been  such,  that  I  have 
been  obliged  to  use  every  art  to  con 
ceal  it  from  my  own  officers."  Well 


CH.  XIII.] 


BOMBARDMENT  OF  FALMOUTH. 


377 


was  it  for  the  cause  to  which  his  life 
was  devoted,  that  he  did  not  yield 
to  the  pressure  of  difficulties,  and  lose 
his  confident  trust  in  the  superintend 
ing  care  and  favor  of  Divine  Provi 
dence. 

The  Provincial  Congress  having 
passed  a  resolution  to  prevent  Tories 
from  carrying  off  their  effects,  the  in 
habitants  of  Falmouth,  in  the  north 
eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  now 
Portland,  in  Maine,  obstructed,  accord 
ingly,  the  loading  of  a  mast-ship.  The 
destruction  of  the  town  was,  therefore, 
determined  on,  as  an  example  of  vin- 
ilictive  punishment.  Captain  Mowat, 
detached  for  that  purpose,  with  armed 
vessels,  by  Admiral  Greaves,  arrived 
off  the  place  on  the  evening  of  the  17th 
of  October,  and  gave  notice  to  the  in 
habitants  that  he  would  allow  them  two 
hours  "  to  remove  the  human  species." 
Upon  being  solicited  to  afford 
some  explanation  of  this  ex 
traordinary  summons,  he  replied,  that 
he  had  orders  to  set  on  fire  all  the  sea 
port  towns  from  Boston  to  Halifax,  and 
that  he  supposed  New  York  was  already 
in  ashes.  He  could  dispense  with  his 
orders,  he  said,  on  no  terms,  but  the 
compliance  of  the  inhabitants  to  deliver 
up  their  arms  and  ammunition,  and 
their  sending  on  board  a  supply  of 
provisions,  and  four  of  the  principal 
persons  in  the  town,  as  hostages,  that 
they  should  engage  not  to  unite  with 
their  country  in  any  kind  of  opposition 
to  Britain ;  and  he  assured  them,  that, 
on  a  refusal  of  these  conditions,  he 
should  lay  the  town  in  ashes  within 
three  hours.  Unprepared  for  the  at 
tack,  the  inhabitants,  by  entreaty,  ob- 

VOL.  L— 50 


1775. 


tained  the  suspension  of  an  answer  till 
the  morning,  and  employed  this  inter 
val  in  removing  their  families  and 
effects.  The  next  day,  Captain  Mowat 
commenced  a  furious  cannonade  and 
bombardment ;  and  a  great  number  of 
people,  standing  on  the  heights,  were 
spectators  of  the  conflagration,  which 
reduced  many  of  them  to  penury 
and  despair.  More  than  four  hundred 
houses  and  stores  were  burnt.  New 
port,  Khode  Island,  being  threatened 
with  a  similar  attack,  was  compelled  to 
stipulate  for  a  weekly  supply  to  avert 
it* 

Outrages  of  this  kind  did  but  exas 
perate  the  feelings  of  the  colonists,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  their  enterprising 
spirit  led  them  to  undertake  expedi 
tions  against  the  British  on  the  water. 
Several  vessels  were  fitted  out,  and  the 
Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts, 
on  the  10th  of  November,  passed  a  law 
for  granting  letters  of  marque  and  re 
prisal  against  the  shipping  of  Great 
Britain.  A  court  of  admiralty  was  also 
established  by  the  provincial  authori 
ties.  The  colonies  farther  south  had 
entered  upon  similar  movements,  and 
five  or  six  armed  vessels  were  fitted 
out  by  Washington,  to  prevent,  as  far  as 
possible,  supplies  from  reaching  Boston 
by  sea.  Several  captures  were  made, 
and  particularly  a  valuable  one 
by  Captain  Manly,  November 
29th,  consisting  of  munitions  of  war, 
which  were  especially  acceptable  in  the 
present  emergency.  On  the  whole, 
however,  these  enterprises  were  not 
particularly  successful,  for  the  officers, 

*  Holmes's  "Annals,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  219. 


1775. 


378 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  XIII. 


LBK.  II. 


many  of  them,  were  incompetent,  and 
the  men  were  mutinously  inclined,  so 
that  the  entire  matter  was  more  plague 
than  profit  to  the  Commander-in-chief. 
We  may  mention  here,  also,  that  Con 
gress,  about  the  middle  of  December, 
resolved  to  fit  out  thirteen  ships,  of 


various  sizes  and  capacities,  a  move 
ment  which  gave  birth  to  that  illus 
trious  navy,  whose  brilliant  exploits  we 
shall  be  called  upon  to  narrate  in  sub 
sequent  chapters  of  this  history.* 


*  See  Cooper's  "Naval  History"  vol.  i.,  p.  50.  5L 


APPENDIX    TO     CHAPTER    XIII. 


L  — A  DECLARATION,  SETTING  FORTH  THE 
CAUSES  AND  NECESSITY  OF  THE  COLONIES 
TAKING  UP  ARMS.* 

IF  it  was  possible  for  men,  who  exercise  their 
reason,  to  believe  that  the  divine  Author  of  our 
existence  intended  a  part  of  the  human  race  to 
Lold  an  absolute  property  in,  and  an  unbounded 
power  over  others,  marked  out  by  his  infinite 
goodness  and  wisdom,  as  the  objects  of  a  legal 
domination  never  rightfully  resistible,  however 
severe  and  oppressive,  the  inhabitants  of  these 
colonies  might  at  least  require  from  the  Parlia 
ment  of  Great  Britain  some  evidence  that  this 
dreadful  authority  over  them  has  been  granted 
to  that  body.  But  a  reverence  for  our  great 
Creator,  principles  of  humanity,  and  the  dictates 
of  common  sense,  must  convince  all  those  who  re 
flect  upon  the  subject  that  government  was  insti 
tuted  to  promote  the  welfare  of  mankind,  and 
ought  to  be  administered  for  the  attainment  of 
that  end.  The  legislature  of  Great  Britain,  how 
ever,  stimulated  by  an  inordinate  passion  for  a 
power  not  only  unjustifiable,  but  which  they  know 
to  be  peculiarly  reprobated  by  the  very  constitu 
tion  of  that  kingdom,  and  desperate  of  success  in 
any  mode  of  contest  where  regard  should  be  had 
to  truth,  law,  or  right,  have  at  length,  deserting 
those,  attempted  to  effect  their  cruel  and  im 
politic  purpose  of  enslaving  these  colonies  by  vio- 


'  Adopted  July  6, 1775. 


loncc,  and  have  thereby  rendered  it  necessary  for 
us  to  close  with  their  last  appeal  from  reason  to 
arms.  Yet,  however  blinded  that  Assembly  may 
be  by  their  intemperate  rage  for  unlimited  domin 
ation,  so  to  slight  justice  and  the  opinion  of  man 
kind,  we  esteem  ourselves  bound  by  obligations 
of  respect  to  the  rest  of  the  world  to  make  known 
the  justice  of  our  cause. 

Our  forefathers,  inhabitants  of  the  Island  of 
Great  Britain,  left  their  native  land  to  seek  on 
these  shores  a  residence  for  civil  and  religious 
freedom.  At  the  expense  of  their  blood,  at  the 
hazard  of  their  fortunes,  without  the  least  charge 
to  the  country  from  which  they  removed,  by  un 
ceasing  labor  and  an  unconquerable  spirit,  they 
effected  settlements  in  the  distant  and  inhospita 
ble  wilds  of  America,  then  filled  with  numerous 
and  warlike  nations  of  barbarians.  Societies  or 
governments  vested  with  perfect  legislatures  were 
formed  under  charters  from  the  crown,  and  an 
harmonious  intercourse  was  established  between 
the  colonies  and  the  kingdom  from  which  they 
derived  their  origin.  The  mutual  benefits  of  this 
union  became  in  a  short  time  so  extraordinary  as 
to  excite  astonishment.  It  is  universally  con 
fessed  that  the  amazing  increase  of  the  wealth, 
strength,  arid  navigation  of  the  realm  arose  from 
this  source,  and  the  minister  who  so  wisely  and 
successfully  directed  the  measures  of  Great  Brit 
ain  in  the  late  war  publicly  declared,  that  these 
colonies  enabled  her  to  triumph  over  her  enemies. 
Towards  the  conclusion  of  that  war  it  pleased 


CH   XIII.  j          THE   CAUSE  AND   NECESSITY   OF  TAKING   UP  ARMS. 


379 


our  sovereign  to  make  a  change  in  his  counsels. 
From  that  fatal  moment  the  affairs  of  the  British 
empire  began  to  fall  into  confusion,  and  gradu 
ally  sliding  from  tho  summit  of  glorious  prosper 
ity,  to  which  they  had  been  advanced  by  the 
virtues  and  abilities  of  one  man,  are  at  length 
distracted  by  the  convulsions  that  now  shake  it  to 
its  deepest  foundations.  The  new  ministry,  find- 
iug  the  brave  foes  of  Britain,  though  frequently 
defeated,  yet  still  contending,  took  up  the  un 
fortunate  idea  of  granting  them  a  hasty  peace, 
and  of  then  subduing  her  faithful  friends. 

These  devoted  colonies  were  judged  to  be  in 
such  a  state  as  to  present  victories  without  blood 
shed,  and  all  the  easy  emoluments  of  statutable 
plunder.  The  uninterrupted  tenor  of  their  peace 
able  and  respectful  behavior  from  the  beginning 
of  colonization,  their  dutiful,  zealous,  and  useful 
services  during  the  war,  though  so  recently  and 
amply  acknowledged  in  the  most  honorable  man 
ner  by  his  majesty,  by  the  late  king,  and  by  Par 
liament,  could  not  save  them  from  the  meditated 
innovations.  Parliament  was  influenced  to  adopt 
tho  pernicious  project,  and  assuming  a  new  power 
over  them,  have,  in  the  course  of  eleven  years, 
given  such  decisive  specimens  of  the  spirit  and 
consequences  attending  this  power,  as  to  leave  no 
doubt  concerning  the  effects  of  acquiescence  un 
der  it.  They  have  undertaken  to  give  and  grant 
our  money  without  our  consent,  though  we  have 
ever  exercised  an  exclusive  right  to  dispose  of  our 
own  property  ;  statutes  have  been  passed  for  ex 
tending  the  jurisdiction  of  admiralty  and  vice- 
admiralty  courts  beyond  their  ancient  limits ;  for 
depriving  us  of  the  accustomed  and  inestimable 
privilege  of  trial  by  jury,  in  cases  affecting  both 
life  and  property ;  for  suspending  the  legislature 
of  one  of  the  colonies  ;  for  interdicting  all  com 
merce  with  the  capital  of  another ;  and  for  alter 
ing  fundamentally  the  form  of  government  estab 
lished  by  charter,  and  secured  by  acts  of  its  own 
legislature  solemnly  confirmed  by  the  crown  ;  for 
exempting  the  "  murderers"  of  colonists  from  legal 
trial,  and  in  effect  from  punishment ;  for  erecting 
in  a  neighboring  province,  acquired  by  the  joint 
arms  of  Great  Britain  and  America,  a  despotism 
dangerous  to  our  very  existence  ;  and  for  quarter 
ing  soldiers  upon  the  colonists  in  time  of  profound 
peace.  It  has  also  been  resolved  in  Parliament, 
that  colonists  charged  with  committing  certain  of 
fences  shall  be  transported  to  England  to  be  tried. 


But  why  should  we  enumerate  our  injuries  in 
detail  ?  By  one  statute  it  is  declared  that  Par 
liament  can  "  of  right  make  laws  to  bind  us  in 
all  cases  whatsoever."  What  is  to  defend  us 
against  so  enormous,  so  unlimited  a  power  ?  Not 
a  single  man  of  those  who  assume  it  is  chosen  by 
us,  or  is  subject  to  our  control  or  influence ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  they  are  all  of  them  exempt  from 
the  operation  of  such  laws,  and  an  American 
revenue,  if  not  diverted  from  the  ostensible  pur 
poses  for  which  it  is  raised,  would  actually  lighten 
their  own  burdens  in  proportion  as  they  increase 
ours.  We  saw  the  misery  to  which  such  despot 
ism  would  reduce  us.  We  for  ten  years  inces 
santly  and  ineffectually  besieged  the  throne  as 
supplicants  :  we  reasoned,  we  remonstrated  with 
Parliament  in  the  most  mild  and  decent  lan 
guage. 

Administration,  sensible  that  we  should  regard 
these  oppressive  measures  as  freemen  ought  to  do, 
sent  over  fleets  and  armies  to  enforce  them.  The 
indignation  of  the  Americans  was  roused,  it  is 
true,  but  it  was  the  indignation  of  a  virtuous, 
loyal,  and  affectionate  people.  A  Congress  of 
delegates  from  the  United  Colonies  was  assembled 
at  Philadelphia,  on  the  fifth  day  of  last  Septem 
ber.  We  resolved  again  to  offtT  an  humble  and 
dutiful  petition  to  the  king,  and  also  addressed, 
our  fellow  subjects  of  Great  Britain.  We  have 
pursued  every  temperate,  every  respectful  meas 
ure  ;  we  have  even  proceeded  to  break  off  our 
commercial  intercourse  with  our  fellow  subjects, 
as  the  last  peaceable  admonition,  that  our  attach 
ment  to  no  nation  on  earth  should  supplant  our 
attachment  to  liberty.  This,  we  flattered  our. 
selves,  was  the  ultimate  step  of  the  controversy ; 
but  subsequent  events  have  shown  how  vain  was 
this  hope  of  finding  moderation  in  our  enemies. 

Several  threatening  expressions  against  the 
colonies  were  inserted  in  his  majesty's  speech  ; 
our  petition,  though  we  were  told  it  was  a  decent 
one,  and  that  his  majesty  had  been  pleased  to 
receive  it  graciously,  and  to  promise  laying  it  be 
fore  his  Parliament,  was  huddled  into  both  Houses 
among  a  bundle  of  American  papers,  and  there 
neglected.  The  Lords  and  Commons  in  their  ad 
dress  in  the  month  of  February,  said  that  "  a  re 
bellion  at  that  time  actually  existed  within  tho 
province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  ;  and  that  those 
concerned  in  it  had  been  countenanced  and  en 
couraged  by  unlawful  combinations  and  engage- 


380 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  Alll 


[fin.  IL 


ments,  entered  into  by  his  majesty's  subjects  in 
several  of  the  other  colonies  ;  and  therefore  they 
besought  his  majesty  that  he  would  take  the  most 
effectual  measures  to  enforce  due  obedience  to  the 
laws  and  authority  of  the  supreme  Legislature." 
Soon  after,  the  commercial  intercourse  of  whole 
colonies,  with  foreign  countries,  and  with  each 
other,  was  cut  off  by  an  act  of  Parliament  ;  by 
another,  several  of  them  were  entirely  prohibited 
from  the  fisheries  in  the  seas  near  their  coasts,  on 
which  they  always  depended  for  their  sustenance; 
and  large  reinforcements  of  ships  and  troops  were 
immediately  sent  over  to  General  Gage. 

Fruitless  were  all  the  entreaties,  arguments, 
and  eloquence  of  an  illustrious  band  of  the  most 
distinguished  peers  and  commoners,  who  nobly 
and  strenuously  asserted  the  justice  of  our  cause, 
to  stay,  or  even  to  mitigate  the  heedless  fury  with 
which  these  accumulated  and  unexampled  out 
rages  were  hurried  on.  Equally  fruitless  was 
the  interference  of  the  city  of  London,  of  Bristol, 
and  many  other  respectable  towns  in  our  favor. 
Parliament  adopted  an  insidious  manoeuvre  cal 
culated  to  divide  us,  to  establish  a  perpetual 
auction  of  taxations  where  colony  should  bid 
against  colony,  all  of  them  uninformed  what  ran 
som  would  redeem  their  lives,  and  thus  to  extort 
from  us,  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  the  unknown 
sums  that  should  be  sufficient  to  gratify,  if  pos 
sible  to  gratify,  ministerial  rapacity,  with  the 
miserable  indulgence  left  to  us  of  raising,  in  our 
own  mode,  the  prescribed  tribute.  What  terms 
more  rigid  and  humiliating  could  have  been  dic 
tated  by  remorseless  victors  to  conquered  ene 
mies?  In  our  circumstances  to  accept  them, 
would  be  to  deserve  them. 

Soon  after  the  intelligence  of  these  proceedings 
arrived  on  this  continent,  General  Gage,  who  in 
the  course  of  the  last  year  had  taken  possession 
of  the  town  of  Boston,  in  the  province  of  Mas 
sachusetts  Bay,  and  still  occupied  it  as  a  garrison, 
on  the  nineteenth  day  of  April,  sent  out  from  that 
place  a  large  detachment  of  his  army,  who  made 
an  unprovoked  assault  on  the  inhabitants  of  the 
said  province,  at  the  town  of  Lexington,  as  ap 
pears  by  the  affidavits  of  a  great  number  of  per 
sons,  some  of  whom  were  officers  and  soldiers  of 
that  detachment,  murdered  eight  of  the  inhabit 
ants,  and  wounded  many  others.  From  thence 
the  troops  proceeded  in  warlike  array  to  the  town 
of  Concord,  where  they  set  upon  another  party 


of  the  inhabitants  of  the  same  province,  killing 
several  and  wounding  more,  until  compelled  to 
retreat  by  the  country  people  suddenly  assembled 
to  repel  this  cruel  aggression.  Hostilities,  thug 
commenced  by  the  British  troops,  have  been  since 
prosecuted  by  them  without  regard  to  faith  or 
reputation.  The  inhabitants  of  Boston  being 
confined  within  that  town  by  the  General,  their 
Governor,  and  having,  in  order  to  procure  their 
dismission,  entered  into  a  treaty  with  him,  it  was 
stipulated  that  the  said  nhabitants,  having  de 
posited  their  arms  with  their  own  magistrates, 
should  have  liberty  to  depart,  taking  with  them 
their  other  effects.  They  accordingly  delivered 
up  their  arms,  but,  in  open  violation  of  honor,  in 
defiance  of  the  obligation  of  treaties,  which  even 
savage  nations  esteem  sacred,  the  Governor  or 
dered  the  arms  deposited  as  aforesaid,  that  they 
might  be  preserved  for  their  owners,  to  be  seized 
by  a  body  of  soldiers  :  detained  the  greatest  part 
of  the  inhabitants  in  the  town,  and  compelled  the 
few  who  were  permitted  to  retire,  to  leave  theit 
most  valuable  effects  behind. 

By  this  perfidy  wives  are  separated  from  their 
husbands,  children  from  their  parents,  the  aged 
and  the  sick  from  their  relations  and  friends,  who 
wish  to  attend  and  comfort  them  ;  and  those  who 
have  been  used  to  live  in  plenty  and  even  ele 
gance,  are  reduced  to  deplorable  distress. 

The  General,  further  emulating  his  ministerial 
masters,  by  a  proclamation  bearing  date  on  the 
twelfth  day  of  June,  after  venting  the  grossest 
falsehoods  and  calumnies  against  the  good  people 
of  these  colonies,  proceeds  to  "  declare  them  all, 
either  by  name  or  description,  to  be  rebels  and 
traitors,  to  supersede  the  course  of  the  common 
law,  and  instead  thereof  to  publish  and  order  the 
use  and  exercise  of  the  law  martial."  His  troops 
have  butchered  our  countrymen,  have  wantonly 
burnt  Charlestown,  besides  a  considerable  number 
of  houses  in  other  places  ;  our  ships  and  vessels 
are  seized  ;  the  necessary  supplies  of  provisions 
are  intercepted,  and  he  is  exerting  his  utmost 
power  to  spread  destruction  and  devastation 
around  him. 

We  have  received  certain  intelligence  that 
General  Carleton,  the  Governor  of  Canada,  is 
instigating  the  people  of  that  province  and  the 
Indians  to  fall  upon  us  ;  and  we  have  but  too 
much  reason  to  apprehend  that  schemes  have 
been  formed  to  ex;:ite  domestic  enemies  against 


CH.  XIII.]          THE  CAUSE  AND   NECESSITY   OF  TAKING  UP  ARMS. 


381 


us.  In  biief,  a  part  of  these  colonies  now  feel, 
and  all  of  them  are  sure  of  feeling,  as  far  as  the 
vengeance  of  administration  can  inflict  them,  the 
complicated  calamities  of  fire,  sword,  and  famine. 
We  are  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  choosing  an 
unconditional  submission  to  the  tyranny  of  irri 
tated  ministers,  or  resistance  by  force.  The  latter 
is  our  choice.  We  have  counted  the  cost  of  this 
contest,  and  find  nothing  so  dreadful  as  voluntary 
slavery.  Honor,  justice,  and  humanity,  forbid  us 
tamely  to  surrender  that  freedom  which  we  re 
ceived  from  our  gallant  ancestors,  and  which  our 
innocent  posterity  have  a  right  to  receive  from 
us.  We  cannot  endure  the  infamy  and  guilt  of 
resigning  succeeding  generations  to  that  wretched 
ness  which  inevitably  awaits  them,  if  we  basely 
entail  hereditary  bondage  upon  them. 

Our  cause  is  just :  our  union  is  perfect :  our 
internal  resources  are  great,  and,  if  necessary, 
foreign  assistance  is  undoubtedly  attainable.  We 
gratefully  acknowledge,  as  signal  instances  of  the 
Divine  favor  towards  us,  that  his  Providence 
would  not  permit  us  to  be  called  into  this  severe 
controversy,  until  we  were  grown  up  to  our  pres 
ent  strength,  had  been  previously  exercised  in 
warlike  operation,  and  possessed  of  the  means  of 
defending  ourselves.  With  hearts  fortified  with 
these  animating  reflections,  we  most  solemnly, 
before  God  and  the  world,  declare,  that,  exerting 
the  utmost  energy  of  those  powers  which  our 
beneficent  Creator  hath  graciously  bestowed  up 
on  us,  the  arms  we  have  been  compelled  by  our 
enemies  to  assume,  we  will,  in  defiance  of  every 
hazard,  with  unabating  firmness  and  perseverance, 
employ  for  the  preservation  of  our  liberties  ; 
being  with  one  mind  resolved  to  die  freemen 
rather  than  to  live  slaves. 

Lest  this  declaration  should  disquiet  the  minds 
of  our  friesids  and  fellow-subjects  in  any  part  of 
the  empire,  we  assure  them  that  we  mean  not  to 
dissolve  that  union  which  has  so  long  and  so 
happily  subsisted  between  us,  and  which  we  sin 
cerely  wish  to  see  restored.  Necessity  has  not 
yet  driven  us  into  that  desperate  measure,  or  in 
duced  us  to  excite  any  other  nation  to  war  against 
them.  We  have  not  raised  armies  with  ambi 
tions  designs  of  separating  from  Great  Britain, 
and  establishing  independent  states.  We  fight 
not  for  plory  nor  for  conquest.  We  exhibit  to 
mankind  the  remarkable  spectacle  of  a  people 
attacked  by  unprovoked  enemies,  without  any 


imputation  or  even  suspicion  of  offence.  They 
boast  of  their  privileges  and  civilization,  and  yet 
proffer  no  milder  conditions  than  servitude  or 
death. 

In  our  native  land,  in  defence  of  the  freedom 
that  is  our  birth-right,  and  which  we  ever  en 
joyed  till  the  late  violation  of  it — for  the  protec 
tion  of  our  property,  acquired  solely  by  the  honest 
industry  of  our  forefathers  and  ourselves,  against 
violence  actually  offered,  we  have  taken  up  arms. 
We  shall  lay  them  down  when  hostilities  shall 
cease  on  the  part  of  the  aggressors,  and  all 
danger  of  their  being  renewed  shall  be  removed, 
and  not  before. 

With  an  humble  confidence  in  the  mercies  of 
the  supreme  and  impartial  Judge  and  Ruler  of 
the  Universe,  we  most  devoutly  implore  his  Divine 
goodness  to  protect  us  happily  through  this  great 
conflict,  to  dispose  our  adversaries  to  reconciliation 
on  reasonable  terms,  and  thereby  to  relieve  the 
empire  from  the  calamities  of  civil  war. 


II.— SECOND  PETITION  TO  THE  KING.* 
To  the  King's  most  Excellent  Majesty. 

MOST  GRACIOUS  SOVEREIGN'  : — WE,  your  ma 
jesty's  most  faithful  subjects,  of  the  colonies  of 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode 
Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  the  counties 
of  New  Castle,  Kent,  and  Sussex,  on  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  South 
Carolina,  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and  the  inhabit 
ants  of  these  colonies,  who  have  deputed  us  to 
represent  them  in  general  Congress,  entreat  your 
majesty's  gracious  attention  to  this  our  humble 
petition. 

The  union  between  our  mother  country  and 
these  colonies,  and  the  energy  of  mild  and  just 
government,  produced  benefits  so  remarkably  im 
portant,  and  afforded  such  an  assurance  of  their 
permanency  and  increase,  that  the  wonder  and 
envy  of  other  nations  were  excited,  while  they 
beheld  Great  Britain  rising  to  a  power  the  most 
extraordinary  the  world  had  ever  known. 

Her  rivals,  observing  there  was  no  probability 
of  this  happy  connection  being  broken  by  civil 


'Adopted  July  8, 1T75. 


382 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  XIII. 


I  £>K.    U. 


dissensions,  and  apprehending  its  future  effects, 
If  left  any  longer  undisturbed,  resolved  to  prevent 
her  receiving  such  continual  and  formidable  ac 
cessions  of  wealth  and  strength,  by  checking  the 
growth  of  those  settlements  from  which  they  were 
to  be  derived. 

In  the  prosecution  of  this  attempt,  events  so 
unfavorable  to  the  design  took  place,  that  every 
friend  to  the  interest  of  Great  Britain  and  these 
colonies,  entertained  pleasing  and  reasonable  ex 
pectations  of  seeing  an  additional  force  and  exer 
tion  immediately  given  to  the  operations  of  the 
union  hitherto  experienced,  by  an  enlargement  of 
the  dominions  of  the  crown,  and  the  removal  of 
ancient  and  warlike  enemies  to  a  greater  distance. 
At  the  conclusion,  therefore,  of  the  late  war,  the 
most  glorious  and  advantageous  that  ever  had 
been  carried  on  by  British  arms,  your  loyal  colo 
nists  having  contributed  to  its  success,  by  such 
repeated  and  strenuous  exertions,  as  frequently 
procured  them  the  distinguished  approbation  of 
your  majesty,  of  the  late  king,  and  of  Parliament, 
doubted  not  but  that  they  should  be  permitted, 
with  the  rest  of  the  empire,  to  share  in  the  bless 
ings  of  peace,  and  the  emoluments  of  victory  and 
conquest. 

While  these  recent  and  honorable  acknowledg 
ments  of  their  merits  remained  on  record  in  the 
journals  and  acts  of  that  august  legislature,  the 
Parliament,  undefaced  by  the  imputation  or  even 
the  suspicion  of  any  offence,  they  were  alarmed 
by  a  new  system  of  statutes  and  regulations, 
adopted  for  the  administration  of  the  colonies, 
that  filled  their  minds  with  the  most  painful  fears 
and  jealousies ;  and,  to  their  inexpressible  as 
tonishment,  perceived  the  danger  of  a  foreign 
quarrel,  quickly  succeeded  by  domestic  danger,  in 
their  judgment,  of  a  more  dreadful  kind. 

Nor  were  these  anxieties  alleviated  by  any 
teudency  in  this  system  to  promote  the  welfare 
of  their  mother  country.  For  though  its  effects 
were  more  immediately  felt  by  them,  yet  its  in 
fluence  appeared  to  be  injurious  to  the  commerce 
and  prosperity  of  Great  Britain. 

We  shall  decline  the  ungrateful  task  of  describ 
ing  the  irksome  variety  of  artifices,  practised  by 
many  of  your  majesty's  ministers,  the  delusive  pre- 
tefices,  fruitless  terrors,  and  unavailing  severities, 
that  have,  from  time  to  time,  been  dealt  out  by 
them,  in  their  attempts  to  execute  this  impolitic 
plan,  or  of  tracing,  through  a  series  of  years  past, 


the  progress  of  the  unhappy  differences  between 
Great  Britain  and  these  colonies,  that  have  flowed 
from  this  fatal  source. 

Your  majesty's  ministers,  persevering  in  their 
measures,  and  proceeding  to  open  hostilities  for 
enforcing  them,  have  compelled  us  to  arm  in  our 
own  defence,  and  have  engaged  us  in  a  controversy 
so  peculiarly  abhorrent  to  the  affections  of  your 
still  faithful  colonists,  that  when  we  consider 
whom  we  must  oppose  in  this  contest,  and  if  it 
continues,  what  may  be  the  consequences,  our  own 
particular  misfortunes  are  accounted  by  us  only 
as  parts  of  our  distress. 

Knowing  to  what  violent  resentments,  and  in 
curable  animosities,  civil  u'iscords  are  apt  to  exas 
perate  and  inflame  the  contending  parties,  we 
think  ourselves  required  by  indispensable  obliga 
tion  to  Almighty  God,  to  your  majesty,  to  our 
fellow  subjects,  and  to  ourselves,  immediately  to 
use  all  the  means  in  our  power,  not  incompatible 
with  our  safety,  for  stopping  the  further  effusion 
of  blood,  and  for  averting  the  impending  calamities 
that  threaten  the  British  empire. 

Thus  called  upon  to  address  your  majesty  on 
affairs  of  such  moment  to  America,  and  probably 
to  all  your  dominions,  we  are  earnestly  desirous 
of  performing  this  office,  with  the  utmost  deference 
for  your  majesty  :  and  we  therefore  pray  that 
your  majesty's  royal  magnanimity  and  benevolence 
may  make  the  most  favorable  construction  of  our 
expressions  on  so  uncommon  an  occasion.  Could 
we  represent  in  their  full  force,  the  sentiments 
that  agitate  the  minds  of  us  your  dutiful  subjects, 
we  are  persuaded  your  majesty  would  ascribe  any 
seeming  deviation  from  reverence  in  our  language, 
and  even  in  our  conduct,  not  to  any  reprehensible 
intention,  but  to  the  impossibility  of  reconciling 
the  usual  appearances  of  respect,  with  a  just  at 
tention  to  our  own  preservation  against  those  art 
ful  and  cruel  enemies,  who  abuse  your  royal  con 
fidence  and  authority,  for  the  purpose  of  effecting 
our  destruction. 

Attached  to  your  majesty's  person,  family,  and 
government,  with  all  the  devotion  that  principle 
and  affection  can  inspire,  connected  with  Great 
Britain  by  the  strongest  ties  that  cau  unite  socie 
ties,  and  deploring  every  event  that  tends  in  any 
degree  to  weaken  them,  we  solemnly  assure  youi 
majesty  that  we  not  only  desire  the  former  har 
mony  between  her  and  these  colonies  may  be  re 
stored,  but  that  a  concord  may  be  established  be- 


Cn.  XIII.] 


SECOND   PETITION  TO  THE  KING. 


383 


tween  them  upon  so  firm  a  basis  as  to  perpetuate 
its  blessings,  uninterrupted  by  any  future  dissen 
sions,  to  succeeding  generations  in  both  countries, 
and  to  transmit  your  majesty's  name  to  posterity, 
adorned  with  that  signal  and  lasting  glory  that 
has  attended  the  memory  of  those  illustrious  per 
sonages  whose  virtues  and  abilities  have  extricated 
states  from  dangerous  convulsions,  and  by  secur 
ing  happiness  to  others,  have  erected  the  most 
noble  and  durable  monuments  to  their  own  fame. 

We  beg  leave  further  to  assure  your  majesty, 
that  notwithstanding  the  sufferings  of  your  loyal 
colonists  during  the  course  of  this  present  contro 
versy,  our  breasts  retain  too  tender  a  regard  for 
the  kingdom  from  which  we  derive  our  origin  to 
request  such  a  reconciliation  as  might  in  any  man 
ner  be  inconsistent  with  her  dignity  or  her  welfare. 
These,  related  as  we  are  to  her,  honor  and  duty, 
as  well  as  inclination,  induce  us  to  support  and 
advance  ;  and  the  apprehensions  that  now  oppress 
our  hearts  with  unspeakable  grief,  being  once  re 
moved,  your  majesty  will  find  your  faithful  sub 
jects  on  this  continent  ready  and  willing  at  all 
times,  as  they  have  ever  been,  with  their  lives  and 
fortunes,  to  assert  and  maintain  the  rights  and 
interests  of  your  majesty,  and  of  our  mother 
country. 

We,  therefore,  beseech  your  majesty  that  youv 
royal  authority  and  influence  may  be  graciously 
interposed  to  procure  us  relief  from  our  afflicting 


fears  and  jealousies,  occasioned  by  the  system  be 
fore  mentioned,  and  to  settle  peace  through  every 
part  of  your  dominions,  with  all  humility  submit 
ting  to  your  majesty's  wise  consideration  whether 
it  may  not  be  expedient  for  facilitating  those  im 
portant  purposes,  that  your  majesty  be  pleased  to 
direct  some  mode  by  which  the  united  applica 
tions  of  your  faithful  colonists  to  the  throne,  in 
pursuance  of  their  common  councils,  may  be  im 
proved  into  a  happy  and  permanent  reconcilia 
tion  :  and  that,  in  the  meantime,  measures  may 
be  taken  for  preventing  the  further  destruction 
of  the  lives  of  your  majesty's  subjects,  and  that 
such  statutes  as  more  immediately  distress  any  of 
your  majesty's  colonies  may  be  repealed. 

For,  by  such  arrangements  as  your  majesty's 
wisdom  can  form  for  collecting  the  united  sense 
of  your  American  people,  we  are  convinced  your 
majesty  would  receive  such  satisfactory  proofs  of 
the  disposition  of  the  colonists  towards  their  sov 
ereign  and  parent  state,  that  the  wished-for  oppor 
tunity  would  soon  be  restored  to  them  of  evincing 
the  sincerity  of  their  profession,  by  every  testi 
mony  of  devotion  becoming  the  most  dutiful  sub 
jects  and  the  most  affectionate  colonists. 

That  your  majesty  may  enjoy  a  long  and  pros 
perous  reign,  and  that  your  descendants  may 
govern  your  dominions  with  honor  to  themselves, 
and  happiness  to  their  subjects,  is  our  sincere 
prayer. 


384 


THE    BIRTH-YEAR   OF  THE   REPUBLIC. 


[BK. 


CHAPTER     XIY. 

1775—1776. 

THE     BIRTH-YEAR      OF     THE     REPUBLIC, 

Course  of  Parliament  looked  to  with  anxiety  —  Petition  to  the  King  rejected — Debates  in  Parliament — Foreign 
mercenaries  to  be  employed — Act  prohibiting  trade  with  colonies  —  Crisis  had  arrived  —  Paine's  Common 
Sense  —  Its  effect  —  Dunmore's  high-handed  proceedings  at  the  South  —  Norfolk  bombarded — Conolly's  scheme 
with  the  Indiana — State  of  feeling  in  New  York  —  Press  of  Rivingtou's  Gazette  destroyed  —  Plan  of  the  Eng 
lish  to  seize  upon  the  Hudson  •  -Lee  in  command  in  New  York  —  Tory  influence  predominant  —  The  Johnson 
family  —  Their  course  —  Scene  in  the  camp  —  Washington  and  the  "  round  jackets  and  rifle  shirts"  —  Holmes's 
summing  up  of  the  year  1775 — Singular  aspect  of  affairs  —  The  alternative,  submission  or  independence  — 
Washington  before  Boston  —  Scarcity  of  provisions  in  the  city  —  Botta's  account  of  the  occupation  of  Dorches 
ter  Heights  and  the  evacuation  of  Boston — Thanks  of  Congress  to  Washington  —  British  troops  sail  for  Hali 
fax —  Putnam  sent  on  to  New  York  —  Lee  dispatched  to  the  South  —  AVashington  meets  Congress  —  Plots  of 
the  Tories — Attempt  to  seize  Washington's  person,  and  convey  him  to  the  enemy  —  Proceedings  with  respect 
to  colonial  governments  —  Chief  Justice  Drayton's  charge  to  the  grand  jury — Clinton's  attack  on  Charleston 

—  Sergeant  Jasper's  heroic  conduct  —  Declaration  of  Independence  felt  to  be  necessary  —  Instructions  to  dele 
gates  from  various  colonies — Proceedings  and  debates  in  Congress  —  The  resolution  that  the  colonies  are,  and 
of  right  ought  to  be,  independent  —  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE — Importance  e^the  ground  then  taken 

—  The  jubilee  day  —  Moral  force  of    the  position  assumed   by  our   fathers.     APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XIV. — !. 
l)raft  of  the  Declaration  of   Independence  and  the  amendments  made  by  Congress. — II.  Extract  from  John 
Quincy  Adams's  Fourth  of  July  Oration,  1881. 


THE  assembling  of  Parliament,  in 
October,  1775,  was  looked  to  with  anx 
iety  and  concern  by  the  Americans. 
On  the  course  which  it  should  resolve 
to  pursue  would  depend  very  materially 
the  nature  and  extent  of  the  opposition 
which  the  colonists  were  prepared  to 
sustain  against  its  previous  acts. 

1775 

If  Parliament  should  see  fit  to 
make  such  concessions  and  assurances 
for  the  future,  as  the  people  in  America 
demanded  as  their  right,  possibly  the 
differences  and  disputes  which  had  pro 
ceeded  already  to  so  great  lengths, 
might  be  accommodated  and  amicably 
settled ;  but  if,  on  the  other  hand,  that 
body  should  persist  in  its  offensive  at 
titude,  and  continue  to  employ  force  in 
order  to  subdue  the  colonies,  then  force 


must  be  met* by  force,  and  the  people 
must  nerve  themselves  for  war  and 
bloodshed. 

The  petition  to  the  King,  on  which 
some  had  built  considerable  hope,  was 
rejected  with  contempt,  and  in  his 
speech  at  the  opening  of  Parliament, 
George  III.  not  only  accused  the  colo 
nists  of  revolt,  hostility,  and  rebellion, 
but  stated  that  the  rebellious  war  car 
ried  on  by  them  was  for  the  purpose 
of  establishing  an  independent  empire. 
To  prevent  this,  he  informed  Parlia 
ment  that  the  most  decisive  and  vigor 
ous  measures  were  necessary ;  that  he 
had  consequently  increased  his  naval 
establishment,  had  augmented  his  land 

7  O 

forces,  and  had  also  taken  measures  to 
procure  the  aid  of  foreign  troops.  He 


CH.   XIV. 


ACTION   OF   PARLIAMENT. 


385 


at  the  same  time  declared  his  intention 
of  appointing  certain  persons  with  au 
thority  to  grant  pardons  to  individuals, 
and  to  receive  the  submission  of  those 
colonies  disposed  to  return  to  their  al 
legiance. 

In  the  debate  on  the  address,  in  re 
ply  to  the  royal  speech,  the  conduct 
of  the  ministry  was  severely  canvassed. 
General  Conway  and  the  Duke  of  Graf- 
ton  resigned  their  places  and  joined  the 
opposition.  The  ill  health  of  Lord 
Chatham  prevented  his  advocating  the 
cause  of  the  Americans ;  but  there 
were  not  wanting  others  to  speak  in 
tones  of  warning  against  the  attempt 
to  force  the  people  of  America  to  sub 
mission.  Camden,  Shelburne,  Rich 
mond,  Barre,  and  others,  did  all  in 
their  power  to  prevent  the  action  of 
the  ministry ;  but  Lord  North  was 
supported  by  large  majorities,  in  both 
Houses.  The  king  was  obstinately  bent 
upon  this  course,  and  the  measures 
adopted  were  of  the  most  stringent 
character.*  Twenty-five  thousand  men 
were  promptly  voted  to  be  employed 
in  America.  As  it  was  not  found  easy 
to  enlist  troops  in  England,  the  em 
ployment  of  foreign  mercenaries  was 
determined  upon.  Between  seventeen 
and  eighteen  thousand  men,  principally 
from  Hesse  Cassel  and  Brunswick,  were 
hired  at  exorbitant  rates.  The  odious- 
ness  of  employing  the  Hessians  against 
the  Americans  was  forcibly  pointed 
out  in  Parliament,  and  probably  no 
measure  could  have  been  devised  which 


*  For  an  abstract  of  the  debates  in  Parliament  at 
this  time,  see  Holmes's  "  Annals"  \*ol.  ii.,  pp.  227- 
21 

- -01..    I.— 51 


was  calculated  to  wound  so  deeply  the 
feelings  of  those  who  were  contending 
for  their  rights  and  liberties.  By  this 
arrangement,  a  force  of  between  forty 
and  fifty  thousand  men  was  got  to 
gether  for  the  purpose  of  compelling 
the  Americans  to  submission. 

Kichard  Penn,  who  had  had  charge  of 
the  petition  to  the  king,  was  examined 
before  the  House  of  Lords,  and  gave 
it  as  his  positive  opinion,  that  no  de 
signs  of  independency  had  hitherto 
been  formed  by  Congress,  as  none  cer 
tainly  had  at  that  time  been  openly 
and  formally  avowed  ;  but  the  minis 
try  were  in  possession  of  intercepted 
letters  by  John  Adams,  which  plainly 
indicated  designs  of  quite  another  de 
scription.  The  Duke  of  Richmond 
moved  that  the  petition  of  Congress 
might  be  made  the  basis  of  a  further 
reconciliation,  but  his  motion  was  re 
jected.  In  the  House  of  Commons, 
(November  16th,)  Burke  introduced 
and  powerfully  supported  a  bill  for  the 
repeal  of  the  obnoxious  Acts,  granting 
an  amnesty  for  the  past,  but  his  pres 
ent  efforts  were  as  unsuccessful  as  the 
former,  and  the  bill  was  rejected  by  a 
majority  of  two  to  one.  A  similar 
movement,  made  soon  after  by  Hartley, 
met  with  no  better  fate. 

Toward  the  close  of  December,  the 
ministry  carried  through  Parliament  an 
act  prohibiting  all  trade  and  commerce 
with  the  colonies,  and  authorizing  the 
capture  and  condemnation,  not  only  of 
all  American  vessels,  with  their  cargoes, 
but  all  other  vessels  found  trading  in 
any  port  or  place  in  the  colonies,  as  if 
the  same  were  the  vessels  and  effects 
of  open  enemies ;  and  the  vessels  and 


386 


THE  BIRTH-YEAR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


[Bs.  R 


property  thus  taken  were  vested  in 
the  captors,  and  the  crews  were  to  be 
treated,  not  as  prisoners,  but  as  slaves. 
"  By  a  most  extraordinary  clause  in  this 
act,"  says  Pitkin,  "  it  was  made  lawful 
for  the  commander  of  a  British  vessel 
to  take  the  masters,  crews,  and  other 
persons,  found  in  the  captured  vessels, 
to  put  them  on  board  any  other  British 
armed  vessel,  and  enter 'their  names  on 
the  books  of  the  same ;  and  from  the 
time  of  such  entry,  such  persons  were 
to  be  considered  in  the  service  of  his 
majesty,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as 
though  they  had  entered  themselves 
voluntarily  on  board  of  such  vessel. 
By  this  means  the  Americans  might  be 
compelled  to  fight  even  against  their 
own  friends  and.  countrymen.  This 
clause  in  the  act  excited  the  indig 
nation  of  many  in  both  Houses  of 
Parliament,  and  drew  from  them 
the  strongest  epithets  of  reprobation. 
This  treatment  of  prisoners,  they  de 
clared  not  only  unjust,  but  a  refine 
ment  in  cruelty  unknown  among  sav 
age  nations.  No  man,  they  said,  could 
be  despoiled  of  his  goods  as  a  foreign 
enemy,  and  at  the  same  time  compelled 
to  serve  the  state  as  a  citizen.  Such 
a  compulsion  upon  prisoners  was  un 
known  in  any  case  of  war  or  rebellion ; 
and  the  only  example  of  the  kind  that 
could  be  produced,  must  be  found 
among  pirates,  the  outlaws  and  ene 
mies  of  human  society.  Some  of  the 
lords,  in  their  protest  against  the  act, 
described  it  '  as  a  refinement  in  cruelty,' 
which,  '  in  a  sentence  worse  than  death, 
obliged  the  unhappy  men  who  should 
be  made  captives  in  that  predatory 
war,  to  bear  arms  against  their  fami 


lies,  kindred,  friends,  and  country ;  and 
after  being  plundered  themselves,  to  be 
come  accomplices  in  plundering  their 
brethren.'  The  ministry,  on  the  other 
hand,  pretended  to  view  this  treatment 
of  American  prisoners  rather  as  an  act 
of  grace  and  favor  than  of  injustice  or 
cruelty."* 

It  was  evident,  from  these  measures 
of  Parliament,  that  the  great  crisis  had 
been  reached,  when  the  American  peo 
ple  were  called  upon  to  choose  whether 
they  would  yield  submission  to  the 
mother  country  in  her  imperious  de 
mands,  as  children  in  fear  of  the  rod,  or 
whether  they  would  persist  in  resisting 
aggression  and  wrong,  as  became  free 
men  and  the  heirs  of  an  illustrious  an 
cestry  of  freemen.  The  time  had  now 
arrived,  when  they  must  either  retrace 
their  steps  with  shame  and  dishonor,  or 
prepare  to  go  forward  and  sustain  their 
position  at  the  risk  of  their  lives  and 
the  great  uncertainty  of  final  success. 
Happily  for  us,  their  children,  our 
fathers  did  not  falter,  but  calmly  and 
resolutely  entered  upon  the  work  set 
before  them. 

The  voting  a  band  of  foreign  merce 
naries  to  carry  fire  and  sword  into  Amer 
ica,  was  felt  to  be  a  grievance  utterly 
insupportable,  and  a  measure  which 
clearly  indicated  that  England  would 
stop  short  at  nothing  less  than  absolute 
conquest  over  the  colonists.  However 
it  might  have  been  hoped  by  numbers, 
who  loved  peace  and  dreaded  the  hoi 
rors  of  war,  that  in  some  way  a  recon 
ciliation  could  be  effected,  this  last  out- 

*  Pitkin's    "  ^Political  and   Civil  History  of  the 
United  States,"  vol.  i.,  p.  35? 


CH.  XIV.J 


LORD   DUNMORE'S  PROCEEDINGS. 


381 


rage  was  sufficient  to  convince  all  that 
the  time  for  decision  had  arrived. 
Americans  must  resolve  now  to  pur 
chase  freedom  at  the  cost  of  a  long  and 
expensive  war. 

While  men's  minds  were  deeply 
stirred  on  this  eventful  topic,  and  while 
they  mused,  with  various  feelings,  on 
the  subject  of  INDEPENDENCE,  the 
pamphlet  of  Thomas  Paine,  entitled 
"  Common  Sense,"  made  its  appearance. 
Paine,  though  an  Englishman,  was  an 
ardent  republican ;  and  the  style,  man 
ner  and  matter  of  his  pamphlet  were 
calculated  to  interest  the  passions,  and 
to  rouse  all  the  energies  of  human 
nature.  With  a  view  of  operating  on 
the  sentiments  of  a  religious  people, 
Scripture  was  pressed  into  his  service, 
and  the  powers,  and  even  the  name  of 
a  "king  was  rendered  odious  in  the  eyes 
of  the  numerous  colonists  who  had  read 
and  studied  the  history  of  the  Jews,  as 
recorded  in  the  Old  Testament.  The 
folly  of  that  people  in  revolting  from  a 
government  instituted  by  Heaven  itself, 
and  the  oppressions  to  which  they  were 
subjected  in  consequence  of  their  lust 
ing  after  kings  to  rule  over  them, 
afforded  an  excellent  handle  for  pre 
possessing  the  colonists  in  favor  of  re 
publican  institutions,  and  prejudicing 
them  against  kingly  government.  He 
reditary  succession  was  turned  into  ridi 
cule.  The  absurdity  of  subjecting  a 
great  continent  to  a  small  island  on  the 
other  side  of  the  globe,  was  represented 
in  such  striking  language,  as  to  interest 
the  honor  and  pride  of  the  colonists  in 
renouncing  the  government  of  Great 
Britain.  The  necessity,  the  advantage, 
and  practicability  of  independence  were 


forcibly  demonstrated.  Nothing  could 
be  better  timed  than  this  production; 
it  was  addressed  to  freemen,  who  had 
just  received  convincing  proof,  that 
Great  Britain  had  thrown  them  out  of 
her  protection,  had  engaged  foreign 
mercenaries  to  make  war  upon  them, 
and  seriously  designed  to  compel  their 
unconditional  submission  to  her  unlim 
ited  power.  It  found  the  colonists  most 
thoroughly  alarmed  for  their  liberties, 
and  disposed  to  do  and  suffer  any  thing 
that  promised  their  establishment.  In 
union  with  the  feelings  and  sentiments 

O 

of  the  people,  it  produced  surprising 
effects.  Many  thousands  were  con 
vinced,  and  were  led  to  approve  and 
even  long  for  a  separation  from  the 
mother  country. 

At  the  south,  the  proceedings  of 
Lord  Dunmore  stirred  up  great  oppo 
sition.  Most  of  the  royal  governors 
remained  inactive  in  the  midst  of  popu 
lar  excitement,  but  the  governor  of 
Virginia  was  determined  to  do  some 
thing  in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  the  min 
istry.  Several  steps  which  he  took 
roused  the  ire  of  the  Virginians,  and 
among  other  things  he  held  out  threats 
of  proclaiming  liberty  to  the  slaves, 
destroying  the  town  of  Williamsburg, 
and  the  like.  The  people  held  frequent 
assemblies.  Some  of  them  took  up  arms 
to  force  the  governor  to  restore  the 
powder,  and  to  get  the  public  money 
into  their  own  possession. 

Lord  Dunmore  was  so  much  intimi 
dated  by  these  resolute  proceedings  on 
the  part  of  the  people,  that  he  sent  his 
family  on  board  a  man-of-war.  He 
himself,  however,  issued  a  proclama 
tion,  in  which  he  declared  the  behavior 


3SS 


TI1K   BIRTH- YEAR   OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


[P,K.  11 


of  the  person  \v  ho  promoted  the  tumult 
treasonable,  accused  the  people  of  dis 
affection,  etc.  On  their  part,  they  were 
by  no  means  deficient  in  recriminating; 
and  some  letters  of  his  to  England  being 
about  the  same  time  discovered,  conse 
quences  ensued  similar  to  those  which 
liad  been  occasioned  in  the  case  of 
Ilutchinson  and  Oliver,  at  Boston. 

In  this  state  of  confusion,  the  gover 
nor  thought  it  necessary  to  fortify  his 
palace  with  artillery,  and  procure  a 
'party  of  marines  to  •  guard  it.  Lord 
North's  conciliatory  proposal  arriving 
also  about  the  same  time,  he  used  his 
utmost  endeavors  to  cause  the  people 
to  comply  with  it.  The  arguments  he 
used  \vere  of  such  a  description  that  had 
not  matters  already  gone  too  far,  it  is 
highly  probable  that  some  attention 
would  have  been  paid  to  them.  "The 
view,"  he  said,  "in  which  the  colonies 
ought  to  behold  this  conciliatory  pro 
posal  was  no  more  than  an  earnest  ad 
monition  from  Great  Britain  to  relieve 
her  wants:  that  the  utmost  condescend- 
ence  had  been  used  in  the  mode 
of  application  ;  no  determinate 
sum  having  been  fixed,  as  it  was  thought 
most  worthy  of  British  generosity  to 
take  what  they  thought  could  be  con 
veniently  spared,  and  likewise  to  leave 
the  mode  of  raising  it  to  themselves," 
etc.  But  the  clamor  and  dissatisfaction 
were  now  so  universal,  that  nothing  else 

'  O 

could  be  attended  to.  The  governor 
had  called  an  Assembly  in  May,  for  the 
purpose  of  laying  this  conciliatory  pro 
posal  before  them ;  but  it  had  been  lit 
tle  attended  to.  The  Assembly  began 
their  session  by  inquiries  into  the  state 
of  the  magazine.  It  had  been  broken 


1775. 


into  by  some  of  the  townsmen;  for 
which  reason  spring-guns  had  been 
placed  there  by  the  governor,  which 
discharged  themselves  upon  the  offer. d- 
ers  at  their  entrance :  these  circum 
stances,  with  others  of  a  similar  kind, 
raised  such  a  violent  uproar,  that  as 
soon  as  the  preliminary  business  of  the 
session  was  over,  the  governor  retired 
on  board  a  man-of-war,  informing  the 
Assembly  that  he  durst  no  longer  trust 
himself  on  shore.  This  produced  a  long 
course  of  disputation,  which  ended  in  a 
positive  refusal  of  the  governor  to  trust 
himself  again  in  Williamsburg,  even  to 
give  his  assent  to  the  bills,  which  could 
not  be  passed  without  it,  and  though  the 
Assembly  offered  to  bind  themselves 
for  his  personal  safety.  In  his  turn  he 
requested  them  to  meet  him  on  board 
the  man-of-war,  where  he  then  was ; 
but  this  proposal  was  rejected,  and  all 
further  correspondence  of  a  friendly 
kind  was  discontinued. 

Lord  Dunmore,  thus  deprived  of  his 
government,  attempted,  in  the  autumn 
of  1775,  to  reduce  by  force  those  whom 
he  could  no  longer  govern.  Some  of 
the  most  strenuous  adherents  to  the 
British  cause,  whom  their  zeal  had  ren 
dered  obnoxious  at  home,  now  repaired 
to  him.  He  was  also  joined  by  num 
bers  of  black  slaves.  With  these,  and 
the  assistance  of  the  British  shipping, 
he  was  for  some  time  enabled 
to  carry  on  a  kind  of  predatory 
war,  sufficient  to  hurt  and  exasperate, 
but  not  to  subdue.  After  some  incou 
siderable  attempts  on  land,  proclaiming 
liberty  to  the  slaves,  and  setting  up  the 
royal  standard,  he  took  up  his  residence 
at  Norfolk,  a  maritime  town  of  some 


RIVINGTON'S   PRESS   DESTROYED. 


389 


consequence,  where  the  people  were 
more  loyal  towards  England  than  in 
most  other  places.  A  considerable  force, 
however,  was  collected  against  him ; 
and  the  natural  impetuosity  of  his  tem 
per  prompting  him  to  act  against  them 
with  more  courage  than  caution,  he  was 
entirely  defeated,  and  obliged,  early  in 
December,  to  retire  to  his  shipping, 
which  was  now  crowded  by  the  num 
ber  of  his  adherents.  On  the  first  of 
January,  IVYG,  having  been  reinforced 
by  the  arrival  of  the  Liverpool  man-of- 
war,  Dunuiore  bombarded  Norfolk,  the 
largest 'and  richest  town  in  Virginia; 
and  property  to  the  value  of  £300,000 
sterling,  was  destroyed.  Dunmore  con 
tinued,  during  the  summer,  his  dis 
graceful  incursions  along  the  rivers, 
burning  and  plundering  in  every  direc 
tion  :  he  was  finally  compelled  to  seek 
refuge  with  his  followers  and  plunder, 
n  Florida  and  the  Bermudas. 

In  the  mean  time  a  scheme  of  some 
importance  was  formed  by  Conolly, 
formerly  an  agent  of  Dunmore's  in 
Northern  Virginia,  and  a  man  of  an  in 
trepid  and  aspiring  disposition,  and 
attached  to  the  royal  cause.  The 
first  step  of  this  plan,  it  is  said,  was  to 
enter  into  a  league  with  the  Ohio  In 
dians.  This  he  communicated  to  Lord 
Dunmore,  and  it  received  his  approba 
tion  :  upon  which  Conolly  set  out  in 
furtherance  of  his  design.  On  his  re 
turn,  he  was  dispatched  to  General 
Gage,  at  Boston;  after  which  he  un 
dertook  to  accomplish  the  remainder  of 
his  scheme.  The  plan  probably  was, 
that  he  should  return  to  the  Ohio,  en 
gage  the  assistance  of  the  Indians,  and 
thence  push  through  the  back  settle 


ments  and  join  Lord  Dunmore  at  Alex 
andria.  But  the  whole  affair  was  sud 
denly  brought  to  an  end  by  Conolly's 
arrest  at  Fredericton,  in  Maryland, 
whence,  in  November,  he  and  his  com 
panions  were  sent  prisoners  to  Phila 
delphia. 

Governor  Martin  and  the  loyalists  in 
North  Carolina,  were  zealous  in  behalf 
of  the  cause  they  had  espoused  ;  but 
with  no  success.  The  activity  and  en 
terprise  of  their  opponents  prevented 
the  governor  and  General  Clinton,  who 
had  gone  to  Carolina,  from  effecting 
any  thing.  In  Georgia,  Governor  Wright 
was  equally  unsuccessful,  and  took  ref 
uge  on  board  a  ship  in  the  river. 

For  various  reasons,  arising  out  of 
her  position  and  relations,  New  York 
was  more  inclined  to  sustain  the  author 
ity  of  the  mother  country,  than  join 
heart  and  hand  with  the  other  colonies 
in  defence  of  their  rights  and  liberties. 
Governor  Tryon,  who  had  thought  it 
best  to  take  up  his  quarters  on  board 
the  Asia,  in  the  harbor,  kept  up  a  con 
stant  communication  with  the  loyalists 
on  shore,  and  was  very  active  in  en 
deavoring  to  defeat  the  plans 

. 

of  the  patriotic  few  who  longed 
for  independence.  Ilivington's  Gazette, 
the  government  paper,  annoyed  the  op 
ponents  of  the  crown  not  a  little,  and 
by  its  smartness  and  point,  became 
positively  offensive  to  the  patriots. 
This  was  not  to  be  borne,  and  so 
Captain  Sears,  in  November,  when  the 
Committee  of  Safety  declined  to  inter 
fere,  took  the  matter  in  hand.  lie  got 
together  a  party  of  light  horse  from 
Connecticut,  drew  up  in  front  of  Riv- 
ington's  office,  and  amid  the  cheers  of 


390 


THE  BIRTH-YEAR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


the  crowd,  broke  his  press,  and  carried 
off  the  type.  This  was  looked  upon  as 
a  high-handed  measure,  and  was  justly 
complained  of  to  the  next  Provincial 
Congress. 

In  October,  a  letter  was  laid  before 
Congress,  written  by  some  credible  per 
son  in  London,  stating  that  the  secret 
policy  of  the  British  government  was 
to  gain  possession  of  New  York  and 
the  Hudson  Elver,  and  in  this  way, 
by  opening  communication  between 
Canada  and  New  York,  distract  and 
divide  the  colonial  forces,  expose  Mas 
sachusetts  and  the  eastern  colonies  to 
the  inroads  of  the  Indians  in  the  pay 
of  the  government,  and  finally  succeed 
in  reducing  the  country  to  absolute 
subjection.  This  information  excited 
no  little  solicitude  respecting  the  Hud 
son,  and  its  importance  in  the  present 
juncture ;  and  when  it  was  known,  at 
the  close  of  the  year,  that  great  prepara 
tions  were  under  way  ;n  Boston  harbor, 
for  some  secret  expedition,  Washing 
ton  at  once  surmised,  that  the  object 
of  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  who  was  to  com 
mand  it,  was  to  seize  upon  New  York. 
Steps  were  immediately  taken  to  meet 
the  emergency ;  although,  as  we  may 
here  state,  the  event  showed  that  Clin 
ton's  present  aim  vvas  to  make  a  descent 
upon  North  Carolina, 

Early  in  17  7  6,  as  the  Committee  of 
Safety  was  considered  to  be  rather  luke 
warm.  General  Lee  was  ordered  to  take 
command  of  the  troops  sent  from  Con- 
1 776  necticut,  to  sustain  the  authority 
of  Congress,  and  prevent,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  machinations  of  Tryon 
and  the  loyalists.  Sir  Henry  Clinton 
looked  in  upon  New  York,  on  his  way 


to  Carolina;  and  Lee  declared,  "that 
he  would  send  word  on  board  the  men- 
of-war,  that,  if  they  set  a  house  on  fire, 
he  would  chain  a  hundred  of  their 
friends  by  the  neck,  and  make  the 
house  their  funeral  pile  ;'' — a  threat, 
by  the  way,  which  he  was  just  the  man 
to  put  into  execution. 

But  it  was  not  simply  in  the  city  of 
New  York  and  its  vicinity,  that  the 
loyalists  were  formidable.  They  pos 
sessed  considerable  strength  in  Tryon 
County,  that  part  of  the  province  west 
of  the  Schoharie  River,  where  the 
Johnson  family  exercised  preponderat 
ing  influence.  There  were  firm  Whiirs 

O  O 

there,  but  many  Tories  also  ;  and  Gen 
eral  Schuyler  thought  it  necessary,  in 
January,  to  send  a  detachment  from 
Albany,  to  disarm  the  Johnsons  and 
the  Highlanders,  and  compel  them  to 
give  hostages.  Guy  Johnson  had  gone 
to  Canada,  and  carried  off  most  of  the 
Mohawks  to  serve  the  British.  Sir 
John  Johnson  gave  his  parole,  not  to 
take  up  arms  against  America,  but 
later,  in  May,  when  it  was  attempted 
to  arrest  him  on  suspicion,  he  fled  to 
Canada,  raised  two  battalions  of  "  Royal 
Greens,"  and  became  quite  a  terror  on 
the  frontiers  of  New  York.  Brant,  the 
famous  Indian  chief,  was  Guy  Johnson's 
secretary,  and  was  very  active  against 
the  Americans. 

In  consequence  of  Lord  Dunmore's 
course,  in  Virginia,  as  stated  on  a  pre 
vious  page,  it  was  feared  that  Mount 
Vernon  might  be  attacked.  Washing 
ton,  therefore,  seeing  that  his  duties 
would  not  admit  of  his  visiting  home, 
sent  an  invitation  to  Mrs.  Washington, 
to  join  him  at  the  camp  before  Boston. 


Cn.  XIV.J 


LIFE  AT  HEAD   QUARTERS. 


391 


Her  presence  at  Lead-quarters,  was  of 
service  to  the  commander-in-clrief,  for 
she  presided  there  with  mingled  dig 
nity  and  affability.  Washington  had 
prayers  morning  and  evening,  and  was 
regular  in  his  attendance  at  the 

1775. 

church,  in  which  he  was  a  com 
municant.  Mr.  Irving  gives  a  graphic 
sketch  of  the  mode  of  life  prevailing  at 
the  time  at  head-quarters,  and  tells  of 
a  "  brawl  between  round  jackets  and 
rifle  shirts,"  which  brings  out  the  grave 
commander-in-chief  in  a  new  light. 
Truly,  it  must  have  been  a  refreshing 
sight,  to  see  the  summary  mode  in 
which  Washington  settled  the  con 
troversy  between  the  contending  par 
ties,  by  seizing  two  tall  brawny  rifle 
men  by  the  throat,  and  giving  them 
a  thorough  shaking,  as  well  as  reproof 
in  words.  We  can  well  imagine,  that 
in  three  minutes'  time,  no  one  remained 
on  the  ground,  but  the  two  Washing 
ton  had  collared ;  and  it  is  hard  to  tell 
which  is  most  to  be  admired  in  the 
whole  transaction,  the  simple  direct 
ness  of  the  process,  or  the  astonishing 
vioror  with  which  it  was  administered.* 

O 

In  November,  of  this  year,  Congress 
was  informed  that  a  foreigner  was  in 
Philadelphia,  who  was  desirous  of  mak 
ing  to  them  a  confidential  cornmunica- 

O 

tion.  At  first  no  notice  was  taken  of 
it,  but  the  intimation  having  been  sev 
eral  times  repeated,  a  committee,  con 
sisting  of  John  Jay,  Dr.  Franklin,  and 
Thomas  Jefferson,  was  appointed  to 
hear  what  he  had  to  say.  They  agreed 
to  meet  him  in  a  room  in  Carpenter's 


*  See  Irving's  "Life  of  Washington,"  vol.  ii.,  p. 
124 


Hall,  and,  at  the  time  appointed,  they 
found  him  there,  an  elderly,  lame  gen 
tleman,  and  apparently  a  wounded 
French  officer.  He  told  them  that  tho 
French  king  was  greatly  pleased  with 
the  exertions  for  liberty  which  the 
Americans  were  making  ;  that  he  wish 
ed  them  success,  and  would,  whenever 
it  should  be  necessary,  manifest  more 
openly,  his  friendly  sentiments  towards 
them.  The  committee  requested  to 
know  his  authority  for  giving  these  as 
surances.  He  answered  only,  by  draw 
ing  his  hand  across  his  throat,  and  say 
ing,  "  Gentlemen,  I  shall  take  care 
of  my  head."  They  then  asked  what 
demonstrations  of  friendship  they  might 
expect  from  the  King  of  France.  "  Gen 
tlemen,"  answered  he,  "if  you  want 
arms,  you  shall  have  them  ;  if  you  want 
ammunition,  you  shall  have  it ;  if  you 
want  money,  you  shall  have  it."  The 
committee  observed  that  these  were 
important  assurances,  and  again  desired 
to  know  by  what  authority  they  were 
made.  "  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  again 
drawing  his  hand  across  his  throat,  "  I 
shall  take  care  of  my  head ;"  and  this 
was  the  only  answer  they  could  obtain 
from  him.  He  was  seen  in  Philadelphia 
no  more.* 

Dr.  Holmes,  in  his  valuable  "Amer 
ican  Annals,"  sums  up  his  account  of  the 
year  1775,  in  language  well  worthy  the 
reader's  attention.  "At  the  close  of 
this  eventful  year,  we  are  presented 
with  a  train  of  interesting  and  instruc 
tive  reflections.  The  contemplative 
will  meditate  upon  the  impotency  of 
human  passions  and  counsels,  when  op- 

*  See  "Life  of  John  Jay,"  by  his  Son,  vol.  i.,  p.  3fll 


392 


THE   BIRTH-YEAR   OF   THE  REPUBLIC. 


[Bit.  II 


posed  to  the  immutable  laws  of  justice, 
and  to  the  uncontrollable  counsels  of 
Leaven.  At  the  opening  of  the  year, 
Lord  Chatham,  among  other  British 
patriots  and  statesmen,  had  faithfully 
declared  the  magnitude  of  the  Amer 
ican  controversy,  and  predicted  its 
issue.  He  enlarged  upon  the  danger 
ous  and  ruinous  events  that  were  com 
ing  upon  the  nation,  in  consequence  of 
the  present  dispute,  and  the  measures 
already  begun,  and  now  carrying  on 
by  his  majesty's  ministers.  '  I  know,' 
said  he,  '  that  no  one  will  avow,  that 
he  has  advised  his  majesty  to  these 
measures ;  every  one  shrinks  from  the 
charge.  But  somebody  has  advised 
his  majesty  to  these  measures,  and  if 
his  majesty  continues  to  hear  such  evil 
counsellors,  his  majesty  will  be  undone. 
His  majesty  may  indeed  wear  his  crown, 
but,  the  American  jewel  out  of  it,  it 
will  not  be  worth  the  wearing.  The 
very  first  drop  of  blood  will  make  a 
wound,  that  will  not  easily  be  skinned 
over.  Years,  perhaps  ages,  may  not 
heal  it.'  The  ministers  persisted  in 
their  measures.  Blood  was  soon  shed, 
and  the  wound  was  never  healed.  The 
jewel  was  lost."* 

It  was,  it  must  be  confessed,  a  singu 
lar  spectacle,  which  was  exhibited  to 
the  world,  in  America,  at  the  present 
crisis  in  public  affairs.  Professedly,  the 
people  were  in  allegiance  to  a  ruler  on 
the  other  side  of  a  broad  ocean,  and 
whose  commands  thev  had  for  ten 

«/ 

years,  more  or  less  openly,  disobeyed. 
They  had  zealously  adhered  to  a  do 
mestic  government,  which  the  king  de- 


*  Holmes's  "Annals,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  236. 


nounced     as    a    traitorous   usurpation. 
They  had  raised  an  army  avowedly  to 
fight  his  troops ;  they  had  engaged  in 
battle  with  these  troops ;  and  they  had 
invaded  the  adjacent  territory  of  tho 
king  of  England.     "  The  very  men  who 
were  engaged  in  acts  of  rebellion,  shrunk 
from  the  name  of  rebels.     In  the  tri 
bunals,  justice  was  still  administered  in 
the  name  of  the  king,  and  prayers  were 
every  day  offered  up  for  the  preserva 
tion  and  welfare   of   a    prince  whose 
authority   was   not  only  ignored,   but 
against  whom  a  determined  and  obsti 
nate  contest  was  maintained.     The  col 
onists  pretended  that  they  only  desired 
to  resume  their  ancient  relations,  and 
re-establish  the  royal  government  in  its 
original  shape,  when  in  fact  the  repub 
lican  system  had  long  been  introduced. 
They  declared  it   to  be  their  wish  to 
arrive   at   a  certain    end,    while    they 
recurred  to  every  means  which  tended 
to  conduct  them  to  the- contrary  one.'' 
So  anomalous  a  state  of  things  as  this, 
could    not  well  subsist   much   longer, 
and  the  alternative  became  plainer  and 
plainer,    submission    or  independence. 
The  current  set  strongly  in  favor  of 
the  latter.     The   great  majority  were 
impelled  by  every  consideration,  to  de 
sire  this,  as,  in  fact,  the  only  resource 
left  to  them.     There  were,  it  is  true, 
worthy  men   in   the  community,  who 
could  not  easily  reconcile  themselves  to 
the  idea  of  an  absolute  separation  from 
a  country  to  which  they  had  been  long 
bound    by  the    most   endearing   ties. 
They  saw  the  sword  drawn,  but  could 
not  tell  when  it  would  be  sheathed; 
they  feared  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
several  colonies  would  not  be  brought 


CH.  XIV.  j 


WASHINGTON  BEFORE   BOSTON. 


393 


to  coalesce  under  an  efficient  govern 
ment,   and   that   after   much  anarchy, 
some  future  Caesar,  or  Cromwell,  would 
grasp  their  liberties,  and  confirm  him 
self  on  a  throne  of  despotism.     They 
doubted  the  perseverance  of  their  coun 
trymen,  in  effecting  their  independence, 
and  were  also  apprehensive,  that  in  case 
of  success,  their  future  condition  would 
be  less  happy  than  their  past.     Some 
respectable    individuals,    whose    prin 
ciples  were  pure,  but  whose  souls  were 
not  of  that  firm  texture  which  revolu 
tions   require,  shrunk   back   from  the 
bold  measures  proposed  by  their  more 
adventurous   countrymen.     To  submit 
without  an   appeal  to  heaven,  though 
secretly  wished  for  by  some,  was  not 
the  avowed  sentiment  of  any ;  but  to 
persevere  in  petitioning  and  resisting, 
was  the  system  of  some  misguided  hon 
est  men.     The  favorers  of  that  opinion 
were  generally  wanting  in  that  decision 
which  grasps  at  great  objects,  and  in 
fluenced  by  that  timid   policy  which 
does  its  work  by  halves.     Most  of  them 
dreaded  the  power  of  England.   A  few, 
on  the  score  of  interest,  or  in  expect 
ancy  of  favors  from  the  royal  govern 
ment,  refused  to  concur  with  the  gen 
eral  voice.     Some  of  the  natives  of  the 
mother  country,  who,  having  lately  set 
tled  in  the   colonies,  had  not  yet  ex 
changed  European  for  American  ideas, 
together  with  a  few  others,  conscien 
tiously  opposed  the  measures  of  Con 
gress  :   notwithstanding   all  this,  how 
ever,  the  great  bulk  of  the  people,  and 
especially  of  the  spirited  and  indepen 
dent  part  of  the  community,  came  with 
surprising   unanimity  into  the   project 
of  severing  the  tie  which  bound  them 

VOL.  I.— 52 


1776. 


to  England.  And  when  once  the  idea 
of  independence  was  clearly  grasped, 
and  fully  appreciated,  it  was  impossible 
to  stay  the  onward  progress  of  America 
toward  that  glorious  result. 

Washington,  meanwhile,  was  waiting, 
impatiently,  before  Boston.  His  own 
wish  had  been,  to  take  some  active 
measures  ere  this,  but  various 
circumstances  operated  to  •  pre 
vent  the  accomplishment  of  his  pur 
poses.  Congress,  fearing,  perhaps,  that 
the  commander-in-chief  hesitated,  lest 
an  assault  might  be  destructive  of  the 
property  which  many  of  the  patriots 
and  members  of  their  body  owned  in 
Boston,  formally  urged  Washington  not 
to  let  any  considerations  of  the  kind 
interfere  with  the  measures  he  deemed 
advisable.  It  was  important,  on  every 
account,  to  dislodge  the  enemy,  and 
Washington  was  not  without  hope  of 
being  able  to  carry  the  city  by  assault. 

The  scarcity  of  provisions  in  Boston 
was  well  known  ;  various  facilities  were 
afforded  for  an  assault,  and  Washing' 
ton,  as  we  have  noted  on  a  previous 
page,  (see  p.  376,)  called  a  council  of 
war,  and  proposed  to  make  the  attempt 
without  delay.  The  council  did  not 
agree  as  to  the  expediency  of  an  as 
sault,  and  preferred  to  force  the 
enemy  to  evacuate,  by  occupying  the 
Heights  of  Dorchester,  which  com 

O  ' 

manded  the  entire  city.  Washington, 
with  his  usual  prudence,  gave  way,  and 
it  was  determined  to  occupy  the  Heights 
directly.  A  quantity  of  fascines  and 
gabions  had  been  prepared,  at  the  sug 
gestion  of  Generals  Ward,  Thomas  and 

O  ' 

Spencer,  and  the  aid  derived  from  the 
cannon  taken  at  Ticonderoga  and  Crown 


394 


THE  BIRTH-YEAR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


II. 


Point,  furnished  a  good  supply  of  pow 
erful  artillery. 

The  Americans, — says  Botta,*  in  his 
flowing  style, — in  order  to  occupy  the 
attention  of  the  enemy  in  another 
part,  erected  strong  batteries  upon  the 
shore  at  Cobb's  Hill,  at  Lechmere's 
Point,  at  Phipp's  Farm,  and  at  Lamb's 
Dam,  near  Eoxbury.  They  opened  a 
terrible  fire  -in  the  night  of  the  second 
of  March ;  the  bombs,  at  every  instant, 
fell  into  the  city.  The  garrison  was  in 
cessantly  employed  in  extinguishing  the 
flames  of  the  houses  in  combustion,  and 
in  all  the  different  services  that  are 
necessary  in  such  circumstances.  Du 
ring  this  time,  the  Americans  prepared 
themselves  with  ardor,  or  rather  with 
joy,  to  take  possession  of  the  Heights. 
Companies  of  militia  arrived  from  all 
parts  to  reinforce  the  army.  The  night 
of  the  fourth  of  March  was  selected  for 
the  expedition ;  the  chiefs  hoped  that 
the  recollection  of  the  events  of  the  5th 
of  March,  17  TO,  when  the  first  blood 
had  been  shed  in  Boston  by  the  Eng 
lish,  would  inflame  with  new  ardor,  and 
a  thirst  of  vengeance,  those  spirits  al 
ready  so  resolute  in  their  cause. 

Accordingly,  in  the  evening  of  the 
4th,  all  the  arrangements  being  made, 
the  Americans  proceeded  in  profound 
silence  towards  the  peninsula  of  Dor 
chester.  The  obscurity  of  the  night 
was  propitious,  and  the  wind  favorable, 
since  it  could  not  bear  to  the  enemy 
the  little  noise  which  it  was  impossible 
to  avoid.  The  frost  had  rendered  the 
roads  easy.  The  batteries  of  Phipp's 


*  Botta'a  "  History  of  the  War  of  Independence," 
vol.  ii.,  p.  30. 


Farm,  and  those  of  Roxbnry,  inces 
santly  fulminated  with  a  stupendous 
roar. 

Eight  hundred  men  composed  the 
van-guard ;  it  was  followed  by  carriages 
filled  with  utensils  of  entrenchment,  and 
twelve  hundred  pioneers  led  by  General 
Thomas.  In  the  rear-guard  were  three 
hundred  carts  of  fascines,  of  gabions, 
and  bundles  of  hay,  destined  to  cover 
the  flank  of  the  troops  in  the  passage 
of  the  isthmus  of  Dorchester,  which, 
being  very  low,  was  exposed  to  be 
raked  on  both  sides  by  the  artillery  of 
the  English  vessels. 

All  succeeded  perfectly ;  the  Amer 
icans  arrived  upon  the  Heights,  not  only 
without  being  molested,  but  even  with 
out  being  perceived  by  the  enemy. 

They  set  themselves  to  work  with  an 
activity  so  prodigious,  that  by  ten  o'clock 
at  night,  they  had  already  constructed 
two  forts,  in  condition  to  shelter  them 
from  small  arms  and  grape-shot ;  one 
upon  the  height  nearest  to  the  city,  and 
the  other  upon  that  which  looks  to 
wards  Castle  Island.  The  day  ap 
peared  ;  but  it  prevented  not  the  pro 
vincials  from  continuing  their  works, 
without  any  movement  being  made  on 
the  part  of  the  garrison.  At  length, 
when  the  haze  of  the  morning  was  en 
tirely  dissipated,  the  English  discov 
ered,  with  extreme  surprise,  the  new 
fortifications  of  the  Americans. 

The  English  admiral,  having  ex 
amined  them,  declared,  that  if  the 
enemy  was  not  dislodged  from  this 
position,  his  vessels  could  no  longer  re 
main  in  the  harbor  without  the  most 
imminent  hazard  of  total  destruction. 
The  city  itself  was  exposed  to  be  de- 


CH.  XIV. J 


THE  AMERICANS  ON  DORCHESTER  HEIGHTS. 


395 


molished  to  its  foundations,  at  the  pleas 
ure  of  the  provincials.  The  communi 
cation,  also,  between  the  troops  that 
guarded  the  isthmus  of  Boston,  and 
those  within  the  town,  became  ex 
tremely  difficult  and  dangerous.  The 
artillery  of  the  Americans  battered  the 
strand,  whence  the  English  would  have 
to  embark  in  case  of  retreat.  There 
was  no  other  choice,  therefore,  left  them, 
but  either  to  drive  the  colonists  from 
this  station  by  dint  of  force,  or  to  evac 
uate  the  city  altogether. 

General  Howe  decided  for  the  attack, 
and  made  his  dispositions  accordingly. 
Washington,  on  his  part,  having  per 
ceived  the  design,  prepared  himself  to 
repel  it.  The  entrenchments  were  per 
fected  with  diligence ;  the  militia  were 
assembled  from  the  neighboring  towns, 
and  signals  were  concerted  to  be  given 
upon  all  the  eminences  which  form  a 
sort  of  cincture  about  all  the  shore  of 
Boston,  from  Roxbury  to  Mystic  river, 
in  order  to  transmit  intelligence  and 
orders  with  rapidity  from  one  point  to 
the  other. 

Washington  exhorted  his  soldiers  to 

O 

bear  in  mind  the  5th  of  March.  Nor 
did  he  restrict  himself  to  defensive 
measures,  he  thought  also  of  the  means 
of  falling,  himself,  upon  the  enemy,  if, 
during,  or  after  the  battle,  any  favor 
able  occasion  should  present  itself.  If 
the  besieged,  as  he  hoped,  should  expe 
rience  a  total  defeat  in  the  assault  of 
Dorchester,  his  intention  was  to  embark 
from  Cambridge  four  thousand  chosen 
ment  who,  rapidly  crossing  the  arm  of 
the  sea,  should  take  advantage  of  the 
tumult  and  confusion,  to  attempt  the 
assault  of  the  town.  General  Sullivan 


commanded  the  first  division  ;  General 
Greene,  the  second.  An  attack  was 
expected  like  that  of  Charlestown,  and 
a  battle  like  that  of  Breed's  Hill. 
General  Howe  ordered  ladders  to  be 
prepared  to  scale  the  works  of  the 
Americans.  He  directed  Lord  Percy 
to  embark  at  the  head  of  a  considerable 
corps,  and  to  land  upon  the  flats  near 
the  point,  opposite  Castle  Island.  The 
Americans,  excited  by  the  remem 
brance  of  the  anniversary,  and  of  the 
battle  of  Breed's  Hill,  and  by  the  con 
tinual  exhortations  of  their  chiefs,  ex 
pected  them,  not  only  without  fear, 
but  with  alacrity  ;  but  the  tide  ebbed, 
and  the  wind  blew  with  such  violence, 
that  the  passage  over  became  impos 
sible.  General  Howe  was  compelled 
to  defer  the  attack  to  early  the  follow 
ing  morning.  A  tempest  arose  during 
the  night,  and  when  the  day  dawned, 
the  sea  was  still  excessively  agitated. 
A  violent  rain  came  to  increase  the  ob 
stacles  ;  the  English  general  kept  him 
self  quiet.  But  the  Americans  made 
profit  of  this  delay;  they  erected  a 
third  redoubt,  and  completed  the  other 
works.  Colonel  Mifflin  had  prepared 
a  great  number  of  hogsheads,  full  of 
stones  and  sand,  in  order  to  roll  them 
upon  the  enemy,  when  he  should  march 
up  to  the  assault,  to  break  his  ranks, 
and  throw  him  into  confusion,  which 
might  smooth  the  way  to  his  defeat. 

Having  diligently  surveyed  all  these 
dispositions,  the  English  persuaded 
themselves,  that  the  contemplated  en 
terprise  offered  difficulties  almost  in 
surmountable.  They  reflected  that  a 
repulse,  or  even  a  victory  so  sanguinary 
as  that  of  Breed's  Hill,  would  expose 


396 


THE  BIRTH- YEAR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


|_BK.  IX 


to  a  jeopardy  too  serious  the  English 
interests  in  America.  Even  in  case  of 
success,  it  was  to  be  considered  that 
the  garrison  was  not  sufficiently  nu 
merous,  to  be  able,  without  hazard,  to 
keep  possession  of  the  peninsula  of  Dor 
chester,  having  already  to  guard  not 
only  the  city,  but  the  peninsula/  of 
Charlestown.  The  battle  was  rather 
necessary,  and  victory  desirable,  to 
save  the  reputation  of  the  royal  arms, 
than  to  decide  the  total  event  of  things 
upon  these  shores.  The  advantages, 
therefore,  could  not  compensate  the 
dangers.  Besides,  the  port  of  Boston 
was  far  from  being  perfectly  accom 
modated  to  the  future  operations  of  the 
army  that  was  expected  from  England ; 
and  General  Howe  himself  had,  some 
lensrth  of  time  before,  received  instruc- 

O  i 

tions  from  Lord  Dartmouth,  one  of  the 
Secretaries  of  State,  to  evacuate  the 
city,  and  to  establish  himself  at  New 
York. 

The  want  of  a  sufficient  number  of 
vessels  had  hitherto  prevented  him  from 
executing  this  order.  Upon  all  these 
considerations,  the  English  generals  de 
termined  to  abandon  Boston  to  the 
power  of  the  provincials. 

This  retreat,  however,  presented  great 
difficulties.  An  hundred  and  fifty  trans 
ports,  great  and  small,  appeared  scarcely 
adequate  to  the  accommodation  of  ten 
thousand  men,  the  number  to  which  the 
crews  and  the  garrison  amounted,  with 
out  comprehending  such  of  the  inhabi 
tants,  as,  having  shown  themselves  fa 
vorable  to  the  royal  cause,  could  not 
with  safety  remain.  The  passage  was 
long  and  difficult ;  for  with  these  emaci 
ated  and  enfeebled  troops,  it  could  not 


be  attempted  to  operate  any  descent 
-upon  the  coasts.  It  was  even  believed 
to  be  scarcely  possible  to  effect  a  land 
ing  at  New  York,  although  the  city  was 
absolutely  without  defence  on  the  part 
of  the  sea.  The  surest  course  appeared 
to  be  to  gain  the  port  of  Halifax ;  but 
besides  the  want  of  provisions,  which 
was  excessive,  the  season  was  very  un 
favorable  for  this  vova^e.  at  all  times 

«/       O     7 

dangerous. 

The  winds  that  prevailed,  then  blew 
violently  from  the  northeast,  and  might 
drive  the  fleet  off  to  the  West  Indies, 
and  the  vessels  were  by  no  means  stock 
ed  with  provisions  for  such  a  voyage. 
Besides,  the  territory  of  Halifax  was  a 
sterile  country,  from  which  no  resource 
could  be  expected,  and  no  provision 
could  have  been  previously  made  there, 
since  the  evacuation  of  Boston  and  re 
treat  to  Halifax,  were  events  not  an 
ticipated.  Nor  could  the  soldiers  per 
ceive  without  discouragement,  that  the 
necessity  of  things  impelled  them  to 
wards  the  north,  apprised,  as  they 
were,  that  the  future  operations  of  the 
English  army,  were  to  take  place  in 
the  provinces  of  the  centre,  and  even 
in  those  of  the  south.  But  their  gen 
erals  had  no  longer  the  liberty  of  choice. 
The  Americans,  however,  being  able  by 
the  fire  of  their  artillery,  to  interpose 
the  greatest  obstacles  to  the  embarka 
tion  of  the  British  troops,  General  Howe 
deliberated  upon  the  means  of  obviat 
ing  this  inconvenience.  Having  as 
sembled  the  selectmen  of  Boston,  he 
declared  to  them,  that  the  city  being 
no  longer  of  any  use  to  the  king,  he 
was  resolved  to  abandon  it,  provided 
that  Washington  would  not  oppose  his 


CH.  XIV.] 


BOSTON   EVACUATED. 


399 


departure.  He  pointed  to  the  com 
bustible  materials  he  had  caused  to  be 
prepared  to  set  fire,  in  an  instant,  to 
the  city,  if  the  provincials  should  molest 
him  in  any  shape.  He  invited  them  to 
reflect  upon  all  the  dangers  which 
might  result,  for  them  and  their  habi 
tations,  from  a  battle  fought  within  the 
walls;  and  he  assured  them,  that  his 
personal  intention  was  to  withdraw 
peaceably,  if  the  Americans  were  dis 
posed,  on  their  part,  to  act  in  the  same 
manner.  He  exhorted  them,  therefore, 
to  repair  to  the  presence  of  Washing 
ton,  and  to  inform  him  of  what  they 
had  now  heard. 

The  selectmen  waited  upon  the  Amer 
ican  general,  and  made  him  an  affecting 
representation  of  the  situation  of  the 
city.  It  appears,  from  what  followed, 
that  he  consented  to  the  conditions  de 
manded  ;  but  the  articles  of  the  truce 
were  not  written.  It  has  been  pre 
tended  that  one  of  them  was,  that  the 
besieged  should  leave  their  munitions 
of  war  ;  this,  however,  cannot  be  affirm 
ed  with  assurance.  The  munitions  were, 
indeed,  left ;  but  it  is  not  known  whether 
it  was  by  convention,  or  from  necessity. 
The  Americans  remained  quiet  spec 
tators  of  the  retreat  of  the  English. 
But  the  city  presented  a  melancholy 
spectacle;  notwithstanding  the  orders 
of  General  Howe,  all  was  havoc  and 
confusion.  Fifteen  hundred  loyalists, 
with  their  families,  and  their  most 
valuable  effects,  hastened,  with  infinite 
dejection  of  mind,  to  abandon  a  resi 
dence  which  had  been  so  dear  to  them, 
and  where  they  had  so  long  enjoyed 
felicity.  The  fathers  carrying  burdens, 
the  mothers  their  children,  ran  weeping 


towards  the  ships ;  the  last  salutation*: 
the  farewell  embraces  of  those  who  de 
parted,  and  of  those  who  remained,  the 
sick,  the  wounded,  the  aged,  the  in 
fants,  would  have  moved  with  compas 
sion  the  witnesses  of  their  distiess,  if 
the  care  of  their  own  safety  had  not 
absorbed  the  attention  of  all. 

The  carts  and  beasts  of  burden  were 
become  the  occasion  of  sharp  disputes 
between  the  inhabitants  who  had  re 
tained  them,  and  the  soldiers  who 
wished  to  employ  them.  The  disorder 
was  also  increased,  by  the  animosity 
that  prevailed  between  the  soldiers  of 
the  garrison  and  those  of  the  fleet; 
they  reproached  each  other  mutually, 
as  the  authors  of  their  common  mis 
fortune.  With  one  accord,  however^ 
they  complained  of  the  coldness  and 
ingratitude  of  their  country,  which 
seemed  to  have  abandoned,  or  rather 
to  have  forgotten  them  upon  these  dis 
tant  shores,  a  prey  to  so  much  misery, 
and  to  so  many  dangers.  For  since  the 
month  of  October,  General  Howe  had 
not  received,  from  England,  any  order 
or  intelligence  whatever,  which  testified 
that  the  government  still  existed,  and 
had  not  lost  sight  of  the  army  of  Bos 
ton. 

Meanwhile,  a  desperate  band  of  sol 
diers  and  sailors  took  advantage  of  the 
confusion,  to  force  doors,  and  pillage 
the  houses  and  shops.  They  destroyed 
what  they  could  not  carry  away.  The 
entire  city  was  devoted  to  devastation, 
and  it  was  feared  every  moment  the 
flames  would  break  out,  to  consummate 
its  destruction. 

The  15th  of  March,  General  Howe 
issued  a  proclamation,  forbidding  every 


THE  BIRTH- YEAR   OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


.  11, 


inhabitant  to  go  out  of  his  house  before 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  order 
not  to  disturb  the  embarkation  of  the 
troops,  which  was  to  have  taken  place 
on  this  day.  But  an  east  wind  pre 
vented  their  departure ;  and  to  pass 
the  time,  they  returned  to  pillaging. 
In  the  meanwhile,  the  Americans  had 
constructed  a  redoubt  upon  the  point 
of  Nook's  Hill,  in  the  peninsula  of  Dor 
chester,  and  having  furnished  it  with 
artillery,  they  entirely  commanded  the 
isthmus  of  Boston,  and  all  the  southern 
part  of  the  town.  It  was  even  to  be 
feared  that  they  would  occupy  Noddle's 
Island,  and  establish  batteries,  which, 
sweeping  the  surface  of  the  water  across 
the  harbor,  would  have  entirely  inter 
dicted  the  passage  to  the  ships,  and  re 
duced  the  garrison  to  the  necessity  of 
yielding  at  discretion.  All  delay  be 
came  dangerous;  consequently,  the 
British  troops  and  the  loyalists  began 
to  embark,  the  iTth  of  March,  at  four 
in  the  morning ;  at  ten,  all  were  on 
board.  The  vessels  were  overladen 
with  men  and  baggage ;  provisions  were 
scanty,  confusion  was  everywhere.  The 
rear  guard  was  scarcely  out  of  the  city, 
when  Washington  entered  it  on  the 
other  side,  with  colors  displayed,  drums 
beating,  and  all  the  forms  of  victory 
and  triumph.  He  was  received  by  the 
inhabitants  with  every  demonstration 
of  gratitude  and  respect  due  to  a  de 
liverer.  Their  joy  broke  forth  with 
the  more  vivacity,  as  their  sufferings 
had  been  long  and  cruel.  For  more 
than  sixteen  months,  they  had  endured 
hunger,  thirst,  cold,  and  the  outrages 
of  an  insolent  soldiery,  who  deemed 
them  rebels.  The  most  necessary  ar 


ticles  of  food  were  risen  to  exorbitant 
prices. 

Horse  flesh  was  not  refused  by  those 
who  could  procure  it.*  For  want  of 
fuel,  the  pews  and  benches 'of  churches 
were  taken  for  this  purpose  ;  the  coun 
ters  and  partitions  of  warehouses  were 
applied  to  the  same  use ;  and  even 
houses,  not  inhabited,  were  demolished 
for  the  sake  of  the  wood.  The  English 
left  a  'great  quantity  of  artillery  and 
munitions.  Two  hundred  and  fifty 
pieces  of  cannon,  of  different  calibre, 
were  found  in  Boston,  in  Castle  Island, 
and  in  the  entrenchments  of  Bunker's 
Hill,  and  the  Neck.  The  English  had 
attempted,  but  with  little  success,  in 
their  haste,  to  destroy,  or  to  spike  these 
last  pieces ;  others  had  been  thrown 
into  the  sea,  but  they  were  recovered. 
There  were  found,  besides,  four  mor 
tars,  a  considerable  quantity  of  coal,  of 
wheat,  and  of  other  grains,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  horses. 

Congress  unanimously  voted  thanks 
to  the  commander-in-chief,  and  ordered 
a  gold  medal  to  be  struck,  commemo 
rative  of  the  evacuation  of  Boston,  and, 
as  an  honorable  token  of  the  public  ap 
probation  of  his  conduct.  The  British 
troops  sailed  for  Halifax,  but  Washing 
ton,  not  knowing  how  soon  New  York 
might  be  attacked,  hurried  off  the  main 


*  Provisions  were  become  so  scarce  at  Boston, 
that  a  pound  of  fresh  fish  cost  twelve  pence  sterling, 
a  goose  eight  shillings  and  fourpence,  a  turkey 
twelve  shillings  and  sixpence,  a  duck,  four  shillings 
and  twopence,  hams,  two  shillings  and  a  penny  pel 
pound.  Vegetables  were  altogether  wanting.  A 
sheep  cost  thirty-five  shillings  sterling,  apples,  thirty- 
three  shillings  and  fourpence  per  barrel.  Fire-wood, 
forty-one  shillings  and  eightpence  the  cord  ;  and 
finally,  it  was  not  to  be  procured  at  any  price. 


CH.  XIV  ] 


TORY   PJ.OT  AGAINST  WASHINGTON. 


399 


body  of  the  army  for  that  city,  leaving 
General  Ward  with  five  regiments,  to 
fortify  and  take  care  of  Boston.  Some 
weeks  after  Howe's  departure,  British 
vessels  arrived  off  Boston ;  and,  as  they 
had  not  been  warned,  that  the  city  was 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  Americans, 
three  of  the  transports  were  captured, 
and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  sol 
diers  were  made  prisoners  of  war. 
One  of  the  vessels  had  some  fifteen 
hundred  barrels  of  gunpowder  on 
board,  with  other  munitions  of  war, 
which,  in  the  present  scarcity,  proved 
a  very  serviceable  addition  to  the  army 
stores. 

Lee  having  been  appointed  by  Con 
gress  to  the  southern  department,  Wash 
ington  sent  General  Putnam  forward  to 

O 

take  the  command  in  New  York,  and 
he  himself  arrived  there  on  the  13th 
of  April.  In  May,  he  went  to  Phila 
delphia,  to  advise  with  Congress  in  the 
present  state  of  affairs,  and  make  ar 
rangements  for  fche  campaign.  Wash 
ington  does  not  appear  to  have  had 
much  satisfaction  in  this  visit,  and  he 
was  not  without  apprehension  from  the 
divisions  existing  in  Congress ;  divisions 
greatly  to  be  regretted  just  at  this  junc 
ture.  Expressing  his  clear  conviction, 
that  independence  was  the  only  course 
left  for  the  colonies  to  pursue,  and, 
having  obtained  a  vote  to  reinforce  the 
army  at  New  York,  with  thirteen  thou 
sand  eight  hundred  militia,  from  the 
northern  colonies,  and  a  flying  camp  of 
ten  thousand  more  from  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  and  Delaware,  Washington 
returned  to  New  York,  to  wait  the  ar 
rival  of  the  British  fleet,  and  then  to  de 
termine  upon  the  course  to  be  pursued. 


Mr.  Sparks,  in  his  Life  of  Washing 
ton,  gives  an  account  of  the  plots  of  the 
Tories  in  and  about  New  York,  Gov 
ernor  Try  on  being  the  main  spring 
of  all  their  movements.  Washington, 
after  a  great  deal  of  urgency,  got  Con 
gress  to  appoint  a  secret  committee,  to 
take  up  and  examine  suspected  persons. 
It  is  true,  that  this  was  a  dangerous  re 
sponsibility  to  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  any  man ;  but  the  necessity  of  the 
case  demanded  some  action.  The  Tories 
were  bound  to  take  one  side  or  the 
other  in  the  questions  at  issue ;  open 
enmity  could  be  met;  but  they  who 
wished  to  be  considered  neutrals,  while 
they  covertly  aided  and  gave  intelli 
gence  to  the  enemy,  could  not  be  suf 
fered  to  remain  in  a  position  which  gave 
them  every  advantage  over  the  patriots 
t  and  their  cause.  The  power  of  appre 
hending  the  Tories  had  wisely  been  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  civil  authority  of 
each  colony,  and  the  conventions,  as 
semblies,  and  committees,  were  author 
ized  to  employ,  when  they  thought  it 
necessary  for  the  purpose,  a  militia  force 
from  the  Continental  army.  "  Many 
Tories  were  apprehended  in  New  York 
and  on  Long  Island ;  some  were 
imprisoned ;  others  disarmed. 
A  deep  plot,  originating  with  Governor 
Tryon,  was  defeated  by  a  timely  and 
fortunate  discovery.  His  agents  were 
found  enlisting  men  in  the  American 
camp,  and  enticing  them  with  rewards 
The  infection  spread  to  a  considerable 
extent,  and  even  reached  the  general's 
guard,  some  of  whom  enlisted.  A  sol 
dier  of  the  guard  *yas  proved  guilty  by 
a  court  martial,  and  executed.  It  was 
a  part  of  the  plot,  to  seize  General 


1776. 


too 


THE  BIRTH- YEAR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


[BK.  H 


Washington,  and   convey  him  to  the 
enemy."* 

New  Hampshire,  the  year  previous, 
had  asked  advice,  as  to  the  form  of 
government  to  be  adopted  in  that  prov 
ince,  and  Congress  had  recommended 
that  the  matter  be  submitted  to  the 
people,  and  such  a  form  of  government 
be  established,  as  would  best  secure  the 
ends  desired,  during  the  existing  diffi 
culties  with  the  mother  country.  Simi 
lar  advice  was  soon  after  given  to 
Virginia  and  South  Carolina.  These 
colonies  acted  upon  this  advice,  and 
thereby  gave  a  considerable  impulse 
forward  to  the  subject  of  independence, 
which,  at  this  time,  occupied  the  public 
mind.  On  the  10th  of  May,  Congress 
unanimously  resolved,  "  That  it  be  rec 
ommended  to  the  respective  Assemblies 
and  Conventions  of  the  United  Colonies, 
where  no  government  sufficient 
to  the  exigencies  of  their  affairs 
hath  hitherto  been  established,  to  adopt 
such'-government,  as  shall,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  representatives  of  the  people, 
best  conduce  to  the  happiness  and 
safety  of  their  constituents,  in  particu 
lar,  and  America,  in  general."  In  the 
preamble  to  this  resolution,  adopted 
five  days  after,  Congress,  among  other 
things,  declared  it  to  be  irreconcileable 
to  reason  and  good  conscience,  for  the 
colonists  to  take  the  oaths  required  for 
the  support  of  the  government  under 
the  crown  of  Great  Britain.  They  also 
declared  it  necessary,  that  the  exer 
cise  of  every  kind  of  authority  under 

*  Sparks's  "  Life  of  Washington,"  p.  169.  See, 
also,  Mr.  Irving's  account  of  this  matter,  which  is 
more  full  of  particulars — "Life  of  Washington," 
Tol.  ii.,pp.  242-46. 


17T6. 


the  crown,  should  be  suppressed  ;  and 
all  the  powers  of  government  exerted 
"  under  the  authority  of  the  people  of 
the  colonies,  for  the  preservation  of  in 
ternal  peace,  virtue  and  good  order,  as 
well  as  for  the  defense  of  their  lives, 
liberties,  and  properties,  against  the 
hostile  invasions  and  cruel  depreda 
tions  of  their  enemies." 

The  recommendation  of  Congress  was 
speedily  carried  into  effect ;  and,  as  the 
people  had  been  virtually  in  possession 
of  the  powers  of  government  for  some 
time  past,  the  change  from  royal  au 
thority  to  that  exercised  by  themselves, 
was  made  without  noise  or  difficulty. 
John  Rutledge  was  elected  governor  of 
South  Carolina,  and  Patrick  Henry,  of 
Virginia.  In  South  Carolina,  a  ju 
diciary  was  also  formed,  and  William 
Henry  Drayton  was  appointed  chief 
justice.  This  accomplished  jurist,  and 
ardent  patriot,  delivered  a  charge  to 
the  Grand  Jury,  in  April,  17*76,  which 
concluded  in  the  following  terms :  "  I 
think  it  my  duty,  to  declare  in  the  aw 
ful  seat  of  justice,  and  before  Almighty 
God,  that,  in  my  opinion,  the  Ameri 
cans  can  have  no  safety  but  by  the 
Divine  favor,  their  own  virtue,  and 
their  being  so  prudent,  as  not  to  leave 
it  in  the  power  of  the  British  rulers  to 
injure  them.  Indeed,  the  ruinous  and 
deadly  injuries  received  on  our  side,  and 
the  jealousies  entertained,  and  which,  in 
the  nature  of  things,  must  daily  increase 
against  us  on  the  other,  demonstrate  to 
a  mind,  in  the  least  given  to  reflection 
upon  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires,  that 
true  reconcilement  never  can  exist  be 
tween  Great  Britain  and  America,  the 
latter  being  in  subjection  to  the  former. 


CH.  XIV.] 


BRITISH   ATTACK   UPON   CHARLESTON. 


401 


The  Almighty  created  America  to  be 
independent  of  Britain :  let  us  beware 
of  the  impiety  of  being  backward  to 
act  as  instruments  in  the  Almighty 
hand,  now  extended  to  accomplish  his 
purpose;  and  by  the  completion  of 
which  alone,  America,  in  the  nature  of 
human  affairs,  can  be  secure  against  the 
craft  and  insidious  designs  of  her  ene 
mies,  who  think  her  prosperity  and 
power  already  by  far  too  great.  In  a 
word,  our  piety  and  political  safety  are 
so  blended,  that  to  refuse  our  labors 
in  this  divine  work,  is  to  refuse  to  be 
a  great,  a  free,  a  pious,  and  a  happy 
people  !  And  now  having  left  this  im 
portant  alternative,  political  happiness 
or  wretchedness,  under  God,  in  a  great 
degree  in  your  own  hands  ;  I  pray  the 
supreme  Arbiter  of  the  affairs  of  men, 
so  to  direct  your  judgment,  as  that  you 
ma}'  act  agreeably  to  what  seems  to 
be  his  will,  revealed  in  his  miraculous 
works  in  behalf  of  America,  bleeding 

'  O 

at  the  altar  of  liberty !" 

After  long  delay,  the  British  squad 
ron,  under  Sir  Peter  Parker,  arrived, 
in  May,  at  Cape  Fear.  Sir  Henry  Clin 
ton,  who  was  waiting  for  it  there,  im 
mediately  took  command  of  the  troops, 
and,  as  nothing  could  be  done  in  North 

O 

Carolina,  it  was  resolved  to  strike  a  de 
cisive  blow  against  Charleston.  For 
tunately,  some  intercepted  letters  of 
Governor  Eden,  had  given  notice  to 
Congiess,  of  the  intended  attack,  and 
General  Lee  was  dispatched  to  provide 
for  the  defence  of  Charleston  and  the 
southern  department.  At  the  first 
alarm,  various  regiments  had 
marched  down  to  the  city,  in 
creasing  its  garrison  to  about  six  thou- 

VOL.  I.— 53 


1776. 


sand  men.  Assisted  by  the  inhabit 
ants  and  their  negro  slaves,  they 
labored  most  iudefatigably  to  complete 
the  fortifications.  All  the  roads  run 
ning  down  to  the  sea  were  blockaded, 
the  streets  barricaded,  the  magazines 

/  o 

destroyed,  entrenchments  raised,  and 
every  possible  means  taken  to  oppose 
the  progress  of  the  enemy.  On  the  4th 
of  June,  the  British  fleet  made  its  ap 
pearance  off  Charleston  harbor,  and, 
having  passed  the  bar,  anchored  about 
three  miles  from  Sullivan's  Island. 
General  Clinton  dispatched  a  sum 
mons  to  the  inhabitants,  threatening 
them  with  the  utmost  vengeance  of  an 
irritated  government,  unless  they  sub 
mitted,  offering,  at  the  same  time,  a 
complete  amnesty  to  such  as  should 
lay  clown  their  arms.  The  offer  was 
rejected,  of  course,  and  Clinton  had 
no  alternative,  but  to  proceed  with  the 
attack. 

The  entrance  to  the  harbor  was  pro 
tected  by  an  unfinished  fort  on  Sulli 
van's  Island,  which  had  been  strength 
ened  with  as  much  care  as  possible,  and 
was  armed  with  thirty-six  heavy  guns, 
as  well  as  twenty-six  others  of  inferior 
calibre.  The  fort  was  constructed  of 
the  palmetto,  a  soft  and  spongy  wood, 
which  deadened  the  effect  of  a  cannon 
ball,  and  was  commanded  by  Colonel 
Moultrie,  at  the  head  of  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  troops,  and  some 
militia.  To  silence  this  fort,  was,  of 
course,  the  first  object  of  the  British 
commander,  and,  for  this  purpose,  he 
landed  a  large  body  of  troops  on  I/nig 
Island,  adjacent  to  Sullivan's  I^and, 
and  only  separated  from  it  by  a  nar 
row  channel,  often  fordable,  with  or- 


402 


THE  BIRTH-YEAR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


.  11 


ders  to  ci  >ss  over  and  attack  it,  while 
the  fleet  cannonaded  it  in  front.  Great 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  the  outset, 
in  getting  the  heavy  ships  of  war  over 
the  bar,  which  could  be  effected  only 
by  taking  out  their  guns.  At  length, 
on  the  28th  of  June,  the  whole  fleet 
placed  themselves  in  line,  and  began  a 
tremendous  firing  on  the  devoted  fort. 
Three  of  these  ships,  the  Sphynx,  Act- 
eon,  and  Syren,  were  ordered  to  take 
up  a  position  to  the  westward,  where 
they  could  enfilade  the  weakest  part  of 
the  works,  and  at  the  same  time  inter 
cept  any  succors  that  might  be  sent 
from  the  city.  Had  this  manoeuvre 
been  successful,  it  would  have  been  im 
possible  for  the  fort  to  have  held  out ; 
but  happily  for  the  Americans,  the 
three  vessels  grounded  on  a  shoal  called 
the  Middle  Ground,  two  being  with 
great  difficulty  got  off,  and  one  burned 
on  the  following  day.  This  fortunate 
accident  encouraged  the  spirit  of  these 
brave  men  to  the  highest  pitch,  al 
though  they  were  but  recent  recruits, 
and  exposed  for  several  hours  to  an 
incessant  cannonade.  Amidst  a  per 
fect  hail-storm  of  bombs  and  balls,  they 
coolly  and  resolutely  stood  to  their 
guns,  and  returned  the  fire  of  their  as 
sailants,  until  their  ammunition  gave 
out. 

The  intrepid  conduct  of  Sergeant 
Jasper  deserves  especial  mention ;  for, 
when  the  staff  of  the  flag  under  which 
he  and  his  compatriots  were  fighting, 
was  shot  away  by  a  ball,  Jasper  sprang 
after  it  to  the  ground,  fastened  it  to  the 
rammer  of  a  cannon,  mounted  the  para 
pet,  and  in  the  face  of  the  hot  fire  of 
the  enemy,  deliberately  hoisted  it  anew. 


Honor  to  the  brave  sergeant,  and  the 
men  who  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  him ! 

The  steady  and  well-directed  fire  of 
the  Americans,  obliged  the  British  ships 
to  give  up  their  attempt.  The  Bristol, 
a  fifty  gun  ship,  was  twice  in  flames, 
and  her  captain  was  killed.  Lord 
Campbell,  the  ex-governor,  who  served 
as  a  volunteer,  was  mortally  wounded, 
and,  at  one  time,  Sir  Peter  Parker  was 
the  only  one  unhurt  on  deck.  The 
troops  intended  to  ford  the  channel, 
and  attack  the  fort  in  flank,  but  were 
unable  to  pass  over  on  account  of  the 
unusual  depth  of  water,  occasioned  by  a 
long  prevalence  of  easterly  winds.  The 
flank  attack  by  the  vessels  had  also 
failed,  and  thus  the  Americans  were 
enabled  to  pass  over  fresh  ammunition 
and  succors  from  the  city  into  the  fort. 
The  engagement  had  lasted  from  eleven 

o    <— • 

in  the  morning  till  nine  in  the  evening, 
when  the  British,  owing  to  the  failure 
of  two  parts  of  their  plan,  and  the  un 
expectedly  vigorous  defence  of  the 
Americans,  concluded  to  retire  from 
the  scene  of  action.  On  the  following 
day,  the  squadron  set  sail,  to  join  the 
British  forces,  which  had  assembled  in 
the  Bay  of  New  York. 

The  preliminary  steps  towards  a  dec 
laration  of  independence  by  the  whole 
country,  had  already  been  taken.  Every 
day  served  to  demonstrate  the  necessity 
of  some  decisive  action,  which  should 
place  the  Americans  and  their  cause 
fairly  before  the  world.  As  early  as 
the  22d  of  April,  the  Convention  of 
North  Carolina  empowered  their  dele 
gates  in  Congress,  "  to  concur  with 
those  in  the  other  colonies,  in  declaring 


CH.  XIV.J 


ACTION  OF  PUBLIC  BODIES. 


independency."  This,  according  to 
Pitkin,  was  the  first  direct  public  act 
of  any  colonial  Assembly  or  Conven 
tion,  in  favor  of  the  measure. 

On  the  15th  of  May, — we  quote 
from  the  same  authority — the  Conven 
tion  of  Virginia  went  still  farther,  and 
unanimously  instructed  their  delegates 
in  Congress,  "  to  propose  to  that  re 
spectable  body,  to  declare  the  United 
Colonies,  free  and  independent  states, 
absolved  from  all  allegiance  or  depend 
ence  upon  the  Crown  or  Parliament  of 
Great  Britain ;  and  to  give  the  assent 
of  that  colony,  to  such  declaration,  and 
to  whatever  measures  might  be  thought 
proper  and  necessary,  by  Congress,  for 
forming  foreign  alliances,  and  a  con 
federation  of  the  colonies,  at  such  time, 
and  in  such  manner,  as  to  them  should 
seem  best:  provided  the  power  of 
forming  governments  for,  and  the  regu 
lation  of  the  internal  concerns  of,  each 
colony,  be  left  to  the  respective  colonial 
legislatures."  They,  at  the  same  time, 
appointed  a  Committee,  "  to  prepare  a 
declaration  of  rights,  and  such  a, plan 
of  government,  as  would  be  most  likely 
to  maintain  peace  and  order  in  the  col 
ony,  and  secure  substantial  and  equal 
liberty  to  the  people." 

On  the  10th  of  May,  the  General 
Assembly  of  Massachusetts,  directed 
that  the  people  of  that  colony,  at  the 
then  approaching  election  of  new  rep 
resentatives,  should  give  them  instruc 
tions  on  the  subject  of  independence. 
In  consequence  of  this,  the  inhabitants 
of  Boston,  on  the  23d  of  May,  instructed 
their  representatives,  to  use  their  en- 
deavors,  that  their  delegates  in  Con 
gress  be  advised,  "that  in  case  Con 


gress  should  think  it  necessary,  for  the 
safety  of  the  United  Colonies,  to  declare 
themselves  independent  of  Great  Britain, 
the  inhabitants  of  that  colony,  with  their 
lives,  and  the  remnants  of  their  fortunes, 
would  most  cheerfully  support  them  in 
the  measure." 

The  Assembly  of  Ehode  Island,  du 
ring  their  session  in  May,  not  only  di 
rected  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  be  taken 
to  the  colony ;  but  also,  instructed  their 
delegates  in  Congress  to  join  with  the 
other  colonies,  "  upon  the  most  proper 
measures,  for  promoting  and  confirming 
the  strictest  union  and  confederation 
between  the  colonies,  for  exerting  their 
whole  strength  and  force  to  annoy  the 
common  enemy,  and  to  secure  to  the 
said  colonies,  their  rights  and  liberties, 
both  civil  and  religious ;  whether  by 
entering  into  treaties  with  any  prince, 
state,  or  potentate ;  or  by  such  other 
prudent  and  effectual  ways  and  means, 
as  should  be  devised  and  agreed  upon ; 
and,  in  conjunction  with  the  delegates 
from  the  United  Colonies,  to  enter  upon 
and  attempt  all  such  measures — taking 
the  greatest  care,  to  secure  to  this  col 
ony,  in  the  most  perfect  manner,  its 
present  forms,  and  all  the  powers  of 
government,  so  far  as  relates  to  its  in 
ternal  police,  and  conduct  of  affaire, 
civil  and  religious." 

The  great  question  of  independence 
was  brought  directly  before  Congress, 
by  Kichard  Henry  Lee,  one  of  the  del 
egates  from  Virginia.  On  the  7th  of 
June,  1776,  he  submitted  a  resolution, 
declaring,  "that  the  United  Colonies 
are  and  ought  to  be  free  and  inde 
pendent  States;  that  they  are  absolved 
from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown ; 


404 


THE  BIRTH- YEAR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


[BK. 


and  that  all  political  connection  be 
tween  them  and  the  state  of  Great 
Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dis 
solved."  The  resolution  was  postponed 
until  the  next  day,  and  every  member 
enjoined  to  attend,  to  take  the  same 
into  consideration.  On  the  8th,  it  was 
debated,  in  Committee  of  the  Whole. 
No  question  of  greater  magnitude,  was 
ever  presented  to  the  consideration  of 
a  deliberative  body,  or  debated  with 
more  energy,  eloquence,  and  ability. 

Mr.  Lee,  the  mover,  and  Mr.  John 
Adams,  were  particularly  distinguished 
in  supporting,  and  Mr.  John  Dickinson, 
in  opposing  the  resolution.  On  the 
10th,  it  was  adopted  in  Committee,  by 
a  bare  majority  of  the  colonies.  The 
delegates  from  Pennsylvania  and  Mary 
land,  were  instructed  to  oppose  it ;  and 
the  delegates  from  some  of  the  other 
colonies,  were  without  special  instruc 
tions  on  the  subject.  To  give  time  for 
greater  unanimity,  the  resolution  was 
postponed  in  the  House,  until  the  1st  of 
July.  Meantime,  a  Committee,  consist 
ing  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  John  Adams,  Dr. 
Franklin,  Mr.  Sherman,  and  B,.  R.  Liv 
ingston,  was  appointed  to  prepare  a 
Declaration  of  Independence.  During 
this  interval,  measures  were  taken  to 
procure  the  assent  of  all  the  colonies. 

On  the  8th  of  June,  the  delegates 
from.  New  York  wrote  by  an  express, 
to  the  Convention  of  that  colony,  for 
their  advice  on  the  question  of  inde 
pendence,  which,  they  informed  them, 
would  soon  be  agitated  in  Congress. 
The  Convention,  however,  did  not  con 
sider  themselves,  or  their  delegates, 
authorized  to  declare  the  colony  inde 
pendent;  but  recommended  that  the 


people,  who  were  then  about  to  elect 
new  members  of  the  Convention,  should 
give  instructions  on  the  subject. 

On  the  15th  of  June,  the  representa 
tives  of  New  Hampshire,  unanimously 
instructed  their  delegates,  to  join  the 
other  colonies  on  this  question. 

A  special  Assembly  was  called  in 
Connecticut,  on  the  14th  of  June  ;  and 
by  an  unanimous  vote,  the  delegates  of 
that  colony  were  instructed  to  give 
"  their  assent  to  a  declaration  of  inde 
pendence,  and  to  unite  in  measures  for 
forming  foreign  alliances,  and  promot 
ing  a  plan  of  union  among  the  colonies." 

On  the  21st  of  the  same  month,  new 
delegates  to  the  General  Congress  were 
elected  by  the  Convention  of  New 
Jersey,  and  they  were  directed,  "in 
case  they  judged  it  necessary  and  ex 
pedient,  for  supporting  the  just  rights 
of  America,  to  join  in  declaring  the 
United  Colonies  independent,  and  en 
tering  into  a  confederation  for  union 
and  defence." 

The  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  held 
in  June,  removed  the  restrictions  laid 
upon  their  delegates,  by  instructions  of 
the  preceding  November,  and  author, 
ized  them  "  to  concur  with  the  otbei 
delegates  in  Congress,  in  forming  such 
further  compacts  between  the  United 
Colonies,  concluding  such  treaties  with 
foreign  kingdoms  and  states,  and  in 
adopting  such  other  measures,  as,  upon 
a  view  of  all  circumstances,  shall  be 
judged  necessary  for  promoting  the 
liberty,  safety  and  interests  of  Amer 
ica;  reserving  to  the  people  of  this 
colony,  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of 
regulating  the  internal  government  and 
police  of  the  same.  The  happiness  of 


Cn.  XIV.]          DRAFT  OF  THE  DECLARATION   OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


405 


these  colonies,"  they  added,  "  has,  du 
ring  the  whole  course  of  this  fatal  con 
troversy,  been  our  first  wish  ;  their  rec 
onciliation  with  Great  Britain  our  next. 
Ardently  have  we  prayed  for  the  ac 
complishment  of  both.  But,  if  we 
must  renounce  the  one  or  the  other,  we 
humbly  trust  in  the  mercy  of  the  Su 
preme  Governor  of  the  universe,  that 
we  shall  not  stand  condemned  before 
his  throne,  if  our  choice  is  determined 
by  that  overruling  law  of  self-preser 
vation,  which  his  divine  wisdom  has 
thought  fit  to  implant  in  the  hearts  of 
his  creatures."  The  Assembly  were  not 
unanimous  in  this  vote,  nor  did  the  vote 
itself  expressly  instruct  the  delegates 
of  that  colony  to  assent  to  a  declara 
tion  of  independence.  It  was  deemed 
important,  that  the  sense  of  the  people 
of  Pennsylvania,  on  this  great  question, 
should  be  taken.  For  this  purpose,  a 
Convention  or  Conference,  consisting 
of  Committees  chosen  by  each  county, 
was  called,  and  met  at  Philadelphia,  on 
the  24th  of  June.  The  members  of 
this  meeting  passed  a  resolution,  in 
which,  as  the  representatives  of  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania,  they  expressed 
''  their  willingness  to  concur  in  a  vote 
of  Congress,  declaring  the  United  Col 
onies  free  and  independent  states." 
They,  at  the  same  time,  asserted,  that 
this  measure  did  not  originate  in  am 
bition,  or  in  an  impatience  of  lawful 
authority,  but  that  they  were  driven  to 
it,  in  obedience  to  the  first  principles 
of  nature,  by  the  oppressions  and 
cruelties  of  the  king  and  Parliament, 
as  the  only  measure  left  to  preserve 
and  establish  their  liberties,  and  trans 
mit  them  inviolate  to  posterity. 


The  delegates  from  Maryland,  though 
personally  in  favor  of  the  measure,  were 
bound  by  their  instructions.  Through 
their  influence,  another  Convention  was 
held  in  that  colony;  and  on  the  28th 
of  June,  following  the  example  of  Penn 
sylvania,  the  members  of  this  Conven 
tion  recalled  their  former  instructions, 
and  empowered  their  delegates,  "to 
concur  with  the  other  colonies  in  a 
declaration  of  independence,  in  form 
ing  a  union  among  the  colonies,  in 
making  foreign  alliances,  and  in  adopt 
ing  such  other  measures,  as  should  be 
judged  necessary  for  securing  the  liber 
ties  of  America."  These  new  instruc 
tions  were  immediately  sent  by  express 
to  Philadelphia,  and  on  the  1st  of  July, 
were  laid  before  Congress.  On  the 

O 

same  day,  the  resolution  relating  to 
independence,  was  resumed  in  that 
body,  referred  to  a  Committee  of  the 
Whole,  and  was  assented  to  by  all  the 
colonies,  except  Pennsylvania  and  Del 


aware.  " 


1770. 


The  Committee  appointed  to  draft 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as 
noted  above,  reported  it  to  Congress 
just  as  Thomas  Jefferson  had  written 
it.  After  being  discussed,  and  amend 
ed  in  several  respects,  it  received  the 
vote  of  every  colony,  on  the  4th  of 
July,  and  was  published  to  the 
world.  Having  been  engrossed, 
by  order  of  Congress,  it  was,  on  the 
2d  of  August,  signed  by  all  the  mem- 
bersf  then  present,  and  by  some  who 


*  Pitkin's  "  Civil  and  Political  History  of  the 
United  States,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  361-65. 

f  Mr.  Dickinson  was  the  only  member  present, 
•who  did  not  sign  the  Declaration.  For  a  resume  of 
Mr.  Dickinson's  speech  against,  and  Mr.  R.  H.  Lee's 


406 


THE  BIRTH-YEAR  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 


were  not  members,  on  the  4th  of  July. 
The  number  of  the  signers  was  fifty- 
six.  Although  this  document  is  fa 
miliar  to  every  true-hearted  American, 
its  importance,  in  connection  with  our 
history  and  progress  as  a  nation,  re 
quires  that  it  be  given  in  full :  it  is  in 
the  following  terms. 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

THE  UNANIMOUS  DECLARATION  OF  THE  THIRTEEN 
UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  IN  CONGRESS  AS 
SEMBLED  : 

"  When,  in  the  course  of  human 
events,  it  becomes  necessary  for  one 
people  to  dissolve  the  political  bands 
which  have  connected  them  with 
another,  and  to  assume  among  the 
powers  of  the  earth  the  separate  and 
equal  station  to  which  the  laws  of  na 
ture  and  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a 
decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  man 
kind  requires  that  they  should  declare 
the  causes  which  impel  them  to  the 
separation. 

"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self- 
evident  :  that  all  men  are  created 
equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  unalienable  rights ; 
that  among  these,  are  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  that,  to  se 
cure  these  rights,  governments  are  in 
stituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  gov 
erned;  that,  whenever  any  form  of 
government  becomes  destructive  of 
these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people 
to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute 
new  government,  laying  its  foundation 


for,  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  see  Botta's  "  His 
tory  of  ike  War  of  Independence,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  87-103- 


on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its 
powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall 
seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  safety 
and  happiness.  Prudence,  indeed,  will 
dictate,  that  governments  long  estab 
lished,  should  not  be  changed  for  light 
and  transient  causes ;  and,  accordingly, 
all  experience  hath  shown,  that  man 
kind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer,  while 
evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right  them 
selves  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which 
they  are  accustomed.  But  when  a  long 
train  of  abuses  and  usurpations,  pur 
suing  invariably  the  same  object, 
evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  un 
der  absolute  despotism,  it  is  their  right, 
it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such  gov 
ernment,  and  to  provide  new  guards 
for  their  future  security.  Such  has 
been  the  patient  sufferance  of  these 
colonies,  and  such  is  now  the  necessity 
which  constrains  them  to  alter  their 
former  systems  of  government.  The 
history  of  the  present  king  of  Great 
Britain  is  a  history  of  repeated  injuries 
and  usurpations,  all  having  in  direct 
object  the  establishment  of  an  absolute 
tyranny  over  these  states.  To  prove 
this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid 
world : — 

"He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws 
the  most  wholesome  and  necessary  for 
the  public  good. 

"  He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to 
pass  laws  of  immediate  and  pressing 
importance,  unless  suspended  in  their 
operation  till  his  assent  should  be  ob 
tained  ;  and  when  so  suspended,  he  has 
utterly  neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

"  He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws 
for  the  accommodation  of  large  dis 
tricts  of  people,  unless  those  people 


CH.  XIV.]      THE  WISDOM  AND   NECESSITY  OF  THE    DECLARATION. 


409 


and  mindful  of  the  sacred  trust  com 
mitted  to  them  to  hand  down  liberty 
to  their  children,  dared  to  speak  and  to 
act.  "  Proclaim  liberty  throughout  all 
the  land,  unto  all  the  inhabitants  there 
of,"  is  the  significant  text  of  Scripture 
inscribed  on  the  bell  in  the  steeple  of 
the  time-honored  State-house,  Phila 
delphia.  That  bell  rang  out  a  joyous 
peal  on  the  4th  day  of  July,  1776 ;  it 
has  continued  to  do  the  same,  year  after 
year;  and,  by  God's  blessing,  it  will 
continue  to  do  the  same,  unto  the  latest 
ages.  "  The  day  is  past,"  writes  John 
Adams,  the  most  able  and  eloquent  ad 
vocate  in  favor  of  the  Declaration ;  "  the 
2d  day  of  July  will  be  the  most  memo 
rable  epoch  in  the  history  of  America. 
I  am  apt  to  believe  that  it  will  be  cele 
brated  by  succeeding  generations  as  the 
great  anniversary  festival.  It  ought  to 
be  commemorated,  as  the  day  of  deliver 
ance,  by  solemn  acts  of  devotion  to 
Almighty  God.  It  ought  to  be  solem 
nized  with  pomp  and  parade,  with 
shows,  games,  sports,  guns,  bells,  bon 
fires,  and  illuminations,  from  one  end 
of  this  continent  to  the  other,  from  this 
time  forth  and  forevermore.  You  will 
think  me  transported  with  enthusiasm, 
but  I  am  not.  I  am  well  aware  of  the 
toil,  and  blood,  and  treasure  that  it  will 
cost  us  to  maintain  this  Declaration,  and 
support  and  defend  these  States.  Yet, 
through  all  this  gloom,  I  can  see  the 
rays  of  ravishing  light  and  glory.  I 
can  see  that  the  end  is  more  than  worth 
all  the  means ;  and  that  our  posterity 
will  triumph  in  that  day's  transaction, 
even  although  we  should  rue  it, — which 
I  trust  in  God  we  shall  not."  The  an 
nual  jubilee  is  indeed  held,  not  on  the 

VOL.  L— 54 


2d,  but  on  the  4th  day  of  July,  when  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  set  forth 
the  grounds  of  our  fathers'  course, 
and  put  on  record  the  solemn  pledge 
which  they  then  and  there  gave,  that 
as  we  are  of  right,  so  we  will  be,  even 
to  death,  A  FREE  AND  INDEPENDENT 
PEOPLE.* 

It  was  plainly  evident,  as  is  remarked 
by  the  philosophic  M.  Guizot,  that  "  the 
day  had  arrived  when  power  had  for 
feited  its  claim  to  loyal  obedience ;  and 
when  the  people  were  called  upon  to 
protect  themselves  "by  force,  no  longer 
finding  in  the  established  order  of  things 
either  safety  or  shelter.  Such  a  mo 
ment  is  a  fearful  one,  big  with  unknown 
events  ;  one,  which  no  human  sagacity 
can  predict,  and  no  human  government- 
can  control ;  but  which,  notwithstand 
ing,  does  sometimes  come,  bearing  an 
impress  stamped  by  the  hand  of  God. 
If  the  struggle,  which  begins  at  such  a 
moment,  were  one  absolutely  forbidden: 
if,  at  the  mysterious  point  in  which  it 
arises,  this  great  social  duty  did  not 
press  even  upon  the  heads  of  those  who 
deny  its  existence,  the  human  race,  long 
ago,  wholly  fallen  under  the  yoke, 
would  have  lost  all  dignity  as  well  as 
all  happiness." 

Whatever  might  have  been  thought 
by  many,  at  the  time,  of  the  propriety 
of  this  step,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  we 
think,  that  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  was,  in  every  point  of  view, 
not  only  necessary,  but  wise  and  well- 
timed,  f  Every  consideration  of  sound 


*  See  Appendix  II.,   at  Ihe   end  rf  the  present 
chapter. 

f  Mr.  Curtis  pionounces  that  the  Declaration  of 

• 


no 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  XIV. 


[BK.  II 


policy  as  well  as  justice,  demanded  that 
the  war  should  no  longer  be  a  contest 
between  subjects  and  their  acknowl 
edged  sovereign,  and  it  was  of  the  first 
consequence,  that  the  position  assumed 
by  our  fathers,  on  this  memorable  occa 
sion,  should  have  all  the  moral  force 
arising  from  the  fact  that  they  now 


Independence  "  must  for  ever  remain  an  imperish 
able  monument  of  Jefferson's  power  of  expression, 
and  his  ability  to  touch  the  passions,  as  well  as  to 
address  the  reason,  of  mankind."  See  a  long  and 
interesting  note,  in  regard  to  the  authorship  of  the 
Declaration,  in  Curtis's  "  History  of  the  Constitution" 
vol.  i.,  pp.  81-88. 


stood  before  the  world  as  a  free  and  in 
dependent  people,  resolved  to  peril 
their  lives  and  their  all  in  defence  of 
the  liberties  which  were  their  birth 
right  and  their  inalienable  possession 
However  dark  the  prospect  was  before 
them  then ;  and,  in  view  of  all  the  cir 
cumstances,  however  uncertain  the  issue 
might  have  appeared;  we,  their  chil 
dren,  cannot  doubt  that  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  rightly  and  neces 
sarily  made,'  and  we  can — as  every 
honest  lover  of  his  country  does — bless 
GOD  that  it  was  made  when,  and  as,  it 
was. 


APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    XIV. 


I.— THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

Mr.  Jefferson  has  preserved  a  copy  of  the  original  draft,  as  reported  by  the  Committee,  with  the 
amendments  made  to  it  by  Congress,  which  has  been  published  in  his  correspondence.  The  following 
is  extracted  from  that  work. 


ORIGINAL   DRAFT. 

A  declaration  by  the  representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  general  Congress, 
assembled. 

When  in  the  course  of  human  events,  it  becomes 
necessary  for  one  people  to  dissolve  the  political 
bands  which  have  connected  them  with  another, 
and  to  assume  among  the  powers  of  the  earth 
the  separate  and  equal  station  to  which  the  laws 
of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a 
decent  respect  to  the  opinions  of  mankind  re 
quires  that  they  should  declare  the  causes  which 
impel  them  to  the  separation. 

We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident;  that  all 
men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  inherent  and  unalienable 
rights ;  that,  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and 


AS    AMENDED    BY    CONGRESS. 

A  declaration  by  the  representatives  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assem 
bled. 


Not  altered. 


We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident ;  that 
all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  en 
dowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable 
rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and 


CH.  XIV.]          DRAFT   OF  THE   DECLARATION    OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


411 


the  pursuit  of  happiness ;  that,  to  secure  these 
rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men, 
deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed  ;  that  whenever  any  form  of  govern 
ment  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the 
right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and 
to  institute  new  government,  laying  its  foundation 
on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in 
such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to 
effect  their  safety  and  happiness.  Prudence,  in 
deed,  will  dictate  that  governments  long  estab 
lished  should  not  be  changed  for  light  and  tran 
sient  causes  ;  and  accordingly,  all  experience 
bath  shown  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to 
suffer  while  evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right 
themselves,  by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which  they 
are  accustomed.  But  when  a  long  train  of  abuses 
and  usurpations,  begun  at  a  distinguished  period 
and  pursuing  invariably  the  same  object,  evinces 
a  design  to  reduce  them  under  absolute  despotism, 
it  is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such 
government,  and  to  provide  new  guards  for  their 
future  security.  Such  has  been  the  patient  suf 
ferance  of  these  colonies  ;  and  such  is  now  the 
necessity  which  constrains  them  to  expunge  their 
former  systems  of  government.  The  history  of 
the  present  king  of  Great  Britain,  is  a  history  of 
unremitting  injuries  and  usurpations,  among  which 
appears  no  solitary  fact  to  contradict  the  uniform 
tenor  of  the  rest,  but  all  have  in  direct  object  the 
establishment  of  an  absolute  tyranny  over  these 
states.  To  prove  this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to 
a  candid  world,  for  the  truth  of  which  we  pledge  a 
faiih  yet  unsullied  by  falsehood: — 

He  has  refused  his  assent  to  laws  the  most 
wholesome  and  necessary  for  the  public  good. 

He  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  laws  of 
immediate  and  pressing  importance,  unless  sus 
pended  in  their  operation  till  his  assent  should  be 
obtained  ;  and  when  so  suspended,  he  has  utterly 
neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

He  has  refused  to  pass  other  laws  for  the  ac 
commodation  of  large  districts  of  people,  unless 
those  people  would  relinquish  the  right  of  repre 
sentation  in  the  legislature,  a  right  inestimable  to 
them,  and  formidable  to  tyrants  only. 

He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at 
places  unusual,  uncomfortable,  and  distant  from 
the  depository  of  their  public  records,  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  fatiguing  them  into  compliance  with 
his  measures. 


the  pursuit  of  happiness  ;  that,  to  secure  these 
rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men, 
deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed ;  that  whenever  any  form  of  govern 
ment  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the 
right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and 
to  institute  new  government,  laying  its  foundation 
on  such  principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in 
such  form,  as  to  them  shall  seem  most  likely  to 
effect  their  safety  and  happiness.  Prudence,  in 
deed,  will  dictate  that  governments  long  estab 
lished  should  not  be  changed  for  light  and  tran 
sient  causes  ;  and  accordingly,  all  experience  hath 
shown  that  mankind  are  more  disposed  to  suffer 
while  evils  are  sufferable,  than  to  right  themselves, 
by  abolishing  the  forms  to  which  they  are  accus 
tomed.  But  when  a  long  train  of  abuses  and 
usurpations,  pursuing  invariably  the  same  object, 
evinces  a  design  to  reduce  them  under  absolute 
despotism,  it  is  their  right,  it  is  their  duty,  to 
throw  off  such  government,  and  to  provide  new 
guards  for  their  future  security.  Such  has  been 
the  patient  sufferance  of  these  colonies,  and  such 
is  now  the  necessity  which  constrains  them  to 
alter  their  former  systems  of  government.  The 
history  of  the  present  king  of  Great  Britain,  is  a 
history  of  repeated  injuries  and  usurpations,  all 
having  in  direct  object  the  establishment  of  an 
absolute  tyranny  over  these  states.  To  prove 
this,  let  facts  be  submitted  to  a  candid  world: — 


Not  altered. 


Not  altered. 


Not  altered. 


Not  altered. 


412 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  XIV. 


[BK.  TL 


He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  re 
peatedly  and  continually,  for  opposing  with 
manly  firmness  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of  the 
people. 

He  has  refused  for  a  long  time  after  such  dis 
solutions,  to  cause  others  to  be  elected,  whereby 
the  legislative  powers,  incapable  of  annihilation, 
have  returned  to  the  people  at  large  for  their  ex 
ercise,  the  state  remaining,  in  the  meantime,  ex 
posed  to  the  dangers  of  invasion  from  without, 
and  convulsions  within. 

He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population 
of  these  States  ;  for  that  purpose  obstructing  the 
laws  for  the  naturalization  of  foreigners,  refusing 
to  pass  others  to  encourage  their  migrations 
hither,  and  raising  the  conditions  of  new  ap 
propriations  of  lands. 

He  has  suffered  the  administration  of  justice 
totally  to  cease  in  some  of  these  States,  refusing  his 
assent  to  laws  for  establishing  judiciary  powers. 

He  has  made  our  judges  dependent  on  his  will 
alone  for  the  tenure  of  their  offices,  and  the 
amount  and  payment  of  their  salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  by  a 
self-assumed  power,  and  sent  hither  swarms  of  new 
officers  to  harass  our  people,  and  to  eat  out  their 
Bubstance. 

He  has  kept  among  us  in  times  of  peace  stand 
ing  armies  and  ships  of  war,  without  the  consent 
of  our  legislatures. 

He  has  affected  to  render  the  military  inde 
pendent  of  und  superior  to  the  civil  power. 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to 
a  jurisdiction  foreign  to  our  constitutions,  and  un 
acknowledged  by  our  laws,  giving  his  assent  to 
their  acts  of  pretended  legislation  for  quartering 
large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us ;  for  pro 
tecting,  by  a  mock  trial,  from  punishment  for  any 
murders  which  they  should  commit  on  the  inhab 
itants  of  these  states  ;  for  cutting  off  our  trade 
with  all  parts  of  the  world  ;  for  imposing  taxes 
on  us  without  our  consent ;  for  depriving  us  of 
the  benefits  of  trial  by  jury  ;  for  transporting  us 
beyond  seas,  to  be  tried  for  pretended  offences  ; 
for  abolishing  the  free  system  of  English  laws  in 
a  neighboring  province,  establishing  therein  an 
arbitrary  government,  and  enlarging  its  boun 
daries,  so  as  to  render  it  at  once  an  example  and 
fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same  absolute 
rule  into  these  states  ;  for  taking  away  our  char 
ters,  abolishing  our  most  valuable  laws,  and  alter- 


He  has  dissolved  representative  houses  re 
peatedly,  for  opposing  with  manly  firmness  his 
invasion  on  the  rights  of  the  people. 


Not  altered. 


Not  altered. 


He  has  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice, 
by  refusing  his  assent  to  laws  for  establishing 
judiciary  powers. 

He  has  made  judges  dependent  on  his  will  alone 
for  the  tenure  of  their  offices,  and  the  amount  and 
payment  of  their  salaries. 

He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new  offices,  and 
sent  hither  swarms  of  new  officers  to  harass  onr 
people,  and  eat  out  their  substance. 

He  has  kept  among  us  in  times  of  peace  stand 
ing  armies,  without  the  consent  of  our  legislatures. 

Not  altered. 

He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject  us  to 
a  jurisdiction  foreign  to  our  constitutions,  and  un 
acknowledged  by  our  laws,  giving  his  assent  to 
their  acts  of  pretended  legislation  for  quartering 
large  bodies  of  armed  troops  among  us ;  for  pro 
tecting,  by  a  mock  trial,  from  punishment  for  any 
murders  which  they  should  commit  on  the  in 
habitants  of  these  states  ;  for  cutting  off  our 
trade  with  all  parts  of  the  world  ;  for  imposing 
taxes  on  us  without  our  consent;  for  depriving 
us,  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits  of  trial  by  jury  ; 
for  transporting  us  beyond  seas,  to  be  tried  for 
pretended  offences  ;  for  abolishing  the  free  sys 
tem  of  English  laws  in  a  neighboring  province, 
establishing  therein  an  arbitrary  government,  and 
enlarging  its  boundaries,  so  as  to  render  it  at 
once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  intro 
ducing  the  same  absolute  rule  into  these  colonies  ; 
for  taking  away  our  charters,  abolishing  our  most 


CH.  XIV.]         DRAFT  OF  THE  DECLARATION   OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


41S 


ing  fundam  entally  the  forms  of  our  governments  ; 
for  suspending  our  own  legislatures,  and  declaring 
themselves  invested  with  power  to  legislate  for  us 
in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here,  withdraw 
ing  his  governors,  and  declaring  us  out  of  his  al 
legiance  and  protection. 

He  has  plundered  our  seas,  ravaged  our  coasts, 
burnt  our  towns,  and  destroyed  the  lives  of  our 
people. 

He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of 
foreign  mercenaries  to  complete  the  works  of  death, 
desolation  and  tyranny  already  begun  with  cir 
cumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy,  unworthy  the 
head  of  a  civilized  nation. 

He  has  constrained  our  fellow-citizens  taken 
captive  on  the  high  seas  to  bear  arms  against 
their  country,  to  become  the  executioners  of  their 
friends  and  brethren,  or  to  fall  themselves  by  their 
hands. 

He  has  endeavored  to  bring  on  the  inhabitants 
of  the  frontiers,  the  merciless  Indian  savages, 
whose  known  rule  of  warfare,  is  an  undistin 
guished  destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes,  and  con 
ditions  of  existence. 

He  has  excited  treasonable  insurrections  of  our 
fellow-citizens,  with  the  allurements  of  forfeiture 
and  confiscation  of  our  property. 

He  has  waged  cruel  war  against  human  nature 
itself,  violating  its  most  sacred  rights  of  life  and 
liberty  in  the  persons  of  a  distant  people,  who 
never  offended  him,  captivating  and  carrying  them 
into  slavery  in  another  hemisphere,  or  to  incur 
miserable  death  in  their  transportation  thither. 
This  piratical  warfare,  the  opprobrium  of  IN 
FIDEL  powers,  is  the  warfare  of  the  CHRIS 
TIAN  king  of  Great  Britain.  Determined  to 
keep  open  a  market  where  MEN  should  be 
bought  and  sold,  he  has  prostituted  his  negative 
for  suppressing  every  legislative  attempt  to  pro 
hibit  or  to  restrain  this  execrable  commerce. 
And  that  this  assemblage  of  horrors  might  want 
no  fact  of  distinguished  die,  he  is  now  exciting 
those  very  people  to  rise  in  arms  among  us,  and 
to  purchase  that  liberty,  of  which  he  has  deprived 
them,  by  murdering  the  people  on  whom  he  also 
obtruded  them ;  thus  paying  off  former  crimes 
committed  against  the  LIBERTIES  of  one 


valuable  laws,  and  altering  fundamentally  the 
forms  of  our  governments  ;  for  suspending  our 
own  legislatures,  and  declaring  themselves  in 
vested  with  power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all  cases 
whatsoever. 

He  has  abdicated  government  here,  by  de 
claring  us  out  of  his  protection,  and  waging  war 
against  us. 

Not  altered. 

He  is  at  this  time  transporting  large  armies  of 
foreign  mercenaries,  to  complete  the  works  of 
death,  destruction  and  tyranny  already  begun 
with  circumstances  of  cruelty  and  perfidy  scarcely 
paralleled  in  the  most  barbarous  ages,  and  totally 
unworthy  the  head  of  a  civilized  nation. 


Not  altered. 


He  has  excited  domestic  insurrections  among  us, 
and  has  endeavored  to  bring  on  the  inhabitants 
of  the  frontiers,  the  merciless  Indian  savages, 
whose  known  rule  of  warfare  is  an  undistinguished 
destruction  of  all  ages,  sexes,  and  conditions. 

Struck  out. 


Struck  o'it. 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  XIV. 


[BK.  II. 


people  with  crimes  which  he  urges  them  to  com 
mit  against  the  LIVES  of  another. 

In  every  stage  ofj  these  oppressions,  we  have 
petitioned  for  redress  in  the  most  humble  terms  ; 
our  repeated  petitions  have  been  answered  only 
by  repeated  injuries. 

A  prince  whose  character  is  thus  marked  by 
every  act  which  may  define  a  tyrant,  is  unfit  to 
be  the  ruler  of  a  people  who  mean  to  be  free. 
Future  ages  will  scarcely  believe  that  the  hardiness 
of  one  man  adventured,  within,  the  short  compass 
of  twelve  years  only,  to  lay  a  foundation  so  broad 
and  so  undisguised  for  tyranny  over  a  people  fos 
tered  and  fixed  in  principles  of  freedom. 

Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attention  to  our 
British  brethren.  We  have  warned  them  from 
time  to  time,  of  attempts  by  their  legislature,  to 
extend  a  jurisdiction  over  these  our  stales.  We 
have  reminded  them  of  the  circumstances  of  our 
emigration  and  settlement  here  ;  no  one  of  which 
could  warrant  so  strange  a  pretension  ;  these  were 
effected  at  the  expense  of  our  own  blood  and  treas 
ure,  unassisted  by  the  wealth  or  the  strength  of 
Great  Britain  ;  that  in  constituting,  indeed,  our 
severed  forms  of  government,  we  had  adopted  one 
common  king  ;  thereby  laying  a  foundation  for 
perpetual  league  and  amity  with  them ;  but  that 
submission  to  their  Parliament  was  no  part  of  our 
Constitution,  nor  ever  in  idea,  if  history  may  be 
credited;  and  we  appealed  to  their  native  justice 
and  magnanimity,  as  well  as  to  the  ties  of  our 
common  kindred,  to  disavow  these  usurpations 
which  were  likely  to  interrupt  our  connection  and 
correspondence.  They,  too,  have  been  deaf  to 
the  voice  of  justice  and  of  consanguinity,  and 
when  occasions  have  been  given  them  by  the  regular 
course  of  their  laws,  of  removing  from  their 
councils  the  disturbers  of  our  harmony,  they  have 
by  their  free  election,  re-established  them  in  power. 
At  this  very  time,  too,  they  are  permitting  their 
chief  magistrate  to  send  over  not  only  soldiers  of 
our  common  blood,  but  Scotch  and  foreign  merce 
naries  to  invade  and  destroy  us.  These  facts  have 
given  the  last  stab  to  agonizing  affection,  and 
manly  spirit  bids  us  to  renounce  forever  these  un 
feeling  brethren.  We  must  endeavor  to  forget 
our  former  love  for  them,  and  hold  them  as  we 
hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war,  in  peace, 
friends.  We  might  have  been  a  free  and  a  great 
people  together;  but  a  communication  of  grandeur 
«nd  of  freedom,  it  seems,  is  below  their  dignity. 


Not  altered. 


A  prince  whose  character  is  thus  marked  by 
every  act  which  may  define  a  tyrant,  is  unfit  to 
be  the  ruler  of  a  free  people. 


Nor  have  we  been  wanting  in  attention  to  our 
British  brethren.  We  have  warned  them  from 
time  to  time,  of  attempts  by  their  legislature,  to 
extend  an  unwarrantable  jurisdiction  over  us, 
We  have  reminded  them  of  the  circumstances  of 
our  emigration  and  settlement  here  ;  we  have  ap 
pealed  to  their  native  justice  and  magnanimity, 
and  we  have  conjured  them  by  the  ties  of  our  com 
mon  kindred,  to  disavow  these  usurpations  which 
would  inevitably  interrupt  our  connection  and 
correspondence.  They,  too,  have  been  deaf  to 
the  voice  of  justice  and  of  consanguinity.  We 
must  therefore  acquiesce  in  the  necessity  which 
denounces  our  separation,  and  hold  them  as  we 
hold  the  rest  of  mankind,  enemies  in  war,  in 
peace  friends. 


CH.  XIV.J          DRAFT  OF  THE  DECLARATION   OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


415 


Be  it  so,  since  they  will  have  it.  The  road  to  hap 
piness  and  to  glory,  is  open  to  us,  too.  We  will 
tread  it  apart  from  them,  and  acquiesce  in  the 
necessity  which  denounces  our  eternal  separation. 

We,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  General  Congress  assem 
bled,  do,  in  the  name,  and  by  the  authority  of  the 
good  people  of  these  states,  reject  and  renounce 
all  allegiance  and  subjection  to  the  kings  of  Or  eat 
Britain,  and  all  others  who  may  hereafter  claim 
by,  through,  or  under  them  ;  we  utterly  dissolve  all 
political  connection  which  may  heretofore  have  sub 
sisted  between  us  and  the  people  or  Parliament  of 
Great  Britain;  and  finally,  we  do  assert,  and 
declare  these  colonies  to  be  free  and  independent 
slates,  and  that  as  free  and  independent  states, 
they  have  full  power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace, 
contract  alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do 
all  other  acts  and  things  which  independent  states 
may  of  right  do. 

And  for  the  support  of  this  declaration,  we 
mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  our  for 
tunes,  and  our  sacred  honor. 


We,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  General  Congress  assem 
bled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world 
for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  do,  in  the  name, 
and  by  the  authority  of  the  good  people  of  these 
colonies,  solemnly  publish  and  declare,  that  these 
United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be, 
free  and  independent  states  ;  that  they  are  absolved 
from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and  that 
all  political  connection  between  them  and  the  state  of 
Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved ; 
and  that  as  free  and  independent  states,  they  have 
full  power  to  levy  war,  conclude  peace,  contract 
alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  to  do  all  other 
acts  and  things  which  independent  states  may  of 
right  do. 

And  for  the  support  of  this  declaration,  with  a 
firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  Divine  Provi 
dence,  we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  lives, 
our  fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honor. 


The  words  expunged  from  the  original  draft  are  distinguished  by  italics,  as  are  the  words  that 
were  introduced  by  Congress.  The  names  of  the  members  who  subscribed  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  were  as  follows,  viz  : — 


JOHN"  HANCOCK,  President. 
Neio  Hampshire.  New  York. 

JOSIAH  BARTLETT,  WILLIAM  FLOYD, 

WILLIAM  WHIFFLE,        PHILIP  LIVINGSTON, 
MATTHEW  THORNTON.  FRANCIS  LEWIS, 
LEWIS  MORRIS. 
Massachusetts  Bay. 

SAMUEL  ADAMS,     '  New  Jersey. 

JOHN  ADAMS,  RICHARD  STOCKTON, 

ROBERT  TREAT  PAINE,  JOHN  WITHERSPOON, 


ELBRIDGE  GERRY. 

Rhode  Island^  etc. 
STEPHEN  HOPKINS, 
WILLIAM  ELLERY. 


FRANCIS  HOPKINSON, 
JOHN  HART, 
ABRAM  CLARK. 


Pennsylvania. 
ROBERT  MORRIS, 
BENJAMIN  RUSH, 
BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN, 


Connecticut. 
liOGER  SHERMAN, 
SAMUEL  HUNTINGTON,  JOHN  MORTON, 
WILLIAM  WILLIAMS,       GEORGE  CLYMER, 
OLIVER  WOLCOTT.  JAMES  SMITH. 


GEORGE  TAYLOR, 
JAMES  WILSON, 
GEORGE  ROSS. 

Delaware. 

CAESAR  RODNEY, 
THOMAS  M'KEAN, 
GEORGE  REED. 


THOMAS  NELSON,  Jan., 
FRANCIS  LIGHTFOOT 

LEE, 
CARTER  BRAXTON. 

North  Carolina. 
WILLIAM  HOOPER, 
JOSEPH  HUGHES, 
JOHN  PENN. 

South  Carolina. 
EDWARD  RUTLEDGE, 
THOMAS  HEY  WARD,  Jin. 
THOMAS  LYNCH,  Jun., 
ARTHUR  MIDDLETON. 


Virginia.  Georgia. 

GEORGE  WYTHE,  BUTTON  GWINNETT, 

RICHARD  HENRY  LEE,   GEORGE  WALTON, 
THOMAS  JEFFERSON,       LYMAN  HALL. 
BENJAMIN  HARRISON. 


416 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  XIV. 


[BK.  11. 


II— EXTRACT  FROM  JOHX  QUINCY  ADAMS'S 
ORATIOX  Otf  THE  FOURTH  OF  JULY,  1831. 

The  dependence,  then,  of  the  colonies  upon 
Great  Britain,  at  the  time  when  the  British  Par 
liament  declared  its  own  right  to  make  laws  for 
them  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  and  undertook  to 
give  effect  to  this  declaration  by  taxation,  was  a 
dependence  of  parchments  and  of  proclamations, 
unsanctioned  by  the  laws  of  nature,  disavowed  by 
the  dictates  of  reason.  To  this  condition,  how 
ever,  the  colonies  submitted  as  long  as  they  were 
suffered  to  enjoy  the  rights  of  Englishmen.  The 
attempt  to  tax  them  by  a  body  in  which  they  had 
and  could  have  no  representative,  was  in  direct 
violation  of  those  rights.  The  acts  of  Parliament 
were  encountered  by  remonstrance,  deprecated  by 
petition,  and  resisted  by  force.  Ten  years  of  con 
troversy,  and  more  than  one  of  civil  war,  pre 
ceded  the  declaration,  "that  these  United  Co 
lonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and 
independent  states  ;  that  they  are  absolved  from 
all  allegiance  to  the  British  crown,  and  that  all 
political  connection  between  them  and  the  state 
of  Great  Britain,  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dis 
solved." 

The  union  of  the  colonies  had  preceded  this  de 
claration  and  even  the  commencement  of  the  war. 
The  declaration  was  joint,  that  the  United  Colo 
nies  were  free  and  independent  states,  but  not  that 
any  of  them  was  a  free  and  independent  state, 
separate  from  the  rest.  In  the  Constitution  of 
this  Commonwealth  (Massachusetts)  it  is  declared, 
that  the  body  politic  is  formed  by  a  voluntary 
association  of  individuals  ;  that  it  is  a  social  com 
pact,  by  which  the  whole  people  covenants  with 
each  citizen,  and  each  citizen  with  the  whole  peo 
ple,  that  all  shall  be  governed  by  certain  laws,  for 
the  common  good.  The  body  politic  of  the  United 
States  was  formed  by  the  voluntary  association  of 
the  people  of  the  United  Colonies.  The  Declara 
tion  of  Independence  was  a  social  compact,  by 
which  the  whole  people  covenanted  with  each 
citizen  of  the  United  Colonies,  and  each  citizen 
with  the  whole  people,  that  the  United  Colonies 
were,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independ 
ent  states.  To  this  compact,  union  was  as  vital 
as  freedom  or  independence.  From  the  hour  of 
that  declaration,  no  one  of  the  States  whose  peo 
ple  were  parties  to  it,  could,  without  violation  of 
that  primitive  compact,  secede  or  separate  from 


the  rest.  Each  was  pledged  to  all,  and  all  were 
pledged  to  each  by  a  concert  of  souls,  without 
limitation  of  time,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty 
God,  and  proclaimed  to  all  mankind.  The  colo 
nies  were  not  declared  sovereign  states.  The  terra 
sovereign  is  not  even  to  be  found  in  the  Decla 
ration  ;  and  far,  very  far  was  it  from  the  contem 
plation  of  those  who  composed,  or  of  those  who 
adopted  it,  to  constitute  either  the  aggregate 
community,  or  any  one  of  its  members,  with  abso 
lute,  uncontrollable  or  despotic  power.  They  are 
united,  free  and  independent  States.  Each  of 
these  properties  is  equally  essential  to  their  exist 
ence.  Without  union  the  covenant  contains  no 
pledge  of  freedom  or  independence  ;  without  free 
dom,  none  of  independence  or  union  ;  without  in 
dependence,  none  of  union  or  freedom. 

In  the  history  of  the  world,  this  was  the  first 
example  of  a  self-constituted  nation  proclaiming 
to  the  rest  of  mankind  the  principles  upon  which 
it  was  associated,  and  deriving  those  principles 
from  the  laws  of  nature.  It  has  sometimes  been 
objected  to  the  paper,  that  it  deals  too  much 
in  abstractions.  But  this  was  its  characteristic 
excellence  ;  for  upon  those  abstractions  hinged 
the  justice  of  the  cause.  Without  them,  our  rev 
olution  would  have  been  luit  a  successful  rebel 
lion.  Pvight,  truth,  justice,  are  all  abstractions. 
The  Divinity  that  stirs  within  the  soul  of  man  is 
abstraction.  The  Creator  of  the  universe  is  a 
spirit,  and  all  spiritual  nature  is  abstraction. 
Happy  would  it  be,  could  we  answer  with  equal 
confidence  another  objection,  not  to  the  Declara 
tion,  but  to  the  consistency  of  the  people  by  whom 
it  was  proclaimed  !  Thrice  happy,  could  the  ap 
peal  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for  recti 
tude  of  intention,  and  with  firm  reliance  on  the 
protection  of  Divine  Providence  for  support,  have 
been  accompanied  with  an  appeal  equally  bold  to 
our  own  social  institutions  to  illustrate  the  self- 
evident  truths  which  we  declared  ! 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  not  a  de 
claration  of  liberty  newly  acquired,  nor  was  it  a 
form  of  government.  The  people  of  the  colonies 
were  already  free,  and  their  forms  of  government 
were  various.  They  were  all  colonies  of  a  mon 
archy.  The  king  of  Great  Britain  was  their  com 
mon  sovereign.  Their  internal  administrations 
presented  great  varieties  of  form.  The  proprie 
tary  governments  were  hereditary  monarchies  in 
miniature.  New  York  and  Virginia  were  feudal 


CH.  XIV.] 


ADAMS'S  FOURTH   OF   JULY  ORATION. 


417 


aristocracies.  Massachusetts  Bay  was  an  ap 
proximation  to  the  complex  government  of  the 
parent  state.  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island 
were  little  remote  from  democracies.  But  as  in 
the  course  of  our  recent  war  with  Great  Britain, 
her  gallant  naval  warriors  made  the  discovery 
that  the  frigates  of  the  United  States  were  line- 
of-battle  ships  in  disguise,  so  the  ministers  of 
George  III.,  when  they  brought  their  king  and 
country  into  collision  with  these  transatlantic  de 
pendencies,  soon  found  to  their  astonishment,  that 
the  United  American  Colonies  were  republics  in 
disguise.  The  spirit  of  the  people,  throughout  the 
Union,  was  republican ;  and  the  absurdity  of  a 
foreign  and  a  royal  head  to  societies  of  men  thus 
constituted,  had  remained  unperceived,  only  be 
cause  until  then  that  head  had  been  seldom 
brought  into  action. 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  announced 
the  severance  of  the  thirteen  United  Colonies  from 
the  rest  of  the  British  Empire,  and  the  existence 
of  their  people  from  that  day  forth  as  an  independ 
ent  nation.  The  people  of  all  the  colonies,  speak 
ing  by  their  representatives,  constituted  themselves 
one  moral  person  before  the  face  of  their  fellow 
men.  Frederic  I.,  of  Brandenburg,  constituted 
himself  king  of  Prussia,  by  putting  a  crown  upon 
VOL.  I.— 55 


his  own  head.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  invested  hig 
brows  with  the  iron  crown  of  Lombardy,  and  de 
clared  himself  king  of  Italy.  The  Declaration  oi 
Independence  was  the  crown  with  which  the  peo 
ple  of  United  America,  rising  in  gigantic  stature 
as  one  man,  encirled  their  brows,  and  there  it  re 
mains  ;  there,  so  long  as  this  globe  shall  be  inhab 
ited  by  human  beings,  may  it  remain,  a  crown 
of  imperishable  glory  1 

The  Declaration  of  Independence  asserted  the 
rights,  and  acknowledged  the  obligations  of  an 
independent  nation.  It  recognized  the  laws  of 
nations,  as  they  were  observed  and  practiced 
among  Christian  communities.  It  considered  the 
state  of  nature  between  nations  as  a  state  of  peace; 
and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  that  the  new 
confederacy  was  at  peace  with  all  other  nations, 
Great  Britain  alone  excepted.  It  made  no  change 
in  the  laws — none  in  the  internal  administration 
of  any  one  of  the  confederates,  other  than  such  as 
necessarily  followed  from  the  dissolution  of  the 
connection  with  Great  Britain.  It  left  all  muni 
cipal  legislation,  all  regulation  of  private  individ 
ual  rights  and  interests,  to  the  people  of  each 
separate  colony  ;  and  each  separate  colony,  thus 
transformed  into  a  State  of  the  Union,  wrought 
for  itself  a  constitution  of  government. 


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FROM 


TEE  ATT    OF    PEACE. 


1776-1783. 


HISTORY 


UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA 


CHAPTER    I. 

1776, 

EVENTS      OF     THE     WAR     DURING      1*7*76. 

TV.e  Declaration  of  Independence  read  to  the  army  —  How  received  in  New  York  —  Position  of  the  loyalists, — 
Course  pursue!  by  Congress  —  Necessity  of  some  articles  of  confederation  —  Measures  adopted  —  Defence  of 
New  York  to  be  provided  for  —  Arrival  of  the  British  forces  under  General  and  Lord  Howe  —  Proclamation  of 
the  English  Commissioners  —  Howe's  sincerity  —  Attempt  at  communication  with  "Washington  —  Account  of  the 
matter  —  American  army  and  operations  in  Canada  —  Carleton's  vigorous  efforts  —  Naval  battle  on  Lake  Chain- 
plaia  —  Carleton's  failure  to  advance  southwardly  —  Washington's  position  in  New  York — Sectional  jealousies 
and  quarrels — Washington's  dignified  rebuke  —  Howe's  force — Exploits  of  Captain  Talbot  —  The  battle  of 
Long  Island — Its  disastrous  result  —  Retreat  from  Brooklyn  —  Encampment  at  Harlem  Heights — Washing 
ton's  letter  to  Congress  —  Howe's  renewed  attempts  at  negotiations  fail  —  Depression  of  the  Americans —  Halo's 
self-sacrificing  expedition  —  His  death  as  a  spy  —  Howe's  plan  of  operation  —  Disgraceful  conduct  of  the  militia 
— Washington's  danger  —  Retreat  from  New  York  —  Narrow  escape  —  Great  fire  in  New  York  —  Sickness  in 
the  camp,  desertions,  etc.  — Washington's  letter  to  Congress  on  the  inefficiency  of  the  force  tinder  his  command 
—  Army  to  be  reorganized  —  Howe's  change  of  plan — Washington's  retreat  —  Battle  of  White  Plains-  —  The 
loss  of  Fort  Washington  —  Retreat  through  the  Jerseys  begun  —  Howe's  proclamation  —  Washington  continues 
to  retreat — Nearness  of  the  armies  to  one  another  —  Lee's  erratic  course  and  capture  —  Gloomy  prospect  of 
affairs  —  British  movements  in  Rhode  Island  —  Howe's  military  conduct  censured  by  some  writers  —  Washing 
ton's  nobleness  of  character  —  APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  I. — Judge  Drayton's  remarks  on  Lord  and  General  Howe'e 
Declaration. 


IT  Lad  long  been  foreseen  by  Wash 
ington  that  the  contest  between  Eng 
land   and  the  United  States  must  be 
settled  by   an   appeal    to   the 
sword.     We  may  well  believe, 
therefore,  that  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  afforded  him,  as  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  army,  the  highest  satis 


faction  ;  since  now,  the  position  of  affairs 
was  no  longer  of  that  anomalous  and 
unsettled  character,  which  had  inter 
fered  with  the  vigorous  carrying  out  the 
various  plans  with  which  he  was  en 
trusted  for  sustaining  the  rights  and  lib 
erties  of  his  country.  On  the  9th  of 
Julv,  he  caused  the  Declaration  to  be 


422 


EVENTS   OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1776. 


[BK.  III. 


read,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  at  the 
head  of  each  brigade  of  the  army. 
"  The  general  hopes,"  said  he,  in  his  or 
ders,  "  that  this  important  event  will 
serve  as  a  fresh  incentive  to  every  offi 
cer  and  soldier,  to  act  with  fidelity  and 
courage,  as  knowing  that  now  the  peace 
and  safety  of  his  country  depends,  un 
der  God,  solely  on  the  success  of  our 
arms ;  and  that  he  is  now  in  the  service 
of  a  State,  possessed  of  sufficient  power 
to  reward  his  merit  and  advance  him  to 
the  highest  honors  of  a  free  country." 

The  people  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
not  only  indulged  themselves  in  the 
usual  demonstrations  of  joy  by  ringing 
of  bells  and  the  like,  but  also  concluded 
that  the  leaden  statue  of  his  Majesty, 
George  III.,  in  the  Bowling  Green,  might 
now  be  turned  to  good  account:  they, 
therefore,  pulled  down  the  statue,  and 
the  lead  was  run  into  bullets  for  the 
good  cause.  Everywhere  throughout 
the  country  the  Declaration  was  hailed 
with  joy.  Processions  were  formed ; 
bells  were  rung ;  cannon  were  fired ; 
orations  delivered  ;  and  in  every  possi 
ble  way  the  popular  approbation  was 
manifested. 

Matters  had  now  reached  such  a  cri 
sis  that  it  became  necessary  for  every 
member  of  the  community  to  make  his 
election  between  one  side  or  the  other. 
Doubt  was  now  to  be  put  an  end  to  ; 
and  the  people  must  choose  either  to 
enroll  themselves  on  the  side  of  those 
who  were  now  solemnly  pledged  to  in 
dependence,  or  take  the  consequences 
of  adhering  to  the  side  of  the  king  and 
the  invading  army  sent  to  reduce  their 
countrymen  to  absolute  and  uncondi 
tional  submission.  Without  undertak 


ing  here  to  discuss  the  question  as  to 
the  motives  and  conduct  of  the  loyalist 
party  in  America,  it  appears  quite  cer 
tain  that  the  indignities  frequently 
heaped  upon  them  by  private  malice, 
under  color  of  patriotic  zeal,  such  as 
tarring  and  feathering,  carting  them 
about  as  spectacles,  and  the  like,  were 
of  the  most  odious  description ;  and 
it  need  excite  no  surprise  that  the 
spirit  of  revenge  was  roused  into  active 
and  savage  fury.  "We  shall  have  abun 
dant  evidence  of  this  in  the  course  of 
our  narrative.  At  the  same  time  it  is 
perfectly  evident,  that  Congress  and 
the  various  state  governments  were,  of 
necessity,  compelled  to  insist  upon  the 
allegiance  of  all  without  distinction; 
and  they  who  refused  to  yield  obedi 
ence,  or  adhered  to  the  enemy,  were  ex 
posed  to  severe  penalties,  confiscation 
of  property,  imprisonment,  banishment, 
and  finally,  death.  Congress,  before 
the  passage  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  declared,  that  "  all  persons 
abiding  within  any  of  the  United  Colo 
nies,  and  deriving  protection  from  the 
laws  of  the  same,  owed  allegiance  to 
the  said  laws,  and  were  members  of 
such  colony ;  and  that  all  persons  pass 
ing  through,  or  making  a  temporary 
stay  in  any  of  the  colonies,  being  entitled 
to  the  protection  of  the  laws,  during  the 
time  of  such  passage,  visitation,  or  tem 
porary  stay,  owed,  during  the  same,  al 
legiance  thereto."  It  was  also  declared, 
"  that  all  persons,  members  of,  or  owing 
allegiance  to  any  of  the  United  Colonies, 
who  should  levy  war  against  any  of  the 
said  colonies,  within  the  same ;  or  be 
adherent  to  the  king  of  Great  Britain, 
or  other  enemies  of  the  said  colonies,  or 


CH.  I.J 


ARRIVAL  OF  LORD  HOWE  AT  NEW  YORK. 


423 


any  of  them,  within  the  same,  giving  to 
him  or  them  aid  or  comfort,  were  guilty 
of  treason  against  such  colony." 

From  motives  of  policy  as  well  as 
propriety,  there  was  not  much  disposi 
tion  to  resort  to  extremities  on  the  part 
of  those  having  in  charge  the  popular 
governments ;  and,  notwithstanding 
some  were  in  favor  of  stringent  meas 
ures,  it  was  wisely  concluded  for  the 
present  to  admonish  delinquents,  put 
them  under  recognizances,  etc. 

The  necessity  of  some  terms  of  con 
federation  between  the  states  was  plain 
ly  evident,  and  Congress  took  steps  im 
mediately  for  considering  the  subject. 
As  early  as  July,  1*775,  Dr.  Franklin 
had  submitted  to  Congress  a  sketch  of 
articles  of  confederation  between  the 
colonies ;  but  his  plan  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  discussed  at  all..  On  the 
*Tth  of  June,  a  committee  was  appointed, 
consisting  of  one  member  from  each 
colony,  to  prepare  and  digest  a  form  of 
confederation.  The  report  of  this  com 
mittee,  made  on  the  12th  of  July,  eight 
days  after  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  was  debated  almost  daily,  to  the 
20th  of  August,  in  a  committee  of  the 
whole  house,  when  a  new  draft  was 
reported.  The  articles  thus  reported 
were  laid  aside  until  April  of  the  fol 
lowing  year.  The  subject  was  a  very 
difficult  one  to  agree  upon  in  the  then 
position  of  affairs,  the  great  variety  of 
interests  involved,  and  especially  the 
tenacious  regard  entertained  for  state 
rights  and  state  sovereignty. 

Washington  was,  not  unreasonably, 
anxious  as  tc  the  position  and  probable 
means  of  defending  the  city  of  New 
York.  Its  importance,  in  every  point 


of  view,  the  strong  Tory  influence  in  it 
and  its  vicinity,  the  almost  certainty 
that  the  British  commander  would 
make  it  the  central  point  of  operations 
against  the  Americans,  and  the  like 
considerations,  urged  him  to  put  forth 
every  exertion  to  meet  the  emergency. 
Under  Putnam's  direction,  obstructions 
were  sunk  in  the  Hudson  and  East 
Rivers,  and  forts  and  batteries  were 
hastily  erected,  to  guard  the  narrowest 
passages.  Fort  "Washington  and  Fort 
Lee  were  the  strongest  of  these  works ; 
but  the  commander-in-chief  found  it  no 
easy  matter  to  place  the  city  in  what 
might  be  considered  a  tolerable  state 
of  defence. 

Just  at  the  end  of  June,  General 
Howe,  who  had  found  his  quarters  at 
Halifax  not  comfortable,  arrived  at 
New  York,  and  landed  his  troops  on 
Staten  Island,  which  Washing- 

1776. 

ton  had  not  felt  himself  able  to 
occupy.  He  was  received  with  exulta 
tion  by  the  Tory  inhabitants,  and  was 
encouraged  by  Tryon  to  look  for  an 
extensive  rising  of  the  loyalist  party  in 
various  directions. 

On  the  12th  of  July,  Admiral  Lord 
Howe  arrived  from  England  with  large 
reinforcements.  He  and  his  brother 
were  empowered  to  act  as  Commis 
sioners  for  restoring  peace,  by  receiv 
ing  the  submissions  of  such  individuals 
and  communities,  as  might  desire  to 
return  to  their  allegiance,  and  throw 
themselves  upon  the  king's  mercy.  A 
circular  letter  to  the  late  royal  gover 
nors,  dated  off  the  coast  of  Massachu 
setts,  containing  offers  of  pardon  to  all 
who  would  submit,  was  sent  on  shore 
under  a  flag,  and  it  was  requested  of 


EVENTS   OF  THE  WAR   DURING    1770. 


[BK.  Ill 


these  governors,  that  the  offer  con 
tained  in  the  letter  might  have  as  wide 
a  circulation  as  possible.  Washington 
immediately  sent  this  letter  to  Con 
gress,  and  that  body,  on  the  19th  of 
July,  ordered  it  to  be  published  in  all 
the  newspapers,  "  that  the  good  people 
of  the  United  States  might  be  informed 
of  what  nature  are  the  commissions,  and 
what  the  terms,  with  the  expectation 
of  which,  the  insidious  court  of  Great 
Britain,  has  endeavored  to  amuse  and 
disarm  them ;  and  that  the  few,  who 
still  remain  suspended  by  a  hope  found 
ed  either  in  the  justice  or  moderation 
of  their  late  king,  may  now,  at  length 
be  convinced,  that  the  valor  alone  of 
their  country  is  to  save  its  liberties." 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
Lord  Howe  was  sincerely  anxious  for 
peace.  He  addressed  a  note  to  Dr. 
Franklin,  to  whom  he  was  personally 
well  known,  earnestly  expressing  his 
wishes,  that  the  differences  between  the 
Americans  and  the  mother  country 
might  be  amicably  settled.  Franklin, 
in  his  reply,  courteously  regretted  that 
he  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  on  an  er 
rand  so  fruitless,  as  to  expect  to  obtain 
submission  from  his  countrymen.  "It 
is  impossible,"  he  writes,  "  that  we 
should  think  of  submission  to  a  gov 
ernment,  that  has,  with  the  most  wan 
ton  barbarity  and  cruelty,  burnt  our 
defenceless  towns,  in  the  midst  of  win 
ter;  excited  the  savages  to  massacre 
our  peaceful  farmers,  and  our  slaves  to 
murder  their  masters ;  and  is  now  bring 
ing  foreign  mercenaries  to  deluge  our 
settlements  with  blood.  Long  did  I 
endeavor,  with  unfeigned  and  unwea 
ried  zeal,  to  preserve  from  breaking, 


that  fine  and  noble  China  vase,  the 
British  empire ;  for  I  knew  that  being 
once  broken,  the  separate  parts  could 
not  retain  even  their  share  of  the 
strength  and  value  that  existed  in  the 
whole ;  and  that  a  perfect  reunion 
could  scarce  ever  be  hoped  for."  In 
conclusion,  he  says,  "I  know  your 
great  motive  in  coming  hither,  was  the 
hope  of  being  instrumental  in  a  recon 
ciliation ;  and  I  believe,  when  you  fino 
that  to  be  impossible,  on  any  terms 
given  you  to  propose,  you  will  then 
relinquish  so  odious  a  command,  and 
return  to  a  more  honorable  private 
station." 

Failing  in  these  efforts,  the  Com 
missioners  next  attempted  to  open  a 
communication  with  Washington,  whom 
they  addressed  as  George  Washington. 
Msq.  j  but  as  they  were  not  prepared 
to  acknowledge  the  official  position  and 
station  of  the  Commander-in-chief,  a 
difficulty  at  once  arose.  Washington 
never  suffered  the  slightest  deviation 
from  exact  propriety  in  all  his  public 
relations.  The  Commissioners,  anxious 
to  accomplish  something,  next  had  re 
course  to  an  expedient,  by  which  they 
hoped  to  obviate  all  difficulty;  they 
changed  the  address  of  their  letter  for 
the  superscription  following ;  to  George 
Washington,  etc.,  etc.  Adjutant-gen 
eral  Patterson  was  sent  with  this  dis 
patch.  Being  introduced  to  Washing 
ton,  he  gave  him  in  conversation,  the 
title  of  Excellency,  The  general  re 
ceived  him  with  great  politeness,  but 
at  the  same  time  with  much  dignity. 
The  adjutant  expressed  himself  great 
ly  concerned,  on  behalf  of  his  prin 
cipals,  on  account  of  the  difficulties 


On.  I.] 


PATTERSON'S   INTERVIEW   WITH  WASHINGTON. 


425 


that  had  arisen  about  the  superscrip 
tion  of  the  letter ;  assured  him  of  their 
high  regard  for  his  personal  character, 
and  that  they  had  no  intention  to  un 
dervalue  his  rank.  It  was  hoped, 
therefore,  that  the  et  ceteras,  being 
in  use  between  ambassadors,  when 
they  were  not  perfectly  agreed  upon 
points  of  etiquette,  would  remove  all 
obstructions  to  their  mutual  intercourse. 
Washington  answered,  that  a  letter 
written  to  a  person  invested  with  a 
public  character,  should  specify  it, 
otherwise  it  could  not  be  distinguished 
from  a  private  letter ;  that  it  was  true 
the  et  ceteras  implied  every  thing ;  but 
it  was  no  less  true,  that  they  implied 
any  thing ;  and  that,  as  to  himself,  he 
would  never  consent  to  receive  any  let 
ter,  relating  to  public  affairs,  that  should 
be  directed  to  him,  without  a  designa 
tion  of  his  rank  and  office.  Patterson 
requested  that  this  question  might  be 
waived;  and  turned  the  conversation 
upon  prisoners  of  war.  He  expatiated 
in  magnificent  terms,  upon  the  goodness 
and  clemency  of  the  king,  who  had 
chosen  for  negotiators  Lord  and  General 
Howe.  He  affirmed  that  their  desire 
to  terminate  the  differences  which  had 
arisen  between  the  two  peoples,  was  as 
earnest  as  their  powers  were  ample ; 
and  that  he  hoped  the  general  would 
consider  this  visit,  as  the  first  step  to 
wards  it.  Washington  replied,  that  he 
was  not  authorized  to  negotiate ;  but 
that  it  did  not  appear  that  the  powers 
of  the  Commissioners  consisted  in  any 
more  than  in  granting  pardons ;  that 
America,  not  having  committed  any 
offence,  asked  for  no  forgiveness;  and 
was  only  defending  her  unquestionable 

VOL.  I. — 56 


rights.  Patterson  remarked,  that  this 
subject  would  open  too  vast  a  field  of 
discussion.  He  expressed  his  acknowl 
edgments  for  the  favor  done  him,  in 
omitting  the  usual  ceremony  of  blind 
ing  his  eyes,  when  passing  the  Amer 
ican  works.  Washington  invited  him 
to  partake  of  a  collation,  and  he  was  in 
troduced  to  the  general  officers.  After 
many  compliments,  and  polite  expres 
sions,  and  repeating  his  regrets,  that  a 
strict  observation  of  formalities  should 
interrupt  the  course  of  so  important  an 
affair,  he  took  leave  of  Washington,  and 
withdrew.  This  conference  thus  re 
mained  without  result,  and  all  thoughts 
were  again  turned  towards  hostilities. 
Congress  were  perfectly  aware,  on  the 
one  hand,  of  the  shame  they  must  in 
cur,  by  departing  from  the  resolution  so 
recently  taken,  of  asserting  independ 
ence,  and  they  feared,  on  the  other, 
that  the  propositions  of  England  might 
contain  some  secret  poison.  They 
caused  an  exact  relation  to  be  printed 
of  the  interview  between  the  com- 
mandcr-in-chief  and  the  English  adju 
tant-general. 

As  stated  on  a  previous  page,  (p.  374) 
the  American  army  had  retreated  from 
Canada,  in  a  state  of  great  suffering, 
and  their  condition  was  very  naturally 
a  source  of  anxiety  to  Congress.  Gen 
eral  Schuyler  was  in  command  of  the 
northern  division  of  the  army,  his  head 
quarters  being  at  Albany.  In  June, 
Gates  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  brig 
adier-general,  and  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  forces  in  Canada.  A 
reinforcement  of  six  thousand  men  was 
voted,  in  the  hope  that  Gates  might  re 
trieve  some  of  the  severe  losses  of  the 


426 


EVENTS   OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1776. 


[BK.  111. 


previous  year.  Military  punctilio  caused 
some  trouble  between  Schuyler  and 
Gates,  which  led  Congress  to  recom 
mend  the  generals  to  act  conjointly ; 
but  it  was  a  rather  clumsy  expedient, 
and  Schuyler,  feeling  himself  aggrieved, 
offered  to  resign.  Congress,  perfectly 
satisfied  as  to  his  patriotism  and  ability, 
declined  to  accept  his  resignation,  of 
course.  Crown  Point  was  decided  to 
be  untenable,  and  the  troops  fell  back 
apon  Ticonderoga.  Sickness  and  hard 
ships  had  made  sad  inroads  upon  the 
American  forces,  and  of  the  six  thou 
sand  who  had  reached  the  fort,  not 
more  than  half  were  fit  for  duty. 

General  Carleton's  force,  including 
the  German  mercenaries,  amounted  to 
thirteen  thousand  men,  in  excellent 
condition,  and  eager  to  pursue  the  dis 
organized  and  weakened  American 
troops.  In  his  well-conducted  retreat 
from  Canada,  General  Sullivan  had 
made  way  with  all  the  boats  on  the 
lake,  in  consequence  of  which,  the 
British  general  was  unable  to  advance 
against  the  Americans.  Thick  forests 
lined  the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain, 
and  as  there  was  no  passage  except  by 
water,  it  was  evident  that  nothing 
effective  could  be  done,  until  a  suitable 
supply  of  shipping  was  obtained  on  the 
lake.  Vigorous  preparations  were  made 
by  both  parties  for  the  approaching 
contest.  Carleton,  on  his  side,  had  the 
advantage,  and  the  men  worked  with 
uncommon  zeal  and  activity,  in  the 
hope  that  they  would  readily  triumph 
over  the  Americans,  and  have  a  share 
in  the  glory  of  a  successful  and  speedy 
ter  mi  nation  of  the  war.  The  f'rauies  of 
five  large  vessels,  prepared  in  England, 


and  brought  across  by  land  from  Mon 
treal  to  St.  John's,  were  soon  put  to 
gether  on  the  lake.  A  large  number 
of  gun-boats  were  also  brought  from 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  dragged  over 
the  rapids  of  the  Sorel  at  Fort  Cham- 
bly.  This  formidable  flotilla,  which 
sprung  into  existence,  as  it  were  by 
magic,  consisted  of  nearly  thirty  ves 
sels,  which  were  manned  by  seven  hun 
dred  picked  seamen. 

By  the  middle  of  August,  the  Amer 
icans  succeeded  in  completing  a  small 
flotilla,  which  was  subsequently  aug 
mented  to  sixteen  vessels,  of  various 
size  and  sort;  the  whole  was  placed 
under  the  command  of  Arnold,  who 
was  ready  for  fighting  of  any  kind,  and 
at  any  time.  From  the  necessity  of  the 
case,  the  vessels  were  manned  by  sol 
diers  taken  from  the  ranks. 

Arnold,  who  was  well  aware  of  his 
probable  inferiority  to  the  British 
forces,  had  posted  himself  with  great 
judgment,  in  a  position  between  Val- 
cour  Island  and  the  shore,  where  he 
could  neither  be  surrounded  nor  at 
tacked,  except  in  front,  by  a  portion  of 
the  enemy's  flotilla.  Early  on  the 
morning  of  the  llth  of  October,  they 
came  in  sight,  led  by  Captain  Pringle, 
in  the  Inflexible,  Sir  Guy  Carleton  tak 
ing  his  station  on  the  deck  of  the  flag 
ship.  Sweeping  round  the  southern 
point  of  the  island,  the  English  vessels 
were  soon  engaged  with  the  Amer 
ican,  and  the  combat  raged  for  four 
hours  with  the  most  desperate  fury. 
Arnold  had  posted  himself  on  board 
the  Congress  galley ;  he  pointed  every 
gun  with  his  own  hand,  and  cheered  on 
his  men  with  his  characteristic  enthu- 


CH.  L] 


BATTLE  ON   LAKE  CHAMPLAIN. 


4-27 


siasm.  His  men  fell  dead  around  him ; 
the  hull  of  his  ship  was  riddled  with  can 
non-balls,  the  mainmast  shattered,  and 
the  rigging  cut  to  pieces  ;  yet  still  he 
continued  to  fight  on ; — and  when  the 
night  closj.l  in,  the  battle  was  yet  un 
decided.  One  of  the  American  vessels 
had  been  burned,  another  sunk,  and 
the  rest  had  suffeivd  very  severely. 
To  renew  the  combat  on  the  morrow, 
was  so  obviou  ly  hopeless,  that  Arnold 
and  his  officers,  after  holding  consulta 
tion,  determined  upon  falling  back  to 
Crown  Point.  This,  however,  was 
much  easier  to  resolve  on  than  to  exe 
cute,  for  the  British  commander  had 
disposed  his. ships  in  a  line  from  the 
island  to  tlie  shore,  so  as  to  prevent  the 
retreat  of  his  enemy  till  daylight  should 
enable  him  to  attack  and  overpower 
him.  But  the  night  happened  to  be 
unusually  dark  ;  it  blew  a  strong  breeze 
from  the  north,  and  as  soon  as  the  Eng 
lish  sailors  had  retired  to  rest  after  a 
hard-fought  day,  the  American  ships 
hoisted  their  sails,  and  slipped  unper- 
ceived  between  those  of  the  foe,  Arnold 
fetching  up  the  rear  in  the  battered 
and  crazy  Congress,  and  by  daylight 
some  ten  miles  intervened  between 
him  and  the  English  ships.  Here  he 
came  to  anchor,  to  stop  leaks,  and  make 
repairs,  and  about  noon  resumed  the 
retreat. 

The  next  morning,  Carleton  urged 
forward  in  pursuit.  A  contrary  wind 
baffled  them  during  the  day,  but  on 
the  following  morning,  they  were  close 
upon  the  fugitives.  The  foremost  ships 
continued  their  flight,  and  succeeded  in 
effecting  their  escape,  but  the  rear,  con 
sisting  of  Arnold's  galley,  with  the 


Washington,  were  attacked  with  re 
doubled  fury.  The  Washington  was 
soon  obliged  to  strike,  but  Arnold  con 
tinued  to  fight  on  till  his  ship  was  re 
duced  to  a  mere  wreck,  and  surrounded 
by  the  enemy's  squadron.  He  then  ran 
the  Congress  on  shore,  set  fire  to  her, 
and  she  blew  up  with  her  colors  flying. 
Arnold  then  effected  a  retreat,  with 
his  men,  through  the  woods  to  Crown 
Point,  narrowly  escaping  an  Indian 
ambush.  The  Americans  lost  eleven 
vessels,  principally  gondolas.  The 
British  had  two  gondolas  sunk,  and 
one  blown  up.  The  loss  in  men  was 
about  ninety  on  each  side.* 

Carleton  appeared  off  Crown  Point 
on  the  15th  of  October.  On  his  ap 
proach,  the  American  force  stationed 
there,  set  fire  to  the  houses,  and  re 
tired  to  Ticonderoga,  which  Generals 
Schuyler  and  Gates  had  determined  to 
defend  to  the  last  extremity.  Carleton 
took  possession  of  Crown  Point,  and 
purposed  attacking  Ticonderoga ;  but 
on  examination  of  the  works,  and  in 
consequence  of  the  lateness  of  the 
season,  he  retired,  and  put  his  army 
into  winter-quarters  on  the  Sorel  and 
its  vicinity. 

Thus,  that  part  of  the  British  plan 
which  depended  on  Carleton's  pushing 
forward,  so  as  to  form  a  junction  with 
the  force  at  New  York,  completely 
failed ;  and,  as  all  apprehensions  of 
danger  in  the  north  were  now  at  an 
end,  a  small  garrison  was  left  at  Ticon 
deroga,  and  most  of  the  troops  marched 
in  November,  under  Gates,  to  join  the 
commander-in-chief. 

*  Cooper's  "Natal  History"  vol.  i.,  p.  75- 


428 


EVENTS   OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1776. 


[BK.  ID. 


1776. 


Having,  for  the  sake  of  continuity, 
carried  forward,  thus  far,  the  narrative 
of  doings  in  the  north,  we  now  turn  our 
attention  to  the  critical  position  of 
affairs  in  and  about  New  York. 

Well  may  Washington  have  looked 
with  anxiety  upon  his  position  and  the 
probable  issue  of  the  contest  now  near 
at  hand.  When  General  Howe  landed 
on  Staten  Island,  Washington's  force 
consisted  of  only  ten  thousand  men,  of 
whom  many  were  disabled  by  sickness. 
Some  regiments  joined  him  from 
other  states,  yet  on  the  8th  of 
August,  in  a  letter  to  Congress,  the 
conimander-in-chief  states,  that  his  force 
is  little  more  than  seventeen  thousand, 
and  over  three  thousand  of  these  were 
sick.  Yet  even  under  this  melancholy 
state  of  things,  Washington  expressed 
the  hope,  that  the  enemy  would  not 
gain  any  great  advantage,  except  at  a 
dear  price.  Further  reinforcements 
soon  after  raised  the  army  to  twenty- 
seven  thousand  men,  of  whom  one- 
fourth  were  on  the  sick  list.  Besides 
being  miserably  equipped,  and  badly 
disciplined,  sectional  jealousies  and  dis 
likes  prevailed  to  an  alarming  extent. 
The  aristocratic  southerner,  as  well  as 
the  men  from  the  middle  states,  looked 
down  upon  the  rough  homespun  of 
New  England ;  and  these,  in  turn,  did 
not  fail  to  express  themselves  very 
freely,  as  to  the  pride  and  insolent  airs 
of  their  neighbors  from  under  a  warm 
er  sky.*  Washington  was  compelled 


*  An  American  officer,  writing  to  a  friend,  gives 
it  as  his  opinion,  that  the  Pennsylvania  and  New 
England  troops,  were  as  ready  to  fight  each  other  as 
the  enemy. 


to  interfere,  and  to  point  out  in  the 
plainest  language,  the  intense  mischief 
that  must  result  from  these  disgraceful 
quarrels.  His  words  deserve  to  be  well 
weighed,  even  in  our  day.  "  It  is  with 
great  concern,  that  the  general  under 
stands  that  jealousies  have  arisen  among 
the  troops,  from  the  different  provinces, 
and  reflections  are  frequently  thrown 
out,  which  can  only  tend  to  irritate 
each  other,  and  injure  the  noble  cause 
in  which  we  are  engaged,  and  which 
we  ought  to  support  with  our  hand 
and  our  heart.  The  general  most  ear 
nestly  entreats  the  officers  and  soldiers 
to  consider,  that  they  can  no  way  assist 
our  enemies  more  effectually,  than  by 
making  divisions  among  themselves; 
that  the  honor  and  success  of  our  army 
and  the  safety  of  our  bleeding  country 
depend  upon  harmony  and  good  agree 
ment  with  each  other;  that  the  prov 
inces  are  all  united  to  oppose  the  com 
mon  enemy,  and  all  distinctions  sunk 

v    1 

in  the  name  of  an  AMERICAN.  To  make 
this  name  honorable,  and  to  preserve 
the  liberty  of  our  country,  ought  to  be 
our  only  emulation,  and  he  will  be  the 
best  soldier,  and  the  best  patriot,  who 
contributes  most  to  this  glorious  work, 
whatever  his  station,  and  from  what 
ever  part  of  the  continent  he  may 
come.  Let  all  distinctions  of  nations, 
countries,  and  provinces,  therefore,  be 
lost  in  the  generous  contest,  who  shall 
behave  with  the  most  courage  against 
the  enemy,  and  the  most  kindness  and 
!  good  humor  to  each  other.  If  there 
be  any  officers,  or  soldiers,  so  lost  to 
virtue  and  a  love  of  their  country,  as 
to  continue  in  such  practices  after  this 
order,  the  general  assures  them,  and  is 


CfT.    I.] 


THE  BRITISH  IN  NEW   YORK   HARBOR. 


429 


authorized  by  Congress,  to  declare  to 
the  whole  army,  that  such  persons  shall 
be  severely  punished,  and  dismissed 
from  the  service  with  disgrace." 

The  British  troops,  under  General 
Howe,  numbered  some  twenty-four  or 
twenty-five  thousand  men.  They  were 
provided  with  every  thing  they  needed, 
were  well  disciplined,  and  were  con 
fident  of  an  easy  victory  over  the  rebel 
forces.  Aided,  too,  by  a  numerous  and 
well-appointed  fleet,  it  was  no  un 
reasonable  expectation,  that  a  single 
battle  might  crush  the  Americans  at 
once.  But  the  British  commander,  and 
they  who  sent  him  to  America,  were 
compelled,  ere  long,  to  learn,  that  free 
men,  fighting  for  liberty,  enter  into  the 
contest  with  a  patient  energy  and  zeal 
that  are  well  ni^h.  invincible. 

O 

In  this  connection,  we  are  tempted  to 
quote  a  page  or  two  from  an  admirable 
little  volume  by  Mr.  Tuckerman,  in 
which  are  graphically  narrated  the  life 
and  services  of  one  of  our  early  naval 
heroes.  "  The  lovely  harbor  of  this 
now  great  metropolis,  then  offered  a 
scene  of  rare  and  exciting  interest. 
Riding  at  anchor  in  the  vicinity  of 
Staten  Island,  appeared  the  British 
fleet,  with  the  army  under  Lord  Howe. 
Every  spar  and  line  of  cordage  in  those 
swarming  battle-ships,  was  defined  to 
the  eye  of  the  distant  spectator,  against 
the  lucid  azure  of  the  sky;  and,  on 
quiet  nights,  reflected  to  the  gaze  of 
the  boatmen  that  haunted  the  adjacent 
shore.  Their  dark,  massive  hulls  and 
scowling  cannon  wore  a  portentous  as 
pect,  and  seemed  to  cast  long  and  pro 
phetic  shadows  upon  the  free  waters 
into  which  they  had  ruthlessly  in 


truded — significant  of  the  years  of  bit 
ter  trial  of  which  they  were  ominous 
harbingers. 

"Upon  the  heights  of  Brooklyn,  at 
York  Island,  and  Paulus  Hook,  rose 
the  newly-heaped  batteries  of  the  Amer 
icans.  Never  smiled  that  lovely  bay 
more  cheerfully  than  during  those  clear 
days  of  that  eventful  spring.  More 
solitary  than  at  present,  with  its  con 
stantly  plying  steamers  and  forest  of 
shipping,  the  position  of  the  belligerents 
was  plainly  obvious.  The  comparative 
silence  that  hung  over  the  broad  waters, 
the  fast-skimming  clouds  that,  for  a 
moment,  darkened  their  crystal  sheen 
and  the  occasional  furrows  raised  by 
sudden  breezes  that  swept  across  them, 
stimulated  the  imagination  of  the  lone 
ly  enthusiast,  who,  from  some  isolated 
point,  looked  forth,  and  mused  upon 
the  landscape. 

"It  was  evident  that  neither  party 
had,  as  yet,  determined  upon  its  course. 
The  considerate,  on  both  sides,  felt  the 
importance  of  a  successful  blow,  at  the 
existent  juncture ;  yet  the  actual  state 
of  the  colonial  defences  was  but  par 
tially  known  to  their  opponents,  and  a 
premature  manoeuvre  might  occasion 
temporary  discomfiture,  even  in  that 
well-appointed  squadron.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  was  of  the  highest  moment,  that 
the  Americans  should  be  assured  of  the 
readiness  of  our  troops  to  cope  with 
their  formidable  invaders.  It  was  need 
ful  that  the  spell  of  vague  alarm  should 
be,  in  a  measure,  broken,  which  had 
been  inspired  by  the  presence  of  those 
destructive  engines,  whose  thunders 
seemed  to  gather  new  potency  from 
their  long  quiescence;  whose  shrouds 


430 


EVENTS   OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1776. 


[BK.  III. 


and  decks  bristled  with  pikes  and  bay 
onets,  and  whose  black  and  heavy  sides 
contrasted  vividly  with  the  red  hues  of 
the  soldiers'  uniforms,  grouped  thickly 
at  the  port-holes,  and  on  the  taffrails,  as 
if  impatient  to  pour  forth  upon  the  land 
so  invitingly  spread  below  and  around. 
To  one  gallant  heart,  this  inaction  was 
especially  irksome.  Captain  Talbot 
had  obtained  the  command  of  a  fire- 
ship,  and  lay  directly  before  the  city, 
awaiting  orders.  To  secure  a  more 
efficient  position,  and  the  better  to  dis 
guise  his  purpose,  he  took  advantage 
of  a  light  wind,  ascended  the  Hudson 
fifteen  miles,  and  anchored  just  above 
Fort  Washington. 

"  For  three  days,  in  this  romantic 
spot,  he  quietly  awaited  an  opportune 
moment  for  action.  On  the  one  side, 
the  banks  of  the  noble  river  sloped 
gradually  upward,  half-covered  with 
low  cedars,  whose  dark  umbrage  al 
ready  wore  the  refreshing  tints  of 
spring ;  on  the  other,  like  natural  for 
tifications,  rose  the  gray  and  upright 
rocks  of  the  tufted  palisades.  Few 
dwellings  were  then  visible  ;  the  ripple 
of  the  water  on  the  pebbly  shore  was 
audible  in  the  lull  of  the  wind,  and  the 
tranquil  and  sequestered  beauty  of  the 
scene  gave  no  hint  of  the  deadly  prep 
arations  then  making  on  board  the  un- 
warlike  craft  that  swung  so  gently  at 
her  moorings.  The  lapse  of  a  few  hours 
after  Captain  Talbot  had  chosen  his 
anchorage,  evidenced  the  sagacity  of  his 
movements.  Three  of  the  enemy's 
ships,  in  order  to  protect  the  left  of 
their  army,  in  case  of  need,  had  shifted 
their  ground  from  the  harbor,  to  a  spot 
about  half  way  between  the  mouth  of 


the  Hudson  and  the  fire-ship.  Orders 
were  therefore  soon  forwarded  to  the 
latter,  to  make  a  night  attack.  She 
was  filled  with  combustibles,  and  be 
smeared  with  turpentine.  Several 
trains  of  powder  were  laid ;  and  one 
of  the  crew  was  easily  induced  to  strip 
himself,  and  lie  down  upon  deck,  with 
a  lighted  match,  ready,  at  a  moment's 
warning,  to  ignite  the  vessel. 

O '  O 

"  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  they 
weighed  anchor,  and  dropped  slowly 
down  with  the  tide.  The  nearest  of 
the  three  ships  was  the  Asia,  of  sixty- 
four  guns,  whose  tall  spars  and  tower 
ing  hull  no  sooner  loomed  upon  the 
eager  gaze  of  Captain  Talbot's  hardy 
band,  than  they  steered  directly  for  hei 
broadside.  Unsuspicious  of  any  dan 
ger,  it  was  but  a  moment  before  her  lit 
tle  adversary  had  flung  her  grappling 
irons,  that  the  Asia  fired  ;  and  then  a 
scene  ensued,  that  baffles  description. 
From  the  depth,  as  it  were,  of  profound 
silence,  there  echoed  the  reverberation 
of  cannon,  the  cries  of  the  wounded, 
and  the  piercing  shouts  of  alarm  and 
revenge.  In  an  instant,  the  darkness 
of  a  cloudy  night  gave  place  to  a  red 
flashing  glare,  that  revealed  the  fort, 
the  waters,  and  the  fields,  with  the  dis 
tinctness  of  noonday;  and  brought  into 
vivid  relief  the  huge  vessels  of  war  now 
alive  with  their  startled  crews,  who  has 
tened  to  the  relief  of  the  Asia ; — some 
pouring  water  on  the  rising  flames, 
others  disengaging  the  fire-ship  from 
her  side,  and  not  a  few  intent  at  the 
guns,  which  hurled  an  incessant  shower 
of  balls  at  the  boat  in  which  the  daring 
originator  of  this  sudden  conflagration, 
was  propelled  by  his  brave  men  to- 


CH.  I.] 


TALBOT'S  BRAVE  EXPLOIT. 


431 


wards  the  nearest  shore.  Although 
lighted  in  their  aim  by  a  pyramid  of 
fire,  of  all  the  shot  from  the  three  ves 
sels,  but  two  struck  the  crowded  bark 
of  fugitives.  Captain  Talbot,  however, 
in  his  anxiety  to  render  the  experiment 
certain,  had  lingered  amid  the  burning 
timbers  of  the  fire-ship,  and  was  the  last 
to  escape,  the  seaman  who  applied  the 
match,  having,  according  to  a  previous 
understanding,  immediately  jumped 
overboard,  and  been  picked  up  by  his 
expectant  comrades.  When,  therefore, 
the  boat  reached  the  Jersey  shore  in 
safety,  the  appearance  of  the  gallant 
leader  was  frightful,  and  his  sufferings 
intense.  His  skin  was  blistered  from 
head  to  foot,  his  dress  almost  entirely 
consumed,  and  his  eye-sight  gone. 

"Sadly,  yet  with  gentle  care,  his 
humble  companions  in  danger,  bore  him 
through  the  solitary  woods,  in  the  gray, 
cold  twilight  of  morning,  to  a  thin  but 

o  O  / 

hospitable  settlement,  then  called  the 
English  Neighborhood ;  but,  on  their 

O  O  '  ' 

arrival,  his  dreadful  condition  so  alarm 
ed  the  children  of  the  place,  that  no 
house  would  give  him  shelter.  At  last 
a  poor  and  aged  widow  opened  her 
cabin  door,  and  allowed  the  weary  and 
scorched  bearers  to  lay  him  on  the 
floor,  and  cover  his  tortured  frame  with 
a  blanket.  Fortunately,  in  the  course 
of  that  day,  two  American  officers, 
General  Knox  and  Dr.  Eustis,  passed 
the  vicinity  on  business  ;  and  hearing 
of  the.  case,  hastened  to  visit  their 
countryman.  The  seasonable  medical 
aid  of  the  latter  gentleman,  soon  essen 
tially  relieved  his  anguish ;  and  al 
though  for  a  considerable  period  de 
prived  of  vision,  he  was  soon  able  to 


bear  a  removal  to  Hackensack,  to  await 
his  convalescence.  Meantime,  the  Asia 
had  been  extricated,  with  great  diffi 
culty,  from  her  perilous  situation  ;  and 
the  bold  enterprise  that  so  nearly 
proved  her  destruction,  created  such 
apprehension  and  loss  of  confidence  in 
the  enemy,  that  they  slipped  their 
cables,  fell  down  the  river,  and  an 
chored  below  the  city.  The  hopes  of 
the  Americans  revived  in  the  same  pro 
portion  as  those  of  the  British  were  dis 
couraged.  So  obvious,  indeed,  was  the 
auspicious  influence  of  this  event,  that 
by  a  resolution  of  Congress,  passed  on 
the  tenth  of  the  ensuing  October,  this 
"  spirited  attempt,"  as  it  was  designated, 
of  Captain  Talbot,  was  made  the  oc 
casion  of  a  vote  of  thanks,  and  a  special 
recommendation  of  that  officer  to  the 
Commander-in-chief,  besides,  promoting 
him  to  the  rank  of  major. 

"  October  10$,  im.  Resolved,  That 
Captain  Silas  Talbot,  of  the  State  of 
Rhode  Island,  be  promoted  to  the  rank, 
and  have  the  pay,  of  major  in  the  army 
of  the  United  States,  in  consideration 
of  his  merit  and  services,  in  a  spirited 
attempt  to  set  fire  to  one  of  the  enemy's 
ships  of  war,  in  the  North  River,  last 
year ;  and  that  he  be  recommended  to 
General  Washington,  for  employment 
agreeable  to  his  rank."* 

*D 

Washington  had  expected  that  the 
attack  would  be  made  by  way  of  Long 
Island.  He  had,  accordingly,  made  his 
arrangements  with  reference  to  this  re- 

O 

suit.      General    Greene    had    carefully 
studied  the  ground,  and  fortifications 


*  "  Life  of  Silas  Talbot,  Commodore  in  the  TJ.  S. 
avy"  by  Henry  T.  Tuckerman,  pp   22-30. 


432 


EVENTS   OF   THE   WAR   DURING    1776. 


|BK.  III. 


were  hastily  thrown  up,  extending  from 
the  deep  inlets  of  Wallabout  Bay,  on 
the  north,  to  Gowanus  Cove,  on  the 
south ;  and  nine  thousand  men,  under 
General  Sullivan,  were  encamped  at 
Brooklyn.  About  two  miles  and  a 
half  in  front  of  the  entrenchments  and 
redoubts,  was  a  range  of  densely  wood 
ed  heights,  extending  from  south-west 
to  north-east,  forming  a  natural  barrier 
across  the  island.  It  was  crossed  by 
three  roads ;  one  on  the  left,  eastwardly 
towards  Bedford,  and  thence  by  a  pass 
through  to  Bedford  Hills,  to  the  vil 
lage  of  Jamaica ;  another,  central  and 
direct,  to  Flatbush  ;  and  a  third,  on 
the  right  of  the  lines,  by  Gowanus 
Cove,  to  the  Narrows  and  Gravesend 
Bay.  Most  unfortunately,  General 
Greene  was  seized  with  a  violent  fever 
about  the  middle  of  August,  and  the 
command  devolved  on  General  Put 
nam,  whose  want  of  thorough  knowl 
edge  of  the  ground,  led  to  the  Jamaica 
road  being  left  without  sufficient  pro 
tection,  and  most  unhappily  afforded 
the  British  commander  an  opportunity 
of  assaulting  the  Americans  in  front 
and  rear  at  the  same  time.  In  the 
confusion  and  want  of  discipline  which 
prevailed,  the  orders  to  watch  and 
guard  the  passes  were  imperfectly 
obeyed;  and,  as  Washington  appre 
hended,  the  chances  of  success  were 
greatly  in  favor  of  the  enemy. 

The  British  force,  ten  thousand  strong, 
with  forty  cannons,  landed  on  Long 
Island,  on  the  26th  of  August,  and 
made  their  arrangements  for  a  vigorous 
assault.  Opposite  the  middle  of  the 
heights  was  General  De  Heister,  with 
the  centre,  composed  of  Hessians ;  the 


1776. 


left  wing,  under  General  Grant,  prepared 
to  attack  by  the  lower  road ;  while  Gen 
eral  Clinton,  supported  by  Earl 
Percy  and  General  Cornwallis, 
was  to  advance  at  the  head  of  the  right 
wing  towards  the  unprotected  Jamaica 
road,  with  the  purpose  of  turning  the 
American  left,  placing  them  between 
two  fires,  and  cutting  off  their  retreat 

/  O 

to  the  camp.  This  skillful  plan  of 
operations  was,  unhappily  for  the 
Americans,  successfully  carried  out. 
About  nine  o'clock,  on  the  evening  of 
the  26th,  Clinton's  division,  guided  by 
a  Long  Island  Tory,  passed  the  narrow 
causeway  over  a  marsh,  near  the  village 
of  New  Lots,  called  Shoemaker's  Bridge, 
—where,  it  is  said,  a  single  regiment 
might  have  prevented  the  advance  of  the 
entire  British  force, — and,  ascertaining 
by  a  patrol  which  was  captured,  that  the 
Jamaica  road  was  unguarded,  hastened 
to  seize  the  pass,  and  before  daylight, 
was  in  possession  of  that  and  the  Bed 
ford  pass,  General  Sullivan,  meanwhile, 
being  ignorant  that  Clinton  had  left 
Flatlands. 

General  Grant — the  same  braggart, 
who,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  had 
declared  that  the  Americans  "could 
not  fight" — on  his  part,  advanced  at 
midnight  along  the  lower  road,  and 
thus  came  into  direct  contact  with  the 
troops  under  Lord  Stirling ;  while  at 
daybreak,  De  Heister  assaulted  the 
American  force,  posted  under  Colonel 
Hand,  upon  the  crest  of  the  hills.  One 
of  the  ^hips,  meanwhile,  kept  thunder 
ing  away  at  the  fort  at  Red  Hook. 
The  object  of  the  English  was  to  draw 
the  attention  of  their  enemy  from  what 
was  passing  on  their  left,  but  no  sooiier 


Cu.  l.J. 


THE    BATTLE  OF  LONG  ISLAND. 


433 


were  they  aware,  by  the  signal  guns  of 
Clinton,  that  he  was  prepared  to  act  on 
the  offensive,  than  they  advanced  quick 
ly  to  the  attack,  forced  the  passages 
without  serious  difficulty,  and  gradually 
entrapped  the  Americans  in  the  snare 
laid  for  them. 

Clinton,  marching  rapidly  through 
Bedford,  threw  himself  upon  the  left 
flank  of  the  American  troops,  who, 
driven  backward  and  forward  between 
a  double  fire,  were,  the  greater  part  of 
them,  taken  prisoners.  "  Hemmed  in 
and  entrapped  between  the  British  and 
Hessians,  and  driven  from  one  to  the 
other,  the  Americans  fought,  for  a  time, 
bravely,  or  rather,  desperately.  Some 
were  cut  down  and  trampled  by  the 
cavalry;  others  bayonneted  without 
mercy  by  the  Hessians.  Some  rallied 
in  groups,  and  made  a  brief  stand  with 
their  rifles  from  rocks,  or  behind  trees. 
The  whole  pass  was  a  scene  of  carnage, 
resounding  with  the  clash  of  arms,  the 
tramp  of  horses,  the  volleying  of  fire 
arms,  and  the  cries  of  the  combatants, 
with  now  and  then  the  dreary  braying 
of  the  trumpet."  Some  of  the  Amer 
icans,  by  a  desperate  effort,  cut  their 
way  through  the  host  of  foes,  and  effect 
ed  a  retreat  to  the  lines,  fighting  as 
they  went;  others  took  such  refuge  as 
they  could  find  in  the  fastnesses  of  the 
hills  ;  but,  as  we  have  said  above,  the 
greater  part  were  killed  or  taken  prison 
ers,  General  Sullivan  being  among  the 
latter. 

The  corps  under  Stirling  maintained 
a  steady  front  against  the  force  com 
manded  by  Grant,  who  waited  the  sig 
nal  of  Clinton's  cannon,  to  push  the 
attack.  Sensible  of  his  danger,  Stir- 

VOL.   ..—57 


ling  attempted  to  retreat  to  the  camp, 
but,  met  by  Cornwallis  and  his  gren 
adiers,  he  was  unable  to  accomplish  his 
purpose.  A  desperate  fight  ensued ; 
more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  men 
perished  in  the  deadly  struggle ;  a  part 
of  the  corps  effected  a  retreat  across  the 
Gowanus  Creek;  but  Lord  Stirling  was 
made  prisoner.  Washington,  who  had 
witnessed  the  attack  from  a  hill  within 
the  lines,  wrung  his  hands  in  agony  at 
the  sight,  "Good  God!"  cried  he, 
"what  brave  fellows  I  must  this  day 
lose!" 

The  victory  of  the  British  was  com 
plete.  Their  loss  was  about  four  hun 
dred  men ;  while  the  Americans  lost. 
in  killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  not 
much  short  of  two  thousand  men.* 
Washington  expected  that  the  enemy 
would  storm  the  works  directly,  and 
had  they  done  so,  probably  the  result 
would  have  been  disastrous ;  but  the 
British  commander,  restraining  the  ar- 

'  O 

dor  of  his  men,  arid  encamping  in  front 
of  the  American  lines,  made  prepara 
tions  for  regular  approaches.  Whether 
General  Howe  dreaded  the  result  of 
thus  attacking  a  desperate  foe,  or  sup 
posed  that  with  the  co-operation  of  the 
ships  the  enemy  could  not  escape  him, 
he  preferred  the  course  he  had  de 
termined  upon,  and  began  immediately 
to  open  trenches.  The  rain  poured  in 
cessantly  for  two  days,  and  the  Ameri 
cans  were  exposed  to  it  unsheltered. 
Had  the  English  ships  advanced  up  the 
East  River,  and  stationed  themselves 


*  Marshall  discusses  at  length,  and  very  ably, 
the  question  as  to  the  expediency  of  Washington's 
attempting  to  defend  Long  Island.  See  "  Life  of 
Washington"  vol.  i,  pp.  92-94. 


434 


EVENTS   OF  THE  WAR   DURING   1776. 


.  III. 


between  Brooklyn  and  New  York, 
nothing,  probably,  could  have  saved 
the  camp  ;  but  a  strong  north-east  wind 
had  hitherto  prevented  them  from  do 
ing  so.  Every  moment  was  precious, 
since  a  sudden  shift  of  wind  would  cut 
off  the  possibility  of  escape.  It  was 
known  besides,  that  Clinton  was  threat 
ening  to  send  part  of  his  army  across 
the  Sound,  thus  menacing  New  York. 
Washington  called  a  council  of  war,  at 
which  it  was  resolved  to  retreat  with 
the  troops  at  once.  The  hour  of  eight 
in  the  evening  of  the  29th  of  August 
was  fixed  upon  for  the  embarkation. 
Every  thing  had  been  prepared,  and 
the  troops  were  ready  to  march  down, 
but  the  force  of  the  wind  and  ebb  tide 
delayed  them  for  some  hours,  and 
seemed  as  if  it  would  entirely  frustrate 
the  enterprise.  The  esylmy,  toiling 
hard  at  the  approaches,  were  no\v  so 
near,  that  the  blows  of  their  pickaxes 
and  instruments  could  be  distinctly 
heard,  while  the  noise  of  these  opera 
tions  deadened  all  sound  of  the  Ameri 
can  movements,  which  were  carried  on 
in  the  deepest  silence.  About  two  in 
the  morning,  a  thick  fog  settling  over 
Long  Island  prevented  all  sight  of  what 
was  going  on,  and  the  wind  shifting 
round  to  the  south-west,  the  soldiers 
entered  the  boats,  and  were  rapidly 
transferred  to  the  opposite  shore.  So 
complete  were  the  arrangements,  that 
almost  all  the  artillery,  with  the  pro 
visions,  horses,  wagons,  and  ammuni 
tion,  safely  crossed  over  to  New  York. 
Washington,  who  for  forty-eight  hours  ; 
had  hardly  been  oif  his  horse,  and 
never  closed  his  eyes,  though  repeated-  j 
ly  entreated,  refused  to  enter  a  boat  ( 


until  all  the  troops  were  embarked,  and 
crossed  the  river  in  the  last  boat  of  all.* 

Washington,  leaving  a  considerable 
force  in  the  city  of  New  York,  en 
camped  with  the  main  body  on  Harlem 
Heights,  at  the  northern  end  of  the 
Island ;  he  was  also  prepared  to  retreat 
into  Westchester  county,  if  need  be. 
The  British  had  entire  possession  of 
Long  Island  ;  the  ships  of  war  anchored 
within  cannon-shot  of  the  city ;  and 
Howe  was  gradually  making  his  ar 
rangements  to  pursue  the  dispirited 
and  defeated  American  troops. 

It  was  under  no  ordinary  suffering  of 
mind  that  the  commander-in-chief  ad 
dressed  the  President  of  Congress  on 
the  2  el  of  September:  "Our  situation 
is  truly  distressing.  The  check  our 
detachment  sustained  on  the  27th  ulti 
mo,  lias  dispirited  too  great  a  proportion 
of  our  troops,  and  filled  their  minds 
with  apprehension  and  despair.  The 
militia,  instead  of  calling  forth  their 
utmost  efforts  to  a  brave  and  manly 
opposition,  in  order  to  repair  our  losses, 
are  dismayed,  intractable,  and  impatient 
to  return.  Great  numbers  of  them 
have  gone  off;  in  some  instances,  almost 
by  whole  regiments,  by  half  ones,  and 
by  companies  at  a  time.  This  circum 
stance  of  ijtself,  independent  of  others, 
when  fronted  by  a  well-appointed  ene 
my,  superior  in  number  to  our  whole 
collected  force,  would  be  sufficiently 
disagreeable ;  but,  when  their  example 


*  Mr.  Irving  gives  a  graphic  account  of  the  Long 
Island  tradition  respecting  the  manner  in  which  the 
news  of  the  retreat  o'f  Washington  and  his  forces 
was  prevented  from  reaching  the  British  until  the 
next  morning.  See  "Life  of  Washington,'"  vol.  ii., 
pp.  334,  335. 


Cn.  I.] 


THE   BRITISH  IN   NEW   YORK   CITY. 


437 


these  the  men  with  which  I  am  to  de 
fend  America!"  Snapping  his  pistols 
at  some  of  them,  and  drawing  his  s\vord 
in  the  bootless  effort  to  check  others, 
he  became  utterly  regardless  of  his 
own  safety,  and  was  so  near  the  enemy, 
only  eighty  paces  distant,  that  he  might 
easily  have  been  made  prisoner.  One 
of  his  aides  seized  the  reins  of  his  horse 
and  hurried  him  away  from  that  point 
of  imminent  danger.  Such  moments 
as  these  reveal,  in  part,  at  least,  the 
depth  and  vehemence  of  Washington's 
spirit  when  it  was  thoroughly  roused.* 

Orders  were  given  to  evacuate  the 
city  of  New  York  at  once.  The  re 
treat  was  effected,  not  without  loss  and 
in  great  haste ;  all  the  heavy  artil 
lery,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  bag 
gage,  provisions  and  military  stores 
were  unavoidably  abandoned  to  the 
enemy.  Had  it  not  been  for  delays  on 
the  part  of  the  British  for  refreshments 
at  Murray  Hill,  the  entire  force  of 
the  Americans,  under  Putnam,  would 
almost  certainly  have  been  cut  off. 
Hence,  there  was  as  much  truth  as 
poetry  in  the  remark  of  Colonel  Gray- 
son,  that  "  Mrs.  Murray  saved  the 
American  army." 

The  royal  troops  immediately  entered 
the  city,  where  they  were  warmly  re 
ceived  by  the  Tories.  The  bitterest 
feelings  existed  between  the  two  hos- 


*  General  Greene,  in  writing  to  a  friend,  as  quoted 
by  Mr.  Irving,  s.iy-s,  '•  We  made  a  miserable,  dis 
orderly  retreat  from  New  York,  owing  to  the  con 
duct  of  the  militia,  who  ran  at  the  appearance  of  the 
enemy's  advanced  guard.  Fellows'  and  Parsons' 
brigades  ran  away  from  about  fifty  men,  and  left  his 
Excellency  on  the  ground,  within  eiahty  yards  of 
the  enemy,  so  vexed  at  the  infamous  conduct  of  his 
troops,  that  he  sought  death  rather  than  life." 


tile  parties,  and  it  was  fearfully  ex- 
emplified  by  means  of  an  accident  that 
occurred  a  few  nights  after  the  occupa 
tion.  This  was  a  fire,  which  broke  out 
in  the  dead  of  the  very  night  when 
Hale  reached  New  York,  September 
21st,  and  owing  to  the  drought  of  the 
season  and  a  strong  south  wind,  in 
creased  with  alarming  rapidity.  Up 
wards  of  a  thousand  buildings,  Trinity 
church  among  the  number,*  were  con 
sumed,  and  but  for  the  exertions  of  the 
soldiers  and  sailors,  the  whole  city 
would  probably  have  been  destroyed. 
In  the  excited  state  of  party  feeling,  it 
was  said  that  the  "Sons  of  Liberty" 
were  the  incendiaries,  with  a  view  to 
drive  out  the  army,  and  several  sus 
pected  persons  were  hurled  into  the  blaz 
ing  buildings  by  the  British  soldiers. 

It  was  with  no  little  satisfaction  that 
Washington  beheld  the  good  conduct 
of  the  very  troops  who  had  so  scandal 
ously  abandoned  the  field  at  Kip's 
Bay;  for,  in  a  skirmish,  on  the  16th, 
the  day  after  the  British  took  possession 
of  New  York,  a  detachment,  under  the 
brave  Colonel  Knowlton,  supported  by 
troops  under  Major  Leitch,  met  the 
enemy,  repulsed  them  with  spirit,  and 
were  with  difficulty  recalled  from  the 
pursuit.  Unhappily,  both  Major  Leitch 
and  Colonel  Knowlton  were  mortally 
wounded.  Washington's  praise  of  the 
latter  \vas,  that  he  was  a  man  who 
"  would  have  done  honor  to  any  coun 
try."  The  effect  of  this  encounter  Avith 
the  British,  was  of  the  best  description 
upon  the  whole  army. 


*  See  Dr.  Berrian's  '•'•History  of  Trinity  Church," 
pp.  141,  5. 


438 


EVENTS   OF  THE   WAR  DURING   1776. 


[BK.  III. 


Washington  being  strongly  entrench 
ed  at  Harlem  Heights,  General  Howe 
d  id  not  think  it  prudent  to  attack  him, 
and  remained  inactive  on  the  plains 
below  more  than  three  weeks.*  Much 
sickness  prevailed  in  the  American 
camp ;  suitable  hospital  arrangements 
were  entirely  wanting,  and  the 

1776.  . 

suffering  soldiers  were  com 
pelled  to  find  such  accommodation  as 
they  could  anywhere,  in  barns,  or  sta 
bles,  or  even  by  the  road  side.  De 
sertions  were  becoming  frequent;  and 
there  was  a  general  and  scandalous  ten 
dency  to  disobedience  of  orders,  plun 
dering,  and  various  irregularities  in  the 
camp.  No  wonder  that  the  mind  of 
the  commander-in-chief  was  filled  with 
anxiety  as  to  the  future  :  the  army,  en 
listed  for  one  year,  was  now  again  on 
the  eve  of  its  dissolution,  and  the  ex 
perience  of  the  past  year  had  confirmed 
all  Washington's  fears  as  to  the  ruinous 
policy  of  short  enlistments,  and  of  rely 
ing  on  the  militia  to  act  against  veteran 
troops. 

Borrowing  "  a  few  moments  from 
the  hours  allotted  to  sleep,"  Washing 
ton,  on  the  night  of  the  24th  of  Sep 
tember,  addressed  an  energetic  and 
admirable  letter  to  the  President  of 
Congress,  showing  most  conclusively, 
the  inefficiency,  insubordination,  con 
fusion,  and  harassing  cares  and  vexa 
tions  of  the  present  system  under 
which  the  army  was  organized.  Point 
ing  out  the  only  effectual  remedy,  in 


*  On  the  19th  of  September,  the  brothers  Howe 
issued  a  DECLARATION,  addressed  to  the  people.  For 
this  document,  and  the  acute  and  spirited  remarks  of 
Judge  Drayton,  of  South  Carolina,  upon  it,  we  refer 
to  the  Appendix  at  the  end  of  the  present  chapter. 


clear  and  full  terms,  his  letter  concludes 
with  these  words :  "  There  is  no  situa 
tion  upon  earth  less  enviable,  or  more 
distressing,  than  that  person's,  who  is  at 
the  head  of  troops  regardless  of  order 
and  discipline,  and  unprovided  with  al 
most  every  necessary.  In  a  word,  the 
difficulties,  which  have  forever  sur 
rounded  me  since  I  have  been  in  the 
service,  and  kept  my  mind  constantly 
upon  the  stretch ;  the  wounds,  which 
my  feelings,  as  an  officer,  have  received 
by  a  thousand  things,  that  have  hap 
pened  contrary  to  my  expectations  and 
wishes  ;  the  effect  of  my  own  conduct, 
and  present  appearance  of  things,  so 
little  pleasing  to  myself,  as  to  render  it 
a  matter  of  no  surprise  to  me,  if  I  should 
stand  capitally  censured  by  Congress; 
added  to  a  consciousness  of  my  inability 
to  govern  an  army  composed  of  such 
discordant  parts,  and  under  such  a  va 
riety  of  intricate  and  perplexing  cir 
cumstances  ; — induce  not  only  a  belief, 
but  a  thorough  conviction  in  my  mind, 
that  it  will  be  impossible,  unless  there 
be  a  thorough  change  in  our  military 
system,  for  me  to  conduct  matters  in 
such  a  manner,  as  to,  give  satisfaction  to 
the  public,  which  is  all  the  recompense 
I  aim  at,  or  ever  wished  for." 

The  expostulations  of  Washington 
were  finally  productive  of  the  result 
which  he  so  earnestly  desired.  It  was 
determined  that  the  army  should  be  re 
organized  and  placed  on  a  permanent 
footing.  Eighty-eight  battalions  were 
decreed  to  be  furnished  in  quotas,  by 
the  different  states,  according  to  their 
abilities.*  The  pay  of  the  officers  was 

*  They  were  to  be  raised  as  follows  :    three  in 


CH.  I.] 


WASHINGTON   RETREATS   FROM   YORK   ISLAND. 


439 


raised.  The  troops  which  engaged  to 
serve  throughout  the  war,  were  to  re 
ceive  a  bounty  of  twenty  dollars  and  a 
hundred  acres  of  land,  besides  a  yearly 
suit  of  clothes  while  in  service.  Those 
who  enlisted  for  but  three  years,  re 
ceived  no  bounty  in  land.  The  bounty 
to  officers  was  on  a  higher  ratio.*  The 
states  were  to  send  commissioners  to 
the  armv,  to  arrange  with  the  com- 

i/   /  O 

niaiider-in-chief,  as  to  the  appointment 
of  officers  in  their  quotas ;  but,  as  they 
might  occasionally  be  slow  in  comply 
ing  with  this  regulation,  Washington 
was  empowered  to  fill  up  vacancies. 

While  engaged  in  the  arduous  duties 
of  his  post  connected  with  the  reor 
ganization  of  the  army,  Washington 
was  not  unmindful  of  the  powerful 
enemy  who  lay  near  his  encampment. 
Greatly  perplexed  at  the  inactivity  of 
Howe,  whose,  troops  were  in  a  first  rate 
condition,  and  well  supplied  with  all 
that  they  needed,  Washington  looked 
anxiously  to  see  what  movements  were 
being  made  against  him.  Howe  had 
already  determined  upon  a  change  of 
plans.  He  sent  some  ships  of  war  up 
the  Hudson,  which,  in  spite  of  the  Amer 
ican  batteries,  succeeded  in  forcing  a 
passage,  thus,  to  some  extent,  intercept 
ing  the  communication,  and  preventing 
supplies  from  reaching  Washington  by 


New  Hampshire,  fifteen  in  Massachusetts,  two  in 
Rhode  Island,  eight  in  Connecticut,  four  in  New 
York,  four  in  New  Jersey,  twelve  in  Pennsylvania, 
one  in  Delaware,  eight  in  Maryland,  fifteen  in  Vir 
ginia,  nine  in  North  Carolina,  six  in  South  Carolina, 
and  one  in  Georgia. 

*  A  colonel  was  to  receive  five  hundred  acres ;  a 
major,  four  hundred  ;  a  captain,  three  hundred  ;  a 
lieutenant,  two  hundred  ;  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  to 
an  ensign. 


the  river.  Leaving  behind  him  a  force 
to  cover  New  York,  he  transferred  the 
rest  of  his  army  to  Pell's  Point,  on 
Long  Island  Sound,  and  took  up  a  po 
sition  on  the  neighboring  heights  of 
New  Rochelle.  Hence,  having  receiv- 

*  o 

ed  a  strong  reinforcement  of  Hessians 
and  Waldeckers,  under  General  Kny- 
phausen,  he  threatened  a  movement  in 
the  rear  of  Washington,  so  as  to  cut 
him  off  from  all  communication  either 
by  land  or  water,  or  compel  him  to  a 
general  action.  A  council  of  war  was 
now  called,  when,  to  defeat  this  plan,  it 
was  resolved  to  evacuate  York  Island, 
and  advance  into  the  interior.  The 
question  arose,  whether  a  garrison 
should  be  left  behind  in  Fort  Wash- 
inirton,  a  measure  which  seemed  of 

O  i 

little  use,  inasmuch  as  the  British  had 
obtained  the  command  of  the  river. 
Washington  and  Lee  were  opposed  to 
this  plan,  but  it  was  strenuously  urged 
by  Greene,  who  considered  the  fort  to 
be  sufficiently  strong  to  resist  an  attack 
from  the  enemy.  It  was  supposed,  too, 
that  the  besieged  would  always  be  able 
to  escape,  if  needful,  by  crossing  the 
river;  and  a  garrison  of  about  three 
thousand  men  was  accordingly  left  in 
the  fort,  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Magaw.  Congress  expressed  their  opin 
ion,  likewise,  "that  Fort  Washington 
should  be  retained  as  long  as  possible." 
Washington  finding  it  necessary  to 
retire  before  the  enemy,  did  so  in  the 
best  manner  he  was  able  ;  the  great  de 
ficiency,  however,  in  every  description 
and  means  of  transportation,  made  it  a 
very  laborious  and  tedious  operation. 
He  gradually  moved  to  White  Plains, 
maintaining  a  line  parallel  to  that  in 


440 


EVENTS   OF  THE    WAR   DURING   1776. 


[BK.  111. 


which  the  British  army  was  marching, 
and  separated  from  it  by  the  river 
Bronx.  On  the  26th  of  October,  the 
Americans  encamped  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Bronx.  A  bend  in  the  river 
covered  their  right  flank,  and  Wash 
ington  posted  a  body  of  about  six 
teen  hundred  men,  under  General 
M'Dougall,  on  Chatterton's  hill,  in  a 
line  with  his  right  wing,  but  separated 
from  it  by  the  Bronx.  Frequent  skirm 
ishes  ensued,  and  though,  on  the  whole, 
the  British  gained  the  advantage,  yet  it 
was  of  service  to  the  Americans,  who 
were  thus  becoming  accustomed  to  face 
the  enemy  without  apprehension.  On 
the  28th,  the  British  force  came  in  view, 
and  displayed  itself  on  the  sides  of  the 
hills  in  front  of  Washington's  lines,  and 
within  two  miles  of  his  camp.  Howe, 
having  observed  the  detachment  on 
Chattel-ton's  Hill,  ordered  it  to  be  dis 
lodged,  which  was  accomplished  after 
a  short  but  severe  action,  with  about 
equal  loss  on  either  side.  Washington 
certainly  expected  a  general  assault 
would  now  be  made  ;  but  it  was  not 
attempted.  Meanwhile,  the  command- 
er-in-chief  occupied  the  neighboring 
heights  of  North  Castle,  where,  two  or 
three  days  after,  when  Howe  had  re 
ceived  reinforcements,  he  seemed  to  be 
too  strongly  entrenched,  to  make  it  all 
safe  to  venture  upon  an  assault. 

General  Howe  now  made  another 
change  in  his  plans.  Finding  that  Wash 
ington  was  too  cautious  to  be  drawn 
into  a  general  engagement,  the  Brit 
ish  commander  withdrew  his  army  to 
wards  the  Hudson  and  Kingsbridge. 
Perceiving  clearly,  that  the  plan  of  the 
enemy  would  be,  to  invest  Fort  Wash 


ington,  pass  the  Hudson,  carry  the  wai- 
into  New  Jersey,  and  probably  push 
for  Philadelphia,  Washington  made  his 
arrangements  accordingly.  Leaving 
General  Lee  at  the  head  of  about  four 
thousand  men,  including  the  New  Eng 
land  militia,  whose  term  of  enlistment 
was  about  to  expire,  he  ordered  all  the 
forces  west  of  the  Hudson,  to  make  a 
tedious  circuit,  and  cross  the  river  at 
King's  Ferry,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Highlands,  the  enemy's  ships  occupying 
the  lower  part  of  the  river.  He  next 
visited  the  strong  posts  in  the  High 
lands,  ordered  fresh  works  to  be  thrown 
up,  and  crossing  the  river,  joined  his 
troops  at  Hackensack.  Howe  had  al 
ready  invested  Fort  Washington,  and 
it  was  resolved  to  make  the  assault  on 
the  fort  from  four  different  points.  The 
policy  of  maintaining  this  post  had  al 
ways  seemed  exceedingly  doubtful  to 
Washington  ;  but  it  was  now  too  late 
to  evacuate  it ;  the  troops  could  not  be 
got  off  in  face  of  the  enemy.  Colonel 
Magaw  had  already  been  summoned 
to  surrender,  but  replied,  that  it  was 
his  intention  to  defend  the  post  to  the 
uttermost.  The  evening  before  the  at 
tack,  Washington  was  crossing  the  river 
to  inspect  the  post,  when  he  met  Greene 
and  Putnam  coming  over  from  it,  who 
assured  him,  the  men  were  in  hi  Hi 

'  O 

spirits,  and    would  make   a   good  de 
fence,    which    induced    him    to    return 
with  them  to  the  camp.     Greene  sent 
over  reinforcements,  and  early  the  next 
morning,  November  16th,  Col 
onel    Magaw    awaited    the    as 
sault.     The  defence  was  sustained  with 
bravery,  the  British  having  lost  some 
four  hundred  men  in  gaining  possession 


Cn.  I.] 


THE   LOSS  OF   FORT   WASHINGTON. 


441 


of  the  outworks.  But  when  the  enemy 
were  within  a  hundred  yards  or  so  of 
the  fort,  into  which  the  soldiers  had 
crowded,  Magaw  could  not  prevail  upon 
his  men  to  man  the  lines;  and  hence 
the  whole  force,  nearly  three  thousand 
in  number,  and  all  the  artillery,  were 
surrendered  into  the  hands  of  the  ene 
my.  "  Washington," — to  use  Mr.  Irving's 
words — "  surrounded  by  several  officers, 
had  been  an  anxious  spectator  of  the 
battle  from  the  opposite  side  of  the 
Hudson.  Much  of  it  was  hidden  from 
him  by  intervening  hills  and  forests ; 
but  the  roar  of  cannonry  from  the  val 
ley  of  Harlem  River,  the  sharp  and  in 
cessant  reports  of  rifles,  and  the  smoke 
rising  above  the  tree-tops,  told  him  of 
the  spirit  with  which  the  assault  was  re 
ceived  at  various  points,  and  gave  him 
for  a  time  a  hope  that  the  defence  might 
be  successful.  The  action  about  the 
lines  to  the  south,  lay  open  to  him,  and 
could  be  distinctly  seen  through  a  tel 
escope;  and  nothing  encouraged  him 
more,  than  the  gallant  style  in  which 
Cadwalader,  with  an  inferior  force,  main 
tained  his  position.  When  he  saw  him, 
however,  assailed  in  flank,  the  line 
broken,  and  his  troops  overpowered 
by  numbers,  retreating  to  the  fort,  he 
gave  up  the  game  as  lost.  The  worst 
sight  of  all,  was  to  behold  his  men  cut 
down  and  bayoneted  by  the  Hessians, 
while  begging  quarter.  It  is  said  so 
completely  to  have  overcome  him,  that 
he  wept  '  with  the  tenderness  of  a 
child."'* 

The  surrender  of  Fort  Washington 
rendered  Fort  Lee  untenable.     Wash- 


*  Irving's  "  Life  of  Washington,  vol.  ii.,  p.  423. 
VOL.   I. -58. 


ington  accordingly  directed  it  to  be 
evacuated,  and  a  removal  of  the  stores 
to  be  immediately  commenced.  But 
before  this  could  be  effected,  Lord 
Cornwallis  landed  on  the  Jersey  side, 
six  or  seven  miles  above  Fort  Lee, 
with  the  purpose  of  enclosing  the  gar 
rison  between  the  Hudson  and  Hacken- 
sack  Rivers.  The  retreat,  consequently, 
had  to  be  hastened,  and  the  heavy  can 
non  and  military  stores  were  left  be 
hind. 

Washington  was  quite  aware  that  he 
could  not  dispute  the  passage  of  the 
river;  he  therefore  only  made  a  show 
of  resistance,  until  his  stores  could  be 
removed,  and  then,  crossing  the  Passaic 
took  post  at  Newark.  There  he  re 
mained  several  days,  making  the  most 
urgent  entreaties  for  reinforcements 
from  any  and  every  quarter,  and  par 
ticularly  pressing  upon  General  Lee, 
whom  he  had  left  with  a  strong1  force 

O 

at  North  Castle,  to  join  him  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment, 

It  was  a  gloomy  prospect  which  the 
commander-in-chief  had  before  him  at 
this  date.  With  his  army  reduced  to 
some  three  thousand  men,  who  were 
dispirited  and  almost  hopeless,  badly 
furnished,  with  no  means  of  entrench 
ing  themselves,  without  tents  to  shelter 
them  from  the  approaching  winter's 
snow  and  ice,  and  in  the  midst  of  a 
lukewarm  if  not  hostile  population,  it 
required  a  power  of  endurance,  such  as 
few  men  possess,  to  bear  up  at  all  under 
such  a  pressure  of  adversity.  The 
British  army,  more  than  twenty  thou 
sand  strong,  composed  of  veteran  troops, 
were  in  excellent  condition,  and  con 
fident  of  an  easy  victory  over  the  frag- 


442 


EVENTS   OF  THE   WAR  DURING   1776. 


111. 


ments  of  Washington's  army.  They 
were  well  supplied  with  that  efficient 
arm  in  the  service,  cavalry,  while  the 
Americans  had  none  whatever,  except 
a  few  ill-mounted  Connecticut  militia, 
under  Major  Shelden.  The  Americans 
were  also  no  better  provided  with  ar 
tillery  than  with  horses.  The  militia 
from  New  Jersey,  about  a  thousand  in 
number,  were  considered  quite  unre 
liable,  and  the  time  of  service  of  the 
few  regulars  in  the  army  expired  with 
the  year.  In  a  little  while,  it  was  to  be 
feared,  there  would  be  no  army  at  all. 

Consternation  seemed  to  have  seized 
upon  the  neighboring  states ;  each 
trembling  for  itself,  refused  to  attempt 
to  succor  others.  There  still  remained 
a  few  regiments  of  regular  troops  upon 
the  frontiers  of  Canada ;  but  they  were 
necessary  there  to  arrest  the  progress 
of  the  enemy;  and,  besides,  the  term 
of  their  engagement  was  near  its  end. 
Upon  the  heel  of  so  many  trials  was 
the  imminent  danger  of  seditions  on 
the  part  of  the  disaffected,  who,  in  va 
rious  places  were  ready  to  do  all  in 
their  power  to  favor  the  cause  of  the 
British.  An  insurrection  was  about  to 
break  out  in  the  county  of  Monmouth,  in 
this  very  province  of  New  Jersey,  so  that 
Washington  found  himself  constrained 
to  detach  a  part  of  his  army,  already  a 
mere  skeleton,  to  overawe  the  agitators. 
The  presence  of  a  victorious  royal  army 
had  dissipated  the  terror  with  which 
the  patriots  at  first  had  inspired  the 
loyalists.  They  began  to  abandon 
themselves  without  reserve  to  all  the 
fury  which  animated  them  against  their 
adversaries. 

The  English  commissioners,  in  this 


1776. 


gloomy  state  of  American  affairs,  ven 
tured  to  assume  bolder  ground  in  ad 
dressing  the  people.  On  the 
30th  of  November,  they  drew 
up  a  third  proclamation,  in  which  they 
charged  and  commanded  all  persons 
assembling  in  arms,  against  his  ma 
jesty's  government,  to  disband  them 
selves  and  return  to  their  dwellings; 
and  all  those  who  exercised  magistra 
cies,  or  were  in  anywise  concerned  in 
executing  orders  for  levying  money, 
raising  troops,  fitting  out  armed  ves 
sels,  and  imprisoning  or  molesting  his 
majesty's  subjects,  were  commanded 
"  to  desist  and  cease  from  all  such  trea 
sonable  actings  and  doings,  and  to  re 
linquish  all  such  usurped  power  and 
authority."  They,  at  the  same  time, 
engaged,  that  all  such  as  should,  within 
sixty  days  from  the  date  of  the  pro 
clamation,  appear  before  any  governor 
or  lieutenant-governor,  or  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  British  army  in  Amer 
ica,  or  any  officer  commanding  a  de 
tachment  of  the  same,  and  claim  the 
benefit  of  the  proclamation,  and  sub 
scribe  a  declaration  that  they  would  re 
main  in  a  peaceable  obedience  to  his 
majesty,  and  would  not  take  up  arms, 
or  encourage  others  to  take  up  arms, 
against  his  authority,  should  obtain  a 
full  and  free  pardon  of  all  treasons  or 
misprisions  of  treason." 

On  the  advance  of  Lord  Cornwallis, 
Washington  abandoned  Newark,  and 
retreated  to  Brunswick,  a  small  village 
on  the  Raritan.  While  there,  the  term 
of  service  of  the  Maryland  and  Jersey 
levies  expired,  and  no  remonstrances  or 
entreaties  of  the  commander-in-chief 
were  sufficient  to  induce  them  to  re- 


CH.  I.] 


THE  CAPTURE  OF   GENERAL   LEE. 


443 


main.  The  British  general  continued 
to  press  forward,  and  Washington  had 
no  alternative  but  to  retire  before  him. 
"  On  the  7  tli  of  December,"  says  Stead- 
man,  "  our  army  marched  from  Bruns 
wick,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
and  about  the  same  hour  in  the  after 
noon  arrived  at  Princeton.  This 
place  General  Washington,  in  person, 
with  Stirling's  brigade,  left  not  one 
hour  before  the  British  arrived.  At 
Princeton,  the  British  general  wait 
ed  seventeen  hours,  marched  at  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  8th,  and 
arrived  at  Trenton  at  four  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  just  when  the  last  boat 
of  General  Washington's  embarkation 
crossed  the  river,  as  if  he  had  calcu 
lated,  it  was  observed,  with  great  ac 
curacy,  the  exact  time  necessary  for  his 
enemy  to  make  his  escape." 

While  at  Trenton,  a  reinforcement 
of  about  two  thousand  men  came  in 
from  Pennsylvania,  the  raising  of  which 
was  principally  due  to  the  exertions 
of  General  Mifflin,  in  Philadelphia. 
Washington  "had  thoughts  of  attempt 
ing  something  against  the  enemy,  but 
learning  that  Cornwallis  had  received 
accessions  to  his  force,  he  abandoned 
the  idea,  and,  as  just  stated,  on  the  8th 
of  December,  placed  the  Delaware  be 
tween  himself  and  the  British  troops. 
He  had  taken  the  precaution  of  collect 
ing  and  securing  all  the  boats  on  the 
Delaware  from  Philadelphia  for  seventy 
miles  higher  up  the  river.  Washing 
ton  was  also  careful  to  secure  all  the 
boats  on  the  south  side  of  the  river, 
and  to  guard  all  those  places  where  it 
was  probable  that  the  British  army 
might  attempt  to  pass  ;  so  that  the  dan 


ger  of  an  immediate  attack  was  pre 
vented.  The  British  troops  made  de 
monstrations  of  an  intention  to  cross 
the  river,  and  detachments  were  sta 
tioned  to  oppose  them ;  but  the  attempt 
was  not  seriously  made.  In  this  situ 
ation  Washington  anxiously  waited  for 
reinforcements,  and  sent  some  parties 
over  the  river  to  observe  and  harass 
the  enemy. 

Congress,  on  the  12th  of  December, 
deemed  it  prudent  to  remove  their  sit 
tings  to  Baltimore,  where  they  waited 
anxiously  but  firmly  the  progress  of 
affairs. 

While  the  commander-in-chief  was 
retreating  through  the  Jerseys,  he 
earnestly  desired  General  Lee,  who  had 
been  left  in  command  of  the  division 
of  the  army  at  North  Castle,  to  hasten 
his  march  to  the  Delaware,  and  join 
the  main  army.  But  that  officer,  not 
withstanding;  the  critical  nature  of  the 

O 

case,  and  the  pressing  orders  of  his 
commander,  was  in  no  haste  to  obey. 
Reluctant  to  give  up  his  separate  com 
mand,  and  subject  himself  to  superior 
authority,  he  did  not  begin  his  march 
until  the  4th  of  December,  and  then  he 
advanced  slowly  to  the  southward,  at  the 
head  of  about  three  thousand  men ;  but 
his  sluggish  movements  and  unwary  con- 
duct  proved  fatal  to  his  own  personal 
liberty,  and  excited  a  lively  sensation 
throughout  America.  He  lay  carelessly 
without  a  guard,  and  at  some  distance 
from  his  troops,  at  Baskingridge,  in 
Morris  county,  where,  on  the,  13th  of 
December,  Colonel  Harcourt,  who,  with 
a  small  detachment  of  light  horse,  had 
been  sent  to  observe  the  movements  of 
that  division  of  the  American  army,  by 


444 


EVENTS   OF  THE    WAR  DURING   1776. 


[BK. 


a  sudden  dash,  under  the  guidance  of 
a  tory,  made  him  prisoner,  and  con 
veyed  him  rapidly  to  New  York.  For 
some  time  he  was  closely  confined,  and 
considered  not  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  but 
as  a  deserter  from  the  British  army.* 

The  capture  of  General  Lee  was  re 
garded  as  a  great  misfortune  by  the 
Americans ;  for  at  that  time  he  enjoyed, 
in  a  high  degree,  the  esteem  and  con 
fidence  of  the  army  and  of  the  country : 
on  the  other  hand,  the  British  exulted 
in  his  captivity,  as  equal  to  a  victory, 
declaring  that  they  "  had  taken  the 
American  palladium."f 

General  Sullivan,  who,  on  the  4th  of 
September,  had  been  exchanged  for 
General  Prescott,  when  Lord  Stirling 
also  had  been  exchanged  for  General 
M'Donald,  succeeded  to  the  command 
on  the  capture  of  Lee ;  he  immediately 
pressed  forward,  and  on  the  20th  of 
December,  crossing  the  Delaware  at 
Philipsburg,  joined  the  commander-in- 
chief.  On  the  same  day  General  Gates, 
with  part  of  the  army  of  Canada,  ar- 


*  See  Irving's  "Life  of  Washington,"  vol.  ii.,  pp. 
452,  etc.,  for  a  full  and  graphic  account  of  Lee's 
probable  purpose  in  the  course  he  pursued. 

f  Lee  being  of  superior  rank  to  any  prisoner  in  the 
hands  of  the  Americans,  could  not  be  exchanged. 
Six  field-officers  were  offered  in  exchange  for  him 
and  refused;  and  Congress  was  highly  irritated  at 
its  being  reported  that  he  was  to  be  treated  as  a 
deserter,  because  he  had  been  a  half-pay  officer  in 
the  British  service  previous  to  the  war.  In  conse 
quence  of  this  they  issued  a  proclamation,  threaten 
ing  to  retaliate  on  the  prisoners  in  their  possession 
whatever  punishment  should  be  inflicted  on  any  of 
those  taken  by  the  British,  and  especially  that  their 
conduct  should  be  regulated  by  the  treatment  of 
General  Lee.  A  great  deal  of  suffering,  on  both 
sides,  by  the  unfortunate  prisoners,  resulted  from  the 
course  adopted  by  the  British  to  refuse  the  usual 
oomity  of  war  in  the  case  of  Lee. 


rived  in  camp.  But  even  after  the 
junction  of  those  troops,  and  a  number 
of  militia  of  Pennsylvania,  Washington's 
force  did  not  exceed  seven  thousand 
men ;  for  though  many  had  joined  the 
army,  yet  not  a  few  were  daily  leaving 
it ;  and  of  those  who  remained,  the  great 
er  part  were  raw  troops,  ill-provided,  and 
all  of  them  dispirited  by  defeat. 

General  Howe,  with  an  army  of 
twenty-seven  thousand  men,  completely 
armed  and  disciplined,  well-provided, 
and  flushed  with  success,  lay  on  the  op 
posite  side  of  the  Delaware  ;  stretching 
from  Brunswick  to  the  vicinity  of  Phila 
delphia,  and  ready,  it  was  believed,  to 
pass  over  as  soon  as  the  severity  of  the 
winter  was  set  in,  and  the  river  com 
pletely  frozen.  To  the  Americans  this 
was  a  very  dark  period  of  the  contest; 
and  their  affairs  appeared  in  a  hopeless 
condition.  To  deepen  the  gloom  of 
this  period,  so  alarming  to  the  Amer 
icans,  and  to  confirm  the  confidence  of 
the  British  army,  General  Clinton,  with 
two  brigades  of  British  and  two  of  Hes 
sian  troops,  escorted  by  a  squadron  of 
men-of-war  under  Sir  Peter  Parker,  was 
sent  against  Rhode  Island.  The  Amer 
ican  force  was  incapable  of  making  any 
effectual  resistance,  and  retreated  on 
Clinton's  approach ;  so  that  on  the  day 
that  Washington  crossed  the  Delaware, 
he  took  possession  of  Rhode  Island, 
without  opposition.  This  loss  was  a 
very  serious  one,  as  well  from  the  situ 
ation  of  the  province,  as  because  the 
American  squadron,  under  Commodore 
Hopkins,  was  compelled  to  withdraw 
as  far  up  the  Providence  River  as  it 
was  practicable,  and  to  continue  there 
blocked  up  and  useless  for  a  long  time. 


CH.  I.] 


WASHINGTON'S   RETREAT  THROUGH  THE  JERSEYS. 


445 


TVo  pieces  of  cannon  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy;  but  they  made 
few  prisoners.  The  conquest  of  Rhode 
Island  was  of  great  utility  for  their 
ulterior  operations :  from  this  province 
they  could  harass  Massachusetts;  and 
the  reinforcements  that  General  Lin 
coln  had  assembled  with  the  intention 
of  conducting  them  to  the  army  of 
Washington,  were  detained  in  that 
province,  to  observe  General  Clinton, 
and  prevent  him  from  disturbing  its 
tranquillity.  Even  Connecticut  shared 
the  alarm,  and  retained  the  reinforce 
ments  it  was  upon  the  point  of  sending 
to  the  camp  of  Washington. 

General  Howe,  as  an  English  writer 
remarks,  has  been  severely  censured  for 
not  pressing  the  pursuit  of  the  Amer 
icans  with  more  activity,  and  over 
whelming  Washington  before  he  found 
refuge  behind  the  Delaware.  Probably, 
however,  the  censure  is  not  quite  just, 
although  it  may  be  regarded  as  certain 
that  the  delay  of  the  British  force 
proved  the  salvation  of  the  American 
army.  Howe's  conduct  was  marked  by 
cool  prudence  rather  than  by  daring  en 


terprise  or  unwary  impetuosity.  He  was 
on  the  whole  as  successful  as  any  other 
British  general  during  the  war,  and  he 
exposed  himself  to  none  of  those  disasters 
which  fell  upon  others  of  his  compeers. 
But  however  this  may  be,  it  is  un 
doubtedly  true,  that  Washington  gave 
evidence  of  superior  generalship  in  this 
retreat  through  the  Jerseys ;  and  not 
only  of  superior  qualities  as  a  com- 
mander-in-chief,  but  also  of  possessing 
the  higher  and  nobler  endowments  of 
the  most  exalted  patriotism.  Painful, 
indeed,  is  it  to  see  what  trials  and  per 
plexities,  and  humiliations  waited  upon 
his  every  step,  and  how  his  soul  was 
racked  with  the  cares  and  burdens  laid 
upon  him.  But  trials  are  not  sent 
without  design.  Washington  was 
formed  of  that  material  which  is  puri 
fied  and  strengthened  by  trial.  Brave 
ly  did  he  endure ;  profoundly  learned 
and  wise  did  he  become  by  endurance ; 
and  no  man  of  his  day  ever  attained 
such  vast  influence  as  he  did  by  the 
irrefragable  proofs  which  he  exhibited 
of  the  purity,  integrity,  and  decision  of 
his  character  and  conduct. 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  I. 


.  III. 


APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    I. 


ADDRESS   TO    THEIR   EXCELLENCIES    RICHARD 
VISCOUNT   HOWE,    ADMIRAL,    AND   WILLIAM 
HOWE,    ESQ.,     GENERAL   OF    HIS    BRITANNIC 
MAJESTY'S  FORCES  IN  AMERICA. 
MY  LORD  AND  SIR — Your  declaration  at  New 
York,  has  reached  this  place.     It  has  occasioned 
surprise  and    concern.      The  known   honor   and 
abilities  of  your  Excellencies,  and  your  declaration, 
appear  perfect  contrasts.     The  latter  is  an  un 
natural  production.     Hurt,  as  I  am,  to  see  your 
names  so  prostituted,  I  cannot  restrain  myself 
from  making  a  few  remarks  to  your  Excellencies 
upon  a  subject,  which,  by  endangering  your  repu 
tation,  distresses  every  generous  mind.     I  shall 
first  state  your  declaration. 

"  By  RICHARD  YISCOUNT  HOWE,  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Ireland,  and  WILLIAM  HOWE,  Esq.,  General 
of  His  Majesty's  forces  in  America,  the  King's 
COMMISSIONERS  for  restoring  peace  to  his  Ma 
jesty's  Colonies  and  Plantations  in  North  Amer 
ica,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

DECLARATION. 

"  Although  the  Congress,  whom  the  misguided 
Americans  suffer  to  direct  the  opposition  to  a  re- 
establishment  of  the  constitutional  government 
of  these  provinces,  have  disavowed  every  purpose 
of  reconciliation  not  consonant  with  their  ex 
travagant  and  inadmissible  claim  of  independ 
ence, — the  King's  Commissioners  think  fit  to  de 
clare  that  they  are  equally  desirous  to  confer  with 
His  Majesty's  well  affected  subjects  upon  the 
means  of  restoring  the  public  tranquillity,  and  es 
tablishing  a  permanent  union  with  every  colony, 
as  a  part  of  the  British  Empire.  The  king  being 
most  graciously  pleased  to  direct  a  revision  of 
such  of  his  royal  instructions  to  his  governors  as 
may  be  construed  to  lay  an  improper  restraint  on 
the  freedom  of  legislation  in  any  of  his  Colonies, 
and  to  concur  in  the  revisal  of  all  acts,  by  which 
His  Majesty's  subjects  there  may  think  themselves 
aggrieved,  it  is  recommended  to  the  inhabitants 


at  large,  to  reflect  seriously  upon  their  present 
condition  and  expectations,  and  judge  for  them 
selves,  whether  it  be  more  consistent  with  their 
honor  and  happiness,  to  offer  up  their  lives  as  a 
sacrifice  to  the  unjust  and  precarious  cause  in 
which  they  are  engaged,  or  return  to  their  al 
legiance,  accept  the  blessings  of  peace,  and  to  be 
secured  in  a  free  enjoyment  of  their  liberties  and 
properties  upon  the  true  principles  of  the  Con 
stitution. 

"  Given  at  New  York,  19th  September,  1776. 

"  HOWE. 

"W.   HOWE. 

"  By  command  of  their  Excellencies, 
STRAGHEY." 

And  now,  not  to  detain  your  Excellencies  by 
making  observations  upon  Lord  Howe's  not  as 
suming  his  military  title,  displaying  the  nature  of 
his  supreme  hostile  command  in  America,  by 
which  unusual  and  designed  omission,  the  ignor 
ant,  seeing  his  name  contrasted  with  that  of  a 
general  clothed  in  all  his  terrors,  may  be  entrap 
ped  to  believe  that  his  lordship  is  to  be  con 
sidered  in  a  more  amiable  point  of  view,  a  mere 
Commissioner  only,  for  restoring  peace,  without 
any  military  command  to  intimidate  and  coerce  : 
not  to  wound  your  delicacy,  by  admiring  the  wis 
dom  of  your  appealing  from  the  Congress  to 
people  confessed  by  you  to  be  directed  by  that 
honorable  assembly  :  my  remarks  shall  be  con 
fined  to  the  more  material  parts  of  your  Dec 
laration,  which,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  are  in  every 
respect  unworthy  your  good  sense  and  high  char 
acters. 

Yonr  Excellencies  "  think  fit  to  declare,"  that 
you  are  desirous  "  of  restoring  the  public  tran 
quillity."  But  is  the  end  your  Excellencies  aim  at 
our  honor  and  advantage  ?  Is  it  to  give  a  free 
scope  to  our  natural  growth  ?  Is  it  to  confirm  to 
us  our  rights  by  the  law  of  nature  ?  No  !  It  is 
to  cover  us  with  infamy.  It  is  to  chill  the  sap, 


CH.  I.] 


JUDGE  DRAYTON'S   ADDRESS. 


447 


nnd  check  the  luxuriance  of  our  imperial  plant. 
It  is  to  deprive  us  of  our  natural  equality  with 
the  rest  of  mankind,  bj  "  establishing"  every  state 
"  as  a  part  of  the  British  Empire."  In  short, 
your  Excellencies  invite  men  of  common  sense,  to 
exchange  an  independent  station  for  a  servile  and 
dangerous  dependence  ?  But,  when  we  recollect, 
that  the  king  of  Great  Britain  has,  from  the 
throne,  declared  his  "  firm  and  steadfast  resolutions 
to  withstand  every  attempt  to  weaken  or  impair 
the  supreme  authority  of  that  legislature  over  all 
the  dominions  of  his  crown  ;"  that  his  hirelings  in 
Parliament  and  tools  in  office,  abhorred  by  the 
English  nation,  have  echoed  the  sentiment ;  and 
that  America,  for  ten  years,  has  experienced  that 
king's  total  want  of  candor,  humanity,  and  jus 
tice  ;  it  is,  I  confess,  a  matter  of  wonder,  that 
your  Excellencies  can  submit  to  appear  so  lost  to 
decency,  as  to  hold  out  subjection  as  the  only  con 
dition  of  peace  :  and  that  you  could  condescend 
to  sully  your  personal  honor,  by  inviting  us  to 
trust  a  government,  in  which  you  are  conscious  we 
cannot,  in  the  nature  of  things,  place  any  con 
fidence  ;  a  government  that  you  are  sensible,  has 
been,  now  is,  and  ever  must  be  jealous  of  our 
prosperity  and  natural  growth ;  a  government 
that  you  know  is  absolutely  abandoned  to  cor 
ruption  !  Take  it  not  amiss,  if  I  hint  to  your 
Excellencies,  that  your  very  appearing  in  support 
of  such  a  proposal,  furnishes  cause  to  doubt  even 
of  your  integrity  ;  and  to  reject  your  allurements, 
lest  they  decoy  us  into  slavery. 

The  Declaration  says,  "  the  king  is  most  graci 
ously  pleased  to  direct  a  revision  of  such  of  his 
royal  instructions  to  his  governors,"  etc.,  "and  to 
concur  in  the  revisal  of  all  acts,  by  which  His 
Majesty's  subjects  may  think  themselves  ag 
grieved."  But  what  of  all  this  ?  Your  Excel 
lencies  have  not  told  the  people,  who  "  think 
themselves  aggrieved,"  that  they  are  to  be  a  party 
in  the  revision.  You  have  not  even  told  them 
who  are  to  be  revisers.  If  you  had,  it  would  be 
nothing  to  the  purpose  ;  for  you  have  not,  and 
cannot  tell  them,  and  engage  that  even  any  of  the 
instructions  and  acts,  being  revised,  shall  be  re 
voked,  and  repealed,  particularly  those  by  which 
people  "  may  think  themselves  aggrieved."  But, 
if  such  are  not  to  be  repealed,  why  have  you  men 
tioned  "  thinl  themselves  aggrieved?"  If  they 
are  intended  to  be  repealed,  why  did  not  your 
Excellencies  come  to  the  point  at  once,  and  say 


so  ?  It  is  evident  your  Excellencies  arc  by  yor.r 
superiors,  precipitated  into  a  dilemma.  You  have 
not  been  accustomed  to  dirty  jobs,  and  plain 
dealing  does  not  accord  with  your  instructions  ; 
otherwise,  in  the  latter  case,  I  think  you  are  men 
of  too  much  sense  and  honor,  to  have  overlooked 
or  suppressed  so  material  a  point  of  information. 
However,  you  say  instructions  and  acts  are  to  be 
revised.  We  see  that  you  have  laid  an  ambus 
cade  for  our  liberties  ;  the  clause  is  carefully  con 
structed,  without  the  least  allusion  to  the  re- 
visors,  or  to  the  words  redress,  revoke,  repeal. 
In  short,  it  appears  to  be  drawn  up  entirely  on  the 
plan  of  a  declaration  by  King  James  the  Second, 
after  his  abdication,  as  confidentially  explained  by 
James'  secretary  of  state,  the  earl  of  Melford,  to 
Lord  Dundee,  in  Scotland.  For  Melford  writes 
to  Dundee,  "  that  notwithstanding  of  what  was 
promised  in  the  declaration,  indemnity  and  indul 
gence,  yet  he  had  couched  things  so,  that  the  king 
would  break  them  when  he  pleased  ;  nor  would  he 
think  himself  obliged  to  stand  to  them."  And 
your  Excellencies  have  "  couched  things  so,"  that 
more  words  upon  this  subject  are  unnecessary. 

"  It  is  recommended  to  the  inhabitants  at  large, 
to  reflect  seriously  upon  their  present  condition." 
Is  it  possible  your  Excellencies  can  be  serious,  and 
mean  any  thing  by  this  recommendation  ?  Can 
you  be  ignorant,  that  ever  since  the  birth  of  the 
Stamp  Act,  the  inhabitants  at  large,  have  been  re 
flecting  upon  their  deplorable  condition  ?  Can 
you  have  an  idea,  that,  after  such  a  length  of 
time,  during  which  they  have  been  continually 
kept  to  their  reflections,  by  the  declaratory  law, 
the  Tea  Act,  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  and  those 
then  passed  to  annihilate  the  charter  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay,  the  Quebec  Bill  to  establish  Popery, 
the  Fishery  Bill,  to  coerce  by  famine,  the  British 
commencement  of  the  late  civil  war,  and  the  Act 
of  Parliament,  in  December  last,  declaring  the  in 
habitants  rebels  ;  I  say,  after  such  a  series  of 
causes  for  reflection,  and  that  your  Excellencies 
now  find  us  in  arms  against  you,  determined  on 
independence  or  death,  can  you  possibly  entertain 
an  idea,  that  we  have  not  reflected  seriously  ? 
On  the  contrary,  you  know,  that  we  are  prepared 
to  offer  up  our  lives  in  evidence  of  our  serious  re 
flections  !  In  addressing  a  world,  you  ought  to 
have  some  attention  to  the  propriety  of  your  rec 
ommendations,  if  only  from  a  regard  to  your 
own  reputation. 


448 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTEPv  I. 


[RK.  III. 


You  are  pleased  to  terra  our  cause  "  unjust." 
In  this  there  is  nothing  so  surprising,  as  your 
bei.jg  lured  to  give  such  a  sentiment  under  your 
hands,  signing  your  own  disgrace  with  posterity. 
You  know,  that  the  virtuous  characters  through 
out  Europe,  on  this  point,  differ  with  your  Excel 
lencies  ;  and  I  most  respectfully  submit,  whether 
there  is  not  some  little  degree  of  presumption  in 
your  signing  an  opinion,  in  contradiction  to  the 
opinion  of  thousands,  who,  without  derogating 
from  your  Excellencies,  are,  at  least,  as  well  able 
to  judge  upon  the  point  as  you  are  ? 

But  you  add,  that  our  cause  is  "  precarious." 
Allow  me  to  make  a  proper  return  to  your  Excel 
lencies,  by  informing  you,  that  all  the  affairs  of 
men  are  precarious,  and  that  war  is  particularly 
so.  However,  if  your  Excellencies  meant  to  in 
sinuate,  that  our  cause  is  precarious,  from  an  in 
ability  in  us  to  maintain  it,  I  beg  leave  to  ask 
General  Howe  what  progress  his  arms  made  du 
ring  his  command  at  Boston  ?  And  what  shining- 
victories,  and  important  conquests  you  have 
achieved  since  your  junction  at  Staten  Island  ? 
The  oulogium, 


-  dnofiilmina  belli 


Scipiadas  • 


cannot  yet  be  applied  to  your  Excellencies.  Gen 
eral  Howe's  repulse  from  the  lines  on  Long 
Island,  and  his  victory  over  the  advanced  guard 
of  three  thousand  imn,  reflect  no  great  degree  of 
glory  on  the  corps  of  at  least  twelve  thousand 
men  that  he  commanded.  Nor  can  you  boast 
much  of  the  action  on  New  York  Island  on  the 
15th  of  September,  when  a  few  more  than  eight 
hundred  Americans,  attacking  three  companies 
of  light  troops,  supported  by  two  regiments,  the 
one  Scotch,  the  other  Hessian,  drove  them  from 
hill  to  hili,  back  to  your  lines,  and  carried  off  three 
pieces  of  brass  cannon  as  trophies  of  their  victory. 
And  when  General  Washington,  on  the  second 
of  October,  caused  a  large  detachment  to  draw  up 
to  Harlaem  plains,  to  cover  the  inhabitants  be 
tween  the  two  armies,  while  they  carried  off  their 
effects,  the  march  and  continuance  of  the  British 
troops  in  order  of  battle,  within  long  shot,  with 
out  firing  a  gun  to  interrupt  the  service,  is  at 
least  some  slight  degree  of  evidence,  that  they  re 
spect  and  stand  in  awe  of  the  American  arms. 
In  short,  without  being  unreasonable,  I  think  I 
may  be  allowed  to  say,  that  these  particulars  do 
not  show,  that  our  cause  is  so  precarious  as  your  j 


Excellencies  would  insinuate  it  to  be  ;  and  to 
recommend  that  your  Excellencies  "  reflect  seri 
ously  upon  your  present  condition,"  and  abandon 
"  the  unjust  cause  in  which  you  are  engaged," 
while  you  yet  may  preserve  your  reputation  from 
the  reproaches  of  posterity. 

Your  Excellencies  call  upon  the  inhabitants  at 
large  "  to  return  to  their  allegiance."  It  is  as  if 
you  had  commanded  a  body  of  troops  to  advance 
to  the  assault,  before  you  had  put  them  in  order 
of  battle.  I  tell  your  Excellencies,  that  protec 
tion  must  precede  allegiance  ;  for  the  latter  is 
founded  on  the  benefit  of  the  former.  That  the 
operations  of  the  forces  by  sea  and  land,  under 
your  orders,  demonstrate  that  your  king  is  not  our 
protector.  And,  that  the  allegiance  of  America 
to  the  king  of  Great  Britain  is  now  utterly  out  of 
the  question, 

But  you  attempt  to  allure  the  inhabitants,  by 
telling  them  they  may  "  be  secured  in  a  free  en 
joyment  of  their  liberties  and  properties,  upon  the 
true  principles  of  the  Constitution."  Will  your 
Excellencies  tell  us  where  those  principles  are  to 
be  found  ?  You  must  say  they  are  not  to  be  found 
in  the  present  British  government.  Do  we  not 
know  that  the  majority  of  the  two  houses  of 
Parliament  are  absolutely  under  the  king  of 
Great  Britain's  direction  ?  They  make  and  re 
peal  laws  ;  they  agree  with  or  reject  motions  ; 
they  vote  money  even  without  limitation  of  sum, 
at  the  pleasure  of  that  king's  minister,  in  whoso 
pay  they  actually  are  ;  and  your  Excellencies,  as 
men  of  honor,  dare  not  deny  these  things.  Will 
you  then  say,  that,  where  there  is  such  a  depend 
ence,  the  true  principles  of  the  Constitution  oper 
ate  !  The  history  of  the  present  reign,  all  Eu 
rope  would  witness  against  you.  Those  prin 
ciples  have  been  long  despised  by  the  rulers,  and 
lost  to  the  people  ;  otherwise,  even  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  present  reign,  we  should  not 
have  seen  the  dismission  of  the  virtuous  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer,  LEGGE,  because  he  would  not 
quit  his  seat  in  Parliament  at  the  instigation  of 
the  last  Prince  of  Wales  ;  nor  the  massacre  in  St. 
George's  fields,  and  the  royal  thanks  to  the  as 
sassins  ;  nor  the  repeated  and  unredressed  com 
plaints  to  the  throne ;  nor  the  unheard  of  pro 
fusion  of  the  public  treasure,  far  exceeding  the 
extravagance  of  a  Caligula,  or  a  Nero  ;  nor  the 
present  ruinous  situation  of  Great  Britain  •  nor 
the  present  war  in  America,  for  the  worst  of  pur- 


Cn.  I.] 


JUDGE  DRAYTON'S   ADDRESS. 


449 


pnses,  kindled  by  your  king.  Can  your  Excel 
lencies  be  so  wanting  to  yourselves,  as,  at  this 
time  of  day,  on  the  part  of  your  master,  seriously 
to  talk  to  us  of  a  security  upon  the  true  principles 
of  the  Constitution  ?  Did  it  uever  strike  you, 
that  the  Americans  would  expect  to  see  such 
principles  operating  in  England,  before  they  could 
be  duped  into  a  belief,  that  America  could  pos 
sibly  feel  their  effects  from  the  dark  recess  of  the 
royal  palace  ?  The  lord  mayor  of  London  has 
openly  charged  Lord  North,  and  the  lords  of  the 
admiralty,  with  licensing  ships  to  trade  to  all 
parts  of  America,  in  direct  disregard,  contempt, 
and  defiance  of  an  Act  of  Parliament  to  the  con 
trary,  passed  so  late  as  December  last.  And  yet 
your  Excellencies  do  not  scruple  to  talk  to  us  of  a 
security  upnn  the  true  principles  of  the  constitu 
tion!  Let  the  fountain  be  sweet,  arid  then  its 
stream  may  be  salutary. 

Your  Excellencies  say,  "  the  king  is  most  graci 
ously  pleased  to  direct  a  revision"  of  instructions 
and  acts.  If  you  really  mean  to  conciliate,  why 
will  you  insult  the  inhabitants  at  large.  It  was 
"  the  king's"  bounden  duty  to  have  directed,  not 
only  a  revision,  but  an  amendment  of  his  instruc 
tions  ;  and  to  have  recommended  a  repeal  of 
the  acts,  when  the  people  FIRST  complained  of 
them.  But  he,  having  been  criminally  deaf  to 
the  cries  of  the  injured,  to  terrify  them  into 
silence,  having  burnt  their  towns,  restrained  their 
trade,  seized  and  confiscated  their  vessels  ;  driven 
them  into  enormous  expenses  ;  sheathed  his  sword 
in  their  bowels,  and  adorned  the  heads  of  their 
aged  women  and  children,  with  a  cincture  made 
by  the  scalping  knife  of  HIS  ALLY,  the  Indian 
savage  ;  you  now  tell  these  injured  people,  that 
"  the  king  is  graciously  pleased  to  direct  a  re 
vision  !"  His  very  mercies  are  insults  ! 

And  so  your  Excellencies,  besides  your  military 
commands,  as  Admiral  and  General,  are  also  "  Com 
missioners  for  restoring  peace."  Is  there  not  some 
error  in  this  title  ?  Ought  we  not,  instead  of 
"  peace,"  to  read  tyranny  ?  You  seem  armed 
at  all  points  for  this  purpose  ;  and  your  very  lan 
guage  detects  the  latent  design.  But  you  are 
Commissioners,  and  for  the  important  purpose  of 
"  restoring  peace,"  you  are  honored  with  a  power 
— "  to  confer."  And  you  have  condescended  to 
be  mere  machines,  through  which,  as,  through 
speaking  trumpets,  words  are  to  be  sounded  from 
America  to  Britain !  How  MUCH  LOWER  is  IT 
VOL.  I.— 59 


POSSIBLE  FOR  YOUR  EXCELLENCIES  TO  DECRADE 
YOURSELVES  IN  THE  EYE3  OF  THE  WORLD  ?  By 

this,  it  is  most  evident,  the  British  king  has  not 
one  generous  thought  respecting  America.  Nor 
does  he  mean  to  grant  terms  upon  the  true  prin 
ciples  of  the  Constitution.  For,  if  to  grant  such 
terms,  was  bonafide  the  intention  of  your  master, 
without  doubt  YOU  would  have  been  vested  with 
competent  powers.  But  he  plainly  means  to  grant 
nothing  that  he  can  possibly  avoid  ;  and  therefore 
he  would  have  the  matter  of  negotiation  drawn 
into  length  under  his  own  eye.  Can  we  place  any 
confidence  in  such  a  prince  ?  His  aim  is  to  divide, 
not  to  redress,  and  your  Excellencies'  Declaration 
is  but  a  continuation  of  Lord  North's  conciliatory 
plan. 

Thus,  while  we  remember  that  Lord  North  de 
clared,  on  the  20th  of  February,  1775,  that  his 
famous  conciliatory  plan  was  rather  calculated  to 
break  a  linJc  in  the  American  chain  of  union,  than 
to  give  satisfaction  to  the  people  ;  and  that  the 
exercise  of  the  right  of  taxing  every  part  of  the 
British  dominions,  must  by  no  means  be  given  up  ; 
that  Lord  Mansfield,  on  the  third  reading  of  the 
bill,  declaring  war  against  the  United  Colonies, 
affirmed  that  he  did  not  consider  who  was  origi 
nally  in  the  wrong  ;  they  were  now  to  consider 
only  where  they  were,  and  the  justice  of  the  cause 
must  now  give  way  to  their  present  situation  ; 
when  we  consider  the  king  of  Great  Britain's 
speech  to  the  Parliament  on  the  last  of  Novem 
ber,  and  the  Commons'  address  and  his  answer  on 
the  1th  of  December,  1774  ;  the  Commons'  ad 
dress  of  the  9th  of  February,  1775,  and  the  royal 
answer  ;  and  the  speech  from  the  throne  at  the 
last  opening  of  the  Parliament,  October  the  26th, 
1775  ;  all  declaring  an  unalterable  purpose  to 
maintain  the  supreme  authority  of  that  legislature 
over  all  the  dominions  of  the  crown ;  in  other 
words,  their  unalterable  purpose,  TO  BIND  us  IN 
ALL  CASES  WHATSOEVER  ;  when  we  see  your  hostile 
array  and  operations,  in  consequence  of  those 
declarations  ;  I  say,  when  we  consider  these  things, 
we  can  be  at  no  loss  to  form  a  just  idea  of  the  in 
tentions  of  your  king  ;  or  to  conceive  what  your 
Excellencies  mean,  by  "the  true  principles  of  the 
Constitution."  Nor  are  we  to  be  caught  by  any 
allurements  your  Excellencies  may  throw  out  ;  you 
confess,  and  we  know  that  you,  as  Commissioners, 
have  not  any  power  to  negotiate  and  determine 
any  thing. 


450 


APPENDIX   TO   CHAPTER  I. 


[BK.  III. 


But,  unanswerable  as  the  reasons  are  against 
America  returning  to  a  subjection  under  the 
British  crown,  now  in  fact  become  despotic.  ;  and 
America,  after  unheard  of  injuries,  infinite  toil, 
hazard  and  expense,  her  inhabitants  called  cow 
ards  by  your  master's  servants,  civil  and  military, 
having  declared  herself  independent  ;  did  not 
your  Excellencies  feel  a  little  for  onr  honor,  when 
you,  at  the  head  of  your  armies,  held  out  to  us, 
subjection  and  peace  !  Did  not  you  feel  the  dig 
nity  of  your  characters  affected,  when  you,  under 
the  guise  of  a  security  upon  the  true  principles  of 
the  Constitution,  recommend  to  "  the  inhabitants 
at  large,"  to  rescind  their  decree,  and  BY  THEIR 
OWN  MOUTHS  DECLARE  themselves  the  most  con 
temptible  people  in  history,  which  gives  no  ex 
ample  of  such  baseness — RENDER  their  name  a 
term  of  reproach  among  all  nations,  and  FORBID 
each  other  from  placing  any,  the  least  degree  of 
confidence  in,  and  all  foreign  states  from  paying 
the  least  degree  of  credit  to,  their  most  solemn 
declarations!  In  short,  to  submit  to  a  govern 


ment  abandoned  to  corruption,  lost  to  a  sense  of 
justice,  and  already  but  a  step  behind  absolute 
despotism  ;  a  government  that  has  long  been,  and 
ever  must  be,  jealous  of  our  rise,  and  studious  to 
depress  our  natural  growth  !  Did  not  your  Ex 
cellencies  blush,  and  shrink  within  yourselves, 
when  you  asked  men,  who  had  been  almost  ruined 
by  your  gracious  master,  to  abandon  the  honor 
able  and  natural  station  of  independence,  and 
stoop  to  kiss  his  hand,  now  daily  BATHED  in,  and 
which  ever  must  continue  stained  by,  the  blood  of 
a  friend,  a  brother,  a  son,  a  father  ! 

That  your  Excellencies  may  "  reflect  seriously" 
upon  "  the  unjust  cause  in  which  you  are  en 
gaged  ;"  and  that  the  name  of  HOWE  may  be  en 
rolled  with  the  names  of  MARLBOROUGH  and  EF- 
FINGHAH,  are  the  wishes  of, 

A  CAROLINIAN. 

[Judge  Draytou.] 

CHARLESTON,  October  22,  1776. 


CH.  If.] 


FOREIGN    ASSISTANCE  SOUGHT. 


451 


CHAPTEE    II. 

1776-1777, 

PROGRESS      OF     THE     WAR. 

Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  —  Franklin's  letter  to  Dumas  —  Deane  in  Paris  —  Commissioners  to  France  — 
Extent  to  -which  France  was  willing  to  go  —  Commissioners  to  other  courts  —  Progress  of  negotiations  — 
Position  of  Congress  —  Washington's  letter  to  the  President  of  Congress  —  Vast  powers  conferred  on  him  — 
Action  of  Parliament — Washington's  plans  to  retrieve  losses  in  New  Jersey  —  Surprise  and  Capture  of  the 
Hessians  at  Trenton  —  Effects  of  this  success  —  Movement  of  Cornwallis  —  Washington's  retreat  and  attack  on 
Princeton  —  General  Mercer's  death  —  Washington's  proclamation  —  His  generalship  —  Botta's  eulogy  — 
Excesses  and  abominations  of  war  —  Effect  on  the  people  —  Similar  excesses  on  the  side  of  the  Americans  — 
Sufferings  of  the  prisoners  in  New  York  —  The  army  inoculated  —  Heath's  attempt  on  New  York  —  British 
attack  on  Peekskill,  and  on  Danbury  —  General  Wooster's  death  —  American  success  at  Sag  Harbor  —  Howe 
inactive  —  Washington's  arrangements  to  meet  him  —  Washington  advances  to  Middlebrook  —  Howe  attempts 
to  surprise  him  —  New  Jersey  evacuated  by  the  British  —  Great  preparations  in  New  York  for  an  expedition 
by  sea  —  Washington's  first  interview  with  Lafayette  —  Seizure  of  General  Prescott  —  British  fleet  enter  the 
Chesapeake  —  "Washington's  determination  to  defend  Philadelphia  —  Battle  of  the  Brandywine  —  Further 
movements  —  Wayne  surprised  — Fresh  powers  conferred  on  Washington  —  Hamilton's  activity — Philadelphia 
abandoned  —  Battle  of  Germantown  —  Obstructions  in  the  Delaware  —  British  efforts  to  clear  the  navigation  — 
Howe's  offer  of  battle  declined  —  State  of  the  armies  —  Approach  of  winter  —  APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTEU  II.  —  I. 
Letter  from  General  Robertson,  and  Governor  Livingston's  Reply. — II.  Charge  of  John  Jay,  Esq.,  to  the  Grand 
Jury. 


IT  had  not  escaped  the  attention  of 
those  sagacious  men  who  exercised  pre 
ponderating  influence  in  Congress,  that 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  would 
necessarily  involve  an  appeal  to  the 
nations  of  Europe  for  countenance  and 
aid.  Accordingly,  as  early  as  the  close 
.of  17Y5,  a  committee,  consisting  of  Mr. 
Harrison,  Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  Johnson, 
Mr.  Dickinson,  and  Mr.  Jay,  was  ap 
pointed  for  the  sole  purpose  of  holding 
a  secret  correspondence  with  the  friends 
of  America,  in  Great  Britain,  Ireland, 
and  other  parts  of  the  world.  The 
main  object  of  this  Committee,  was  to 
sound  indirectly  some  of  the  principal 
powers  of  Europe,  particularly  France 
and  Spain,  in  regard  to  American 
affairs.  Dr.  Franklin,  not  long  after, 
addressed  a  letter  to  a  gentleman  in 


Holland,  named  Dumas,  making  in 
quiries  as  to  the  prospect  of  aid  being 
extended  to  the  Americans,  in  the  strug 
gle  upon  which  they  had  entered  with 
the  mother  country.  "  That  you  may 
be  better  enabled,"  wrote  Franklin,  "  to 
answer  some  questions  which  will  prob 
ably  be  put  to  you,  concerning  our 
present  situation,  we  inform  you,  that 
the  whole  continent  is  very  firmly 
united — the  party  for  the  measures  of 
the  British  ministry  being  very  small, 
and  much  dispersed ;  that  we  had  on 
foot  the  last  campaign,  an  army  of  near 
twenty  thousand  men,  wherewith  we 
have  been  able,  not  only  to  block  up 
the  king's  army  in  Boston,  but  to  spare 
considerable  detachments  for  the  in 
vasion  of  Canada,  where  we  have  met 
with  great  success,  as  the  printed  papers 


452 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR. 


[BK.  III. 


1776. 


sent  herewith  will  inform  you,  and  have 
now  reason  to  expect  the  whole  prov 
ince  may  be  soon  in  our  possession  ; 
that  we  purpose  greatly  to  increase  our 
force  for  the  ensuing  year;  and  thereby, 
we  hope,  with  the  assistance  of  a  well- 
disciplined  militia,  to  be  able  to  defend 
our  coast,  notwithstanding  its  great  ex 
tent  ;  that  we  already  have  a  small 
squadron  of  armed  vessels,  to  protect 
our  coasting  trade,  who  have  had  some 
success  in  taking  several  of  the  enemy's 
cruizers,  and  some  of  their  transport 
vessels  and  stores." 

Aware  that  France,  on  every  ac 
count,  would  favor  any  measures  calcu 
lated  to  diminish  the  superiority  of 
England,  Mr.  Silas  Deane  was  sent,  early 
in  March,  17*76,  as  a  commer 
cial  and  political  agent  to  the 
French  court.  He  was  directed  to 
state  that  clothing  and  arms  for  twen 
ty-five  thousand  men,  as  well  as  am 
munition  and  field-pieces,  were  need 
ed  by  the  Americans ;  and  also  to 
sound  the  French  minister  in  respect 
to  the  probabilities  of  effecting  an  al 
liance  with  France  in  case  the  colonies 
should  be  able  to  attain  independence. 

Deane  arrived  in  Paris  early  in  July, 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  objects  of 
his  mission.  Having  been  introduced 
to  the  Count  de  Vergennes,  the  French 
minister,  he  stated  the  purpose  had 
in  view  by  his  appointment,  and  was 
favorably  and  courteously  received  by 
the  court.  Vergennes  informed  Mr. 
Deane,  that  tlie  importance  of  Ameri 
can  commerce  was  well  known,  and 
that  no  country  could  so  well  sup 
ply  the  American  colonies,  and  in  re 
turn  receive  their  produce,  as  France ; 


that  an  uninterrupted  intercourse  was, 
therefore,  for  the  interest  of  both ;  and 
for  this  reason,  the  court  had  already 
ordered  their  ports  to  be  kept  open, 
and  equally  free  to  America,  as  to  Brit 
ain.  That  considering  the  good  under 
standing  between  the  courts  of  Ver 
sailles  and  London,  they  could  not 
openly  encourage  the  shipping  of  war 
like  stores,  but  no  obstructions,  of  any 
kind,  he  said,  would  be  given ;  if  there 
should,  as  the  custom-houses  were  not 
fully  in  their  secrets  in  this  matter, 
such  obstructions  should  be  removed, 
on  the  first  application.  That  he  might 
consider  himself  perfectly  free,  to  carry 
on  any  kind  of  commerce  in  the  king 
dom,  which  any  subject  of  any  other 
state  in  the  world  might,  as  the  court 
had  resolved  their  ports  should  be 
equally  free  to  both  parties.  That  he 
might  consider  himself,  as  under  his 
immediate  protection  ;  if  he  should  meet 
with  any  difficulty  either  from  their 
police,  or  from  any  other  quarter,  on 
application  to  him  every  thing  should 
be  settled.  On  the  subject  of  the  in 
dependence  of  the  colonies,  Vergennes 
declined  to  say  any  thing  decisive,  look 
ing  upon  that  as  an  event  too  far  into, 
the  future  and  too  uncertain,  to  base 
upon  it  any  present  action. 

In  June,  1YV6,  immediately  after  the 
question  of  independence  was  deter 
mined  upon,  Congress  appointed  Mr. 
Dickinson,  Dr.  Franklin,  John  Adams, 
Mr.  Harrison,  and  Robert  Morris,  a 
committee,  to  prepare  a  plan  of  treaties 
with  foreign  powers.  On  the  10th  of 
July,  the  committee  reported  a  plan, 
which  was  amended,  and  after  further 
consideration,  was  adopted  on  the  lYth 


CH.  II.] 


AID  OF  THE  FRENCH  SOUGHT. 


153 


of  September.  Congress  immediately 
appointed  Franklin,  Deane,  and  Jeffer 
son,  commissioners  to  proceed  to  France. 
Jefferson  not  beinsr  able  to  leave  Amer- 

O 

ica,  Arthur  Lee,  then  in  London,  was 
substituted.  Special  instructions  were 
prepared  for  these  commissioners  re 
lative  to  the  duty  charged  upon  them. 
"  It  is  highly  probable,"  was  the  lan 
guage  of  Congress,  "  that  France  means 
not  to  let  the  United  States  sink,  in 
the  present  contest.  But  as  the  diffi 
culty  of  obtaining  true  accounts  of  our 
condition,  may  cause  an  opinion  to  be 
entertained,  that  we  are  able  to  sup 
port  the  war,  on  our  own  strength  and 
resources  longer  than,  in  fact,  we  can 
do,  it  will  be  proper  for  you  to  press 
for  the  immediate  and  explicit  decla 
ration  of  France  in  our  favor,  upon  a 
Bii^srestion,  that  a  re-union  with  Great 

OO  i 

Britain,  may  be  the  consequence  of  a 
delay.  Should  Spain  be  disinclined  to 
our  cause,  from  an  apprehension  of 
danger  to  her  dominions  in  South 
America,  you  are  empowered  to  give 
the  strongest  assurances,  that  that 
crown  will  receive  no  molestation  from 
the  United  States,  in  the  possession  of 
those  territories. 

"  You  will  solicit  the  court  of  France 
for  an  immediate  supply  of  twenty  or 
thirty  thousand  muskets  and  bayonets, 
and  a  large  supply  of  ammunition,  and 
brass  field-pieces,  to  be  sent  under  a 
convoy  by  France.  The  Uiiited  States 
engage  for  the  payment  of  the  arms, 
artillery  and  ammunition,  and  to  in 
demnify  France  for  the  convoy. 

"  You  are  desired  to  obtain,  as  early 
as  possible,  a  public  acknowledgment 
of  the  independency  of  these  States  of 


the    crown  of  Great   Britain,   by  the 
court  of  France." 

They  were  instructed,  in  October,  to 
procure  from  the  court  of  France,  at 
the  expense  of  the  United  States,  eight 
line-of-battle  ships,  and  to  expedite  the 
fitting  them  out  with  all  possible  dili 
gence.  In  December,  Dr.  Franklin 
and  Mr.  Lee  arrived  in  Paris,  and  put 
themselves  in  communication  with  the 
French  minister.  The  question  of  in 
dependence  was  still  looked  upon  as 
too  doubtful,  and  the  French  court 
were  not  ready  to  acknowledge  it,  and 
openly  espouse  the  American  cause.  It 
was  evident,  that  there  was  a  strong 
disposition  to  aid  America;  but  it- 
was  equally  evident,  that  caution  and 
prudence  had  been  resolved  upon,  and 
that  France  wished  to  obtain  benefits 
proportionally  valuable  with  those  con 
ferred. 

The  campaign  of  1YY6,  proving  very 
discouraging  to  the  American  arms, 
Congress,  at  the  close  of  that  year,  gave 
earnest  attention  to  the  necessity  of  se 
curing  foreign  aid.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  prepare  a  plan  for  this 
purpose.  The  report  of  this  Com 
mittee  was  a  subject  of  much  debate. 
Some  of  the  members  were  disposed  to 
make  great  sacrifices,  to  obtain  the  aid 
of  France,  and  were  almost  prepared  to 
offer  her  the  same  monopoly  of  Amer 
ican  commerce,  as  had  been  enjoyed  by 
Great  Britain. 

On  the  30th  of  December,  Congress 
came  to  the  resolution  of  sending  com 
missioners  to  the  courts  of  Vienna,  Spain, 
and  Prussia,  and  to  the  grand 
duke  of  Tuscany.  These  com 
missioners  were  instructed  to  assure 


1776. 


454 


PROGRESS   OF  THE   WAR. 


[BK.  III. 


the  courts  to  which  they  were  sent, 
that  the  Americans  were  determined  to 
maintain  their  independence,  notwith 
standing  the  insidious  suggestions  of  the 
British  to  the  contrary.  They  were, 
also,  directed  to  use  every  means  in 
their  power,  to  procure  the  assistance 
of  the  emperor  of  Germany,  and  the 
kings  of  France,  Spain,  and  Prussia,  to 
prevent  German  and  other  foreign 
troops  being  sent  to  America,  for  hos 
tile  purposes,  and  to  obtain  the  recall 
of  those  already  sent. 

To  induce  France  to  embark  in  the 
war,  the  American  envoys  were  au 
thorized  to  stipulate,  that  all  the  trade, 
between  the  United  States  and  the 
West  India  islands,  should  be  carried 
on,  either  in  French  or  American  ves 
sels  ;  and  were  specially  instructed  to 
assure  the  French  king,  that,  if,  by  their 
joint  efforts,  the  British  should  be  ex 
cluded  from  any  share  in  the  cod-fishery 
of  America,  by  the  reduction  of  the 
islands  of  Newfoundland  and  Cape 
Breton,  and  ships  of  war  should  be  fur 
nished,  at  the  expense  of  the  United 
States,  to  reduce  Nova  Scotia,  that  the 
fishery  should  be  enjoyed  equally  be 
tween  them,  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
other  nations ;  and  that  one  half  of 
Newfoundland  should  belong  to  France, 
and  the  other  half,  with  Cape  Breton 
and  Nova  Scotia,  to  the  United  States. 
Should  these  proposals  be  insufficient 
to  induce  France  to  join  in  the  war, 
and  the  commissioners  were  convinced 
that  the  open  co-operation  of  France 
could  not  otherwise  be  obtained,  they 
were  directed  to  assure  his  most  Chris 
tian  majesty,  that  such  of  the  West 
India  Islands,  as  might,  in  the  course 


of  the  war,  be  reduced,  should  be 
yielded  to  him  in  absolute  property ; 
and  the  United  States  were  to  engage 
to  furnish  efficient  help  in  the  way  of 
armed  vessels  and  supplies.  Offers  of 
a  similar  kind  were  directed  to  be  made 
to  the  court  of  Spain.  William  Lee 
was  appointed  commissioner  to  the 
courts  of  Vienna  and  Berlin  ;  Ralph 
Izard,  to  the  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  Dr. 
Franklin,  to  Spain.  Arthur  Lee  was 
afterwards  sent  to  Spain  in  place  of 
Franklin. 

The  French  court  were  not  to  be 
induced  to  depart  from  the  line  of 
policy  which  they  had  adopted.  They 
were  waiting  for  events  evincing,  be 
yond  all  doubt,  the  determination  and 
ability  of  the  Americans  to  maintain 
their  independence  ;  and  were  unwilling 
openly  to  afford  assistance,  until  per 
fectly  satisfied,  that  such  assistance 
would  render  reconciliation  impossible. 
The  American  commissioners,  however, 
were  secretly  permitted  to  fit  out  a 
number  of  vessels  from  French  ports, 
to  cruise  against  the  British  ;  and  prizes 
were  brought  in  and  sold  in  France. 
Lord  Stormont,  the  British  minister, 
made  loud  complaints  of  the  course 
pursued  by  the  French  court ;  but  his 
remonstrances  produced  only  the  usual 
diplomatic  assurances,  that  nothing  of 
the  kind  should  happen  again, — as- 
surances  which  were  received  for  what 
they  were  worth,  which,  as  both  sides 
well  knew,  was  just  nothing  at  all. 
Negotiations  dragged  on  slowly,  as 
might  be  expected,  and  the  commis 
sioners  were  occupied  mainly  in  endeav 
oring  to  counteract  the  false  statements, 
industriously  circulated  by  English  em- 


CH.  II.] 


WASHINGTON'S   LETTER  TO   CONGRESS. 


455 


issaries,  in  every  direction,  respecting 
America,  and  the  actual  position  of 
affairs. 

At  this  point  we  leave  the  consider 
ation  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
United  States,  and  return  to  a  nar 
rative  of  events  at  home.* 

Congress,  it  will  be  recollected,  had 
deemed  it  prudent  to  retire  to  Balti 
more,  on  the  approach  of  the  British 
army,  and  when  it  was  apprehended 
that  Philadelphia  would  immediately 
fall  into  their  hands.  That  body  of 
patriots,  however,  manifested  unshaken 
firmness  in  the  midst  of  the  difficulties 
and  trials  to  which  they  were  exposed. 
Their  energy  did  not  forsake  them, 
and  there  was  neither  humiliation  in 
their  attitude,  nor  despondency  in  their 
language.  They  resolved  upon  active 
measures  in  behalf  of  the  great  cause 
of  liberty,  and  the  step  which  they  de 
cided  upon  was  one  which  probably 
no  man  in  the  country  could  have 
called  forth  except  Washington. 

The  Commander-in-chief  was  aware 
that  the  bitter  lessons  of  experience 
had  now  sufficiently  taught  Congress 
that  greater  vigor  and  efficiency  must 
be  infused  into  the  military  system,  or 
the  cause  of  America  must  be  hopeless. 
On  the  20th  of  December,  he  addressed 
a  memorable  letter  to  the  president  of 
Congress,  in  which,  with  mingled  dig 
nity,  firmness  and  pathos,  he  gives  ex 
pression  to  the  views  which  he  urged 
upon  their  attention :  "  My  feelings  as 
an  officer  and  a  man  have  been  such  as 
to  force  me  to  say,  that  no  person  ever 


*  The  reader  will   find   this    subject   more  fully 
treated  by  Pitkin,  vol.  i.,  pp.  381-95. 


had  a  greater  choice  of  difficulties  to 
contend  with  than  I  have.  It  is  need 
less  to  add,  that  short  enlistments,  and 
a  mistaken  dependence  upon  militia, 
have  been  the  origin  of  all  our  mis 
fortunes,  and  the  great  accumulation  of 
our  debt.  We  find,  Sir,  that  the  enemy 
are  daily  gathering  strength  from  the 
disaffected.  This  strength,  like  a  snow 
ball,  by  rolling,  will  increase,  unless 
some  means  can  be  devised  to  check 
effectually  the  progress  of  the  enemy's 
arms.  Militia  may  possibly  do  it  for  a 
little  while ;  but  in  a  little  while,  also, 
and  the  militia  of  those  states  which 
have  been  frequently  called  upon,  will 
not  turn  out  at  all ;  or  if  they  do,  it  will 
be  with  so  much  reluctance  and  sloth, 
as  to  amount  to  the  same  thing.  In 
stance  New  Jersey !  Witness  Penn 
sylvania!  Could  any  thing  but  the 
river  Delaware  have  saved  Philadel 
phia?  Can  any  thing,  (the  exigency 
of  the  case  may  indeed  justify  it,)  be 
more  destructive  to  the  recruiting  ser 
vice,  than  giving  ten  dollars  bounty 
for  six  weeks'  service  of  the  militia, 
who  come  in,  you  cannot  tell  how,  go, 
you  cannot  tell  when,  and  act,  you  can 
not  tell  where,  consume  your  provisions, 
exhaust  your  stores,  and  leave  you  at. 
a  critical  moment  ?  These,  Sir,  are  the 
men  I  am  to  depend  upon  ten  days 
hence ;  this  is  the  basis  on  which  your 
cause  will  and  must  forever  depend,  till 
you  get  a  large  standing  army  suffi 
cient  of  itself  to  oppose  the  enemy." 
Pointing  out  that,  in  his  judgment, 
the  eighty-eight  battalions  already  or 
dered  were  not  sufficient  to  carry  on 
the  war,  Washington  urged  that  the 
number  be  increased,  concluding  his 


456 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR. 


[Bx.  III. 


letter  in  the  following  words :  "  It  may 
be   thought  that  I  ana  going  a  good  j 
deal  out  of  the  line  of  my  duty,  to  adopt 
these  measures,  or  to  advise  thus  freely.  \ 
A  character  to  lose,  an  estate  to  forfeit,  \ 
the  inestimable  blessings  of  liberty  at 
stake,  and  a  life  devoted,  must  be  my 
excuse." 

Congress,  deeply  impressed  with  the 
weight  and  importance  of  the  subjects 
thus  urged  upon  them,  and  being  at  a 
distance  from  the  scene  of  active  mili 
tary  operations,  promptly  met  the 
emergency.  They  resolved  to  place 
unlimited  powers  in  the  hands  of 
Washington,  constituting  him,  in  fact, 
a  military  DICTATOR.  Declaring  that 
"the  unjust,  but  determined  purpose 
of  the  British  court  to  enslave  these 
free  states,  obvious  through  every  in 
sinuation  to  the  contrary,  having  placed 
things  in  such  a  situation,  that  the  very 
existence  of  civil  liberty  now  depends 
on  the  right  exercise  of  military  powers ; 
and  the  vigorous  and  decisive  conduct 
of  these  being  impossible  to  distant, 
numerous,  and  deliberative  bodies ;" 
Congress  passed  the  following  resolve : 
"That  General  Washington  shall  be, 
and  he  is  hereby,  veste.l  with  full,  am- 

»/  1 

pie,  and  complete  powers  to  raise  and 
collect  together,  in  the  most  speedy  and 
effectual  manner,  from  any  and  all  of 
these  United  States,  sixteen  battalions 
of  infantry,  in  addition  to  those  already 
voted  by  Congress ;  to  appoint  officers 
for  the  said  battalions  of  infantry  ;  to 
raise,  officer,  and  equip  three  thousand 
light  horse,  three  regiments  of  artillery, 
and  a  corps  of  engineers,  and  to  estab 
lish  their  pay ;  to  apply  to  any  of  the 
states  for  such  aid  of  the  militia,  as  he 


shall  judge  necessary ;  to  form  such 
magazines  of  provisions,  and  in  such 
places  as  he  shall  think  proper ;  to  dis 
place  and  appoint  all  officers  unclei  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general,  and  to  fill  all 
vacancies  in  every  other  department  of 
the  American  armies;  to  take,  wher 
ever  he  may  be,  whatever  he  may 
want  for  the  use  of  the  army,  if  the 
inhabitants  will  not  sell  it,  allowing  a 
reasonable  price  for  the  same ;  to  ar 
rest  and  confine  persons  who  refuse  to 
take  the  continental  currency,  or  are 
any  otherwise  disaffected  to  the  Amer 
ican  cause ;  and  return  to  the  states,  of 
which  they  are  citizens,  their  names, 
and  the  nature  of  their  offences,  to 
gether  with  the  witnesses  to  prove 
them." 

These  extraordinary  powers  were 
entrusted  to  Washington  for  the  term 
of  six  months,  unless  revoked  by  Con 
gress  before  that  period.  In  acknowl 
edging  the  resolves  of  Con 
gress,  Washington  assured  that 
body,  that  all  his  faculties  should  be 
employed,  to  direct  properly  the  pow 
ers  they  had  been  pleased  to  vest  him 
with,  to  advance  those  objects  and 
those  only,  which  had  given  rise  to  so 
honorable  a  mark  of  distinction.  "  If 
my  exertions,"  he  said,  "  should  not  be 
attended  with  the  desired  success,  I 
trust  the  failure  will  be  imputed  to  the 
true  cause, — the  peculiarly  distressed 
situation  of  our  affairs,  and  the  difficul 
ties  I  have  to  combat, — rather  than  to 
a  want  of  zeal  for  my  country,  and  the 
closest  attention  to  her  interests,  to 
promote  which  has  ever  been  my 
study."  The  exercise  of  these  dic 
tatorial  powers  was  marked  by  all  the 


1776. 


Cu.  II.] 


ACTION   OF  PARLIAMENT  AT  THIS   DATE. 


457 


prudence,  sagacity  and  lofty  spirit  of 
patriotism  which  belonged  to  the  com- 
mander-in-chief. 

In  England,  large  majorities  in  both 
houses  of  Parliament  supported  the 
ministry  in  all  their  violent  proceed 
ings;  and  although  a  small  majority, 
including  several  men  of  distinguished 
talents,  who  trembled  for  the  fate  of 
British  liberty  if  the  court  should  suc 
ceed  in  establishing  its  claims  against 
the  colonists,  vigorously  opposed  the 
measures  of  the  administration,  yet  the 
great  body  of  the  people  seemed  to  be 
in  favor  of  the  war ;  and  the  ill  success 
of  the  Americans,  in  the  campaign  of 
IT 7 6,  led  them  to  think  that  it  would 
speedily  be  brought  to  a  close. 

But,  amidst  all  the  popularity  of 
their  warlike  operations,  the  difficulties 
of  the  ministry  soon  began  to  multiply. 
In  consequence  of  hostilities  with  the 
American  provinces,  the  British  West 
India  Islands  experienced  a  scarcity  of 
the  necessaries  of  life.  About  the  time 
when  the  West  India  fleet  was  ready 
to  set  sail,  under  convoy,  on  its  home 
ward  voyage,  it  was  discovered  that 
the  negroes  of  Jamaica  meditated  an 
insurrection.  By  means  of  the  draughts 
to  complete  the  army  in  America,  the 
military  force  in  that  island  had  been 
weakened ;  and  the  ships  of  war  were 
detained  to  assist  in  suppressing  the 
negroes.  By  this  delay,  the  Americans 
gained  time  for  equipping  their  priva 
teers.  After  the  fleet  sailed,  it  was 
dispersed  by  stormy  weather ;  and 
many  of  the  ships,  richly  laden,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  American  cruis 
ers,  who  were  permitted,  as  stated 
above,  to  sell  their  prizes  in  the  ports 

Vo£.  I.— 60 


of  France,  both  in  Europe  and  in  the 
West  Indies. 

This  unfriendly  conduct  of  France 
was  so  openly  manifested,  that  it  could 
no  longer  be  winked  at,  and  it  drew 
forth  a  remonstrance  from  the  British 
cabinet.  The  remonstrance  received 
the  answer  usual  in  such  cases,  but  the 
traffic  in  British  prizes  was  still  carried 
on,  though  not  quite  so  openly,  in  the 
French  ports  in  Europe;  and  it  was 
evident,  that  both  France  and  Spain 
were  in  a  state  of  active  preparation  for 
war.  The  British  ministry  could  no 
longer  shut  their  eyes  against  the 
gathering  storm,  and  began  to  prepare 
for  it.  About  the  middle  of  October, 
1776,  they  put  sixteen  additional  ships 
into  commission,  and  made  every  ex 
ertion  to  man  them. 

On  the  21st  of  October,  Parliament 
met,  and  was  opened  by  a  speech  from 
the  throne,  in  which  his  majesty  stated, 
that  it  would  have  given  him  much 
satisfaction  if  he  had  been  able  to  in 
form  them  that  the  disturbances  in  the 
revolted  colonies  were  at  an  end,  and 
that  the  people  of  America,  recovering 
from  their  delusion,  had  returned  to 
their  duty;  but  so  mutinous  and  de 
termined  was  the  spirit  of  their  leaders, 
that  they  had  openly  abjured  and  re 
nounced  all  connection  and  communi 
cation  with  the  mother  country,  and 
had  rejected  every  conciliatory  propo 
sition.  Much  mischief,  he  said,  would 
accrue,  not  only  to  the  commerce  of 
Great  Britain,  but  to  the  general  sys 
tem  of  Europe,  if  this  rebellion  were 
suffered  to  take  root.  The  conduct  of 
the  colonists  would  convince  every  one 
of  the  necessity  of  the  measures  pro- 


458 


PROGRESS  OF  THE   WAR. 


[BK.   III. 


posed  to  be  adopted,  and  the  past  suc 
cess  of  the  British  arms  promised  the 
happiest  results ;  but  preparations  must 
be  promptly  made  for  another  cam 
paign.  A  hope  was  expressed  of  the 
general  continuance  of  tranquillity  in 
Europe,  but  that  it  was  thought  ad 
visable  to  increase  the  defensive  re 
sources  at  home. 

The  addresses  to  the  speech  were  in 
the  usual  form,  but  amendments  were 
moved  in  both  houses  of  Parliament; 
in  the  Commons  by  Lord  John  Caven 
dish,  and  in  the  Lords  by  the  Marquis 
of  Rockingham.  After  an  animated 
debate,  the  amendment  was  rejected  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  by  two  hundred 
and  forty-two  against  eighty-seven,  and 
in  the  Lords  by  ninety-one  against 
twenty-six.  During  the  session  of  Par 
liament,  some  other  attempts  were  made 
for  adopting  conciliatory  measures,  but 
the  influence  of  the  ministry  was  so 
powerful  that  they  were  all  completely 
defeated,  and  the  plans  of  the  adminis 
tration  received  the  approbation  and 
support  of  Parliament. 

In  the  present  alarming  position  of 
American  affairs,  it  was  of  great  mo 
ment  that  something  should  be  done 
to  rouse  the  spirit  of  the  country,  great 
ly  depressed  by  the  retreat  through 
the  Jerseys.  Washington  devoted 
anxious  thought  to  a  plan  which,  at 
the  earliest  moment,  he  determined 
to  carry  into  effective  action.  At  the 
time  that  the  Americans  crossed  the 
Delaware,  winter  was  fast  setting  in ; 
and  it  was  no  part  of  the  British  gen 
eral's  intentions  to  carry  on  military 
operations  during  that  inclement  season 
of  the  year.  Fearless  of  a  feeble  enemy, 


whom  he  had  easily  driven  before  him, 
and  whom  he  confidently  expected  soon 
to  annihilate,  he  cantoned  his  troops 
rather  with  a  view  to  the  convenient 
resumption  of  their  march,  than  with 
any  regard  to  security  against  a  fugitive 
foe.  As  he  entertained  not  the  slightest 
apprehension  of  an  attack,  he  paid  little 
attention  to  the  arrangement  of  his  se 
veral  posts  for  the  purpose  of  mutual 
support.  He  stationed  a  detachment  of 
about  fifteen  hundred  Hessians  at  Tren 
ton,  under  Colonel  Rahl,  and  about  two 
thousand  at  Bordentown,  farther  down 
the  river,  under  Count  Donop ;  the  rest 
of  his  army  was  quartered  over  the 
country,  between  the  Hackensack  and 
the  Delaware.  Certainly,  so  far  as  ap 
pearances  went,  Howe  had  no  cause  to 
fear  any  thing  from  the  Americans ;  for 
with  an  overpowering  force,  Avell  dis 
ciplined,  and  flushed  with  victory,  he 
might  seem  quite  justified  in  treating 
with  contempt  the  small  and  broken 
army  of  Washington.  Probably  the 
idea  that  the  commander-in-chief  would 
venture  upon  offensive  measures  never 
entered  Howe's  mind.  But  Washington, 
with  the  force  under  his  command,  de 
termined  to  anticipate  the  movements 
of  Howe,  and  to  strike  a  blow  which 
should  be  felt,  and  which  should  de 
monstrate  to  the  enemy,  as  well  as 
America,  that  the  cause  of  indepen 
dence  was  by  no  means  hopeless. 

Washington  formed  his  available 
forces  into  three  divisions,  and  accom 
panied  by  Greene  and  Sullivan,  pro 
posed  to  pass  the  Delaware  at  McKon- 
key's  Ferry,  nine  miles  above  Trenton, 
and  fall  upon  the  Hessians  in  that 
town.  The  second  division,  under 


CH.  II.] 


CAPTURE  OF  THE   HESSIANS  AT  TRENTON. 


459 


General  Ewing,  was  to  cross  over  at 
Trenton  ferry,  and  by  stopping  the 
bridge  over  the  Assumpink,  cut  off  the 
enemy's  retreat ;  while  the  third,  under 
General  Cadwallader,  Avas  to  cross 
lower  down,  from  Bristol  over  to  Bur 
lington.  Had  the  plan  been  executed 
at  all  points  it  must  have  resulted  in 
the  capture  of  the  whole  line  of  British 
cantonments,  but  owing  to  a  variety  of 
obstacles  it  was  but  partially  successful. 

The  evening  of  Christmas  Day  was 
selected,  because  it  was  very  probable 
that  the  troops  of  the  enemy  would  be 
more  than  ordinarily  given  up  to  fes 
tivity  and  indulgence,  and  hence  would 
be,  to  a  considerable  extent,  off  their 
guard.  The  night  proved  to  be  most 
intensely  cold ;  the  Delaware  was  choked 
with  masses  of  floating  ice ;  the  current 
was  strong ;  and  the  wind  blew  keenly 
and  sharply.  The  soldiers,  exhorted  to 
be  firm,  remembered,  with  unconquer 
able  indignation,  the  outrage  and  in 
jury  inflicted  upon  the  people  of  New 
Jersey  by  the  insolent  enemy,  and  the 
no  less  insolent  and  vindictive  tories. 
They  were  now  ready  to  do  or  die  for 
their  houses  and  their  country. 

Washington  had  expected  that  the 
passage  of  his  division  might  have  been 
effected  by  midnight,  but  the  dreadful 
weather,  the  encumbered  state  of  the 
river,  and  the  difficulty  of  getting 
across  the  artillery,  occasioned  so  much 
delay,  that  it  was  four  o'clock  before 
the  whole  body  were  in  marching  or 
der  on  the  opposite  shore.  The  dark 
ness  of  a  winter  morning  was  still  fur 
ther  deepened  by  a  heavy  fog,  and  the 
road  was  rendered  slippery,  by  a  frosty 
mist.  The  snow  and  hail  beat  upon 


them  during  the  whole  march.  As  it 
would  be  daylight  before  they  could 
reach  Trenton,  a  surprise  of  that  post 
was  now  out  of  the  question ;  there 
was,  however,  no  alternative  left  but 
to  proceed.  Washington  took  the  up 
per  road,  while  Sullivan  commanded 
the  lower;  and  about  eight  in  the 
morning,  both  parties  encountered  the 
pickets  of  the  enemy,  who,  keeping  up 
a  fire  from  behind  the  houses,  fell  back 
upon  the  town,  and  aroused  their  com 
rades.  The  Americans  followed  them 
up  so  closely,  that  they  were  able  to 
open  a  battery  at  the  end  of  the  main 
street,  before  the  astounded  Hessians 
could  offer  any  effectual  resistance. 

Washington's  situation  had,  in  reality, 
been  a  very  critical  one.  Rahl  had  re 
ceived  warning  from  Grant,  at  Prince 
ton,  of  the  intended  attack,  and  of  the 
time  when  it  was  to  be  made.  That 
officer  was  accordingly  on  the  alert. 
About  dusk,  on  the  25th,  a  party  had 
fired  upon  the  picket,  and  immediately 
retired.*  Nothing  further  resulting  at 
the  time,  Rahl  supposed  that  the  attack 
had  been  given  up,  and  as  the  night 
was  very  cold  and  stormy,  he  allowed 
the  soldiers  to  retire  to  quarters,  and 
lay  aside  their  arms.  This  was  the 
very  time  that  Washington  was  cross 
ing  the  Delaware. 

It  is  said,  that  on  the  morning  of  the 
surprise,  Rahl,  who  had  been  carousing 
all  night  after  an  entertainment,  was 
still  engaged  at  cards,  until  aroused,  at 


*  Gordon,  (vol.  ii.,  p.  153)  states,  that  Captain 
Washington  was  in  command  of  a  scouting  party,  of 
about  fifty  soldiers,  and  performed  this  exploit  with 
out  being  aware  of  the  advancing  force  under  the 
commander-in-chief. 


460 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR. 


[BK.  ill. 


length,  by  the  roll  of  the  American 
drums,  and  the  sound  of  musketry,  he 
started  to  his  legs,  hurried  to  his  quar 
ters,  mounted  his  horse,  and  in  a  few 
moments,  was  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
vainly  attempting  to  atone  for  his  fatal 
neglect.  In  a  few  moments,  he  fell  to 
the  ground  mortally  wounded,  and  was 
carried  away  to  his  quarters.  All  or 
der  was  now  at  an  end ;  the  Hessians, 
panic-struck,  gave  way,  and  endeavored 
to  escape  by  the  road  to  Princeton ; 
but  were  intercepted  by  a  party  judi 
ciously  placed  there  for  the  purpose, 
and  compelled  to  surrender  at  discre 
tion,  to  the  number  of  about  a  thousand 
men.  Six  cannon,  a  thousand  stand  of 
arms,  and  four  colors,  adorned  the  tri 
umph  of  Washington.  In  this  moment 
of  brilliant  success,  purchased  at  the 
expense  of  others,  he  was  not  unmindful 
of  the  duties  of  humanity  ;  but,  accom 
panied  by  Greene,  paid  a  visit  to  the 
dying  Hessian  leader,  and  soothed  his 
passage  to  the  grave,  by  the  expression 
of  that  grateful  and  generous  sympathy, 
which  one  brave  man  owes  to  another, 
even  when  engaged  in  opposite  causes. 

The  divisions  under  Ewing  and  Cad- 
wallader,  had  not  been  able  to  cross,  as 
was  proposed,  owing  to  the  accumula 
tions  of  floating  ice,  and  the  impossi 
bility  of  landing  the  artillery.  Had 
Ewing  been  successful  in  what  was 
marked  out  for  him,  the  party  of  light 
horse  that  fled  from  Trenton,  would 
have  been  intercepted  and  captured ; 
and  Cadwallader  would  likewise  have 
done  good  service  at  Burlington. 

In  this  attack  upon  the  Hessians,  the 
Americans  lost  only  four  or  five  men, 
two  of  whom  were  frozen  to  death,  a 


1776. 


proof  of  the  intense  severity  of  the 
night.  Washington,  on  the  even 
ing  of  the  26th  of  December, 
recrossed  the  Delaware,  carrying  his 
prisoners  with  him,  and  their  arms, 
colors,  and  artillery.  Although  the 
enterprise  failed  in  several  of  its  parts, 
it  was  completely  successful,  so  far  as  it 
was  under  the  immediate  direction  of 
the  coinmander-in-chief ;  and  it  had  a 
happy  effect  on  the  affairs  of  America. 
It  was  the  first  wave  of  the  returning 
tide.  It  filled  the  British  with  aston 
ishment  ;  and  the  Hessians,  whose  name 
had  before  inspired  the  people  with 
fear,  ceased  to  be  terrible.  The  prison 
ers  were  paraded  through  the  streets 
of  Philadelphia,  to  prove  the  reality  of 
the  victory,  which  the  friends  of  the 
British  government  had  denied.  The 
hopes  of  the  Americans  were  revived, 
and  their  spirits  elevated  :  they  had  a 
clear  proof  that  their  enemies  were  not 
invincible ;  and  that  union,  courage, 
and  perseverance,  would  ensure  suc 
cess.  The  British  also  discovered,  that 
they  had  to  deal  with  a  commander  no 
less  daring  than  he  was  cautious  and 
prudent,  whose  steady  determination 
no  defeat  could  shake ;  who,  on  the  one 
hand,  was  prepared  to  retreat,  if  need 
ful,  even  to  the  fastnesses  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies ;  and  on  the  other,  was  ready  to 
take  advantage  of  the  least  oversight 
on  their  own  part,  to  convert  defeat 
into  victory.* 

*  It  was  towards  the  close  of  the  year,  that  Con 
gress  earnestly  recommended  the  observance  of  a 
day  of  fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer  to  God,  in  or 
der  to  beseech  Him,  both  to  pardon  the  sins  of  the 
people,  and  to  mercifully  send  His  blessing  upon  the 
American  arms.  See  Holmes's  "  Annals"  vol.  ii., 
p.  255. 


\  — ">^ 

^var  \  ^s  neighborhood 

Philade\  -ito  the  mountainous 

.teiior  of  New  Jersey.     No  time  was 
>st  in  putting   the  plan    into   opera- 
ion.      The    superfluous   baggage   was 
sent  down  the  river  to  Burlington ;  the 
watch-fires  were  kept  up ;  the  patrols 
were  ordered  to  go  their  rounds ;  and 
still    further    to    deceive   the    enemy, 
parties  were  sent  out  to  labor  at  the 
entrenchments,  within  hearing  of  their 
sentinels.     About  midnight,  the  army 
silently  defiled    from    the   camp,    and 
narched  off  in  a  circuitous  route  through 
Vllentown,  towards  Princeton. 
Although  it  was  the  most  inclement 

O 

Bason  of  the  year,  the  weather  greatly 
wored  the  Americans.  For  two  days, 
':  had  been  rather  warm,  soft,  and 
:>ggv,  and  great  apprehension  was  en- 

OOv  '  o  -11 

ertnined  lest  the  roads  should  be  al- 
nost  impassable  for  a  march  requiring 
apidity  ;  but  about  the  time  the  march 
.onimenced,  there  was  a  sudden  change 
n  the  weather.  The  wind  shifted  ;  an 


\ 


CH.  II.] 


WASHINGTON   OUTGENERALS   CORNWALLIS. 


461 


1776. 


Although  General  Cadwallader  had 
not  been  able  to  pass  the  Delaware  at 
the  appointed  time,  yet,  believing  that 
Washington  was  still  on  the  Jersey  side, 
on  the  27th,  he  crossed  the  Delaware, 
with  fifteen  hundred  men,  about 
two  miles  above  Bristol;  and 
even  after  he  was  informed  that  the 
Commander-in-chief  had  again  passed 
into  Pennsylvania,  he  proceeded  to 
Burlington,  and  next  day  marched  on 
Bordentown,  the  enemy  hastily  retiring 
as  he  advanced.  The  spirit  of  the  people 
was  again  fully  roused  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  considerable  numbers  of  the  militia 
repaired  to  the  standard  of  Washington, 
who  again  crossed  the  Delaware,  on  the 
29th,  and  marched  to  Trenton,  where, 
at  the  beginning  of  January,  1777,  he 
found  himself  at  the  head  of  five  thou 
sand  men. 

The  alarm  was  now  spread  through 
out  the  British  army.  A  strong  de 
tachment  under  General  Grant  march 
ed  to  Princeton ;  and  Lord  Cornwallis, 
who  was  on  the  point  of  sailing  for 
Ens-land,  was  ordered  to  resume 

O  1 

his  command  in  the  Jerseys. 
Cornwallis,  joining  Grant,  pressed  for 
ward  expeditiously  to  Trenton.  On 
his  approach,  Washington  crossed  to 
Assumpink  Creek,  and  took  post  on 
some  high  ground,  with  the  rivulet  in 
his  front.*  The  British  troops  ad- 


*  Marshall,  speaking  of  the  importance  to  Wash 
ington,  of  obtaining  secret  intelligence  of  the  plans  of 
Cornwallis,  states,  that  at  that  critical  moment,  Mr. 
Robert  Morris  raised  on  his  private  credit,  in  Phila 
delphia,  five  hundred  pounds  in  specie,  which  he 
transmitted  to  the  commander-in-chief,  who  em 
ployed  it  in  procuring  information  not  otherwise  to 
have  been  obtained.—"  Life  of  Washington,'"  vol.  i., 
p.  130. 


1777. 


vanced,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  2d  of 
January,  and  a  cannonade  ensued,  which 
was  kept  up  until  night.  Cornwallis, 
though  urged  to  an  immediate  attack 
by  some  of  his  officers,  concluded  to 
wait  till  the  next  morning,  when,  he 
doubted  not,  victory  would  not  be  diffi 
cult  of  attainment. 

It  was  a  critical  moment  for  Wash 
ington  and  his  troops.  To  await  the 
attack  would  be  temerity ;  to  attempt 
escape  by  crossing  the  Delaware,  would 
be  even  more  hazardous.  A  council  of 
•war  was  called,  at  which  the  bold  de 
sign  was  adopted,  of  getting  into  the 
rear  of  the  English,  falling  upon  their 
magazines  at  Brunswick,  and  carrying 
the  war  again  from  the  neighborhood 

O  O 

of  Philadelphia  into  the  mountainous 
interior  of  New  Jersey.  No  time  was 
lost  in  putting  the  plan  into  opera 
tion.  The  superfluous  baggage  was 
sent  down  the  river  to  Burlington ;  the 
watch-fires  were  kept  up ;  the  patrols 
were  ordered  to  go  their  rounds ;  and 
still  further  to  deceive  the  enemy, 
parties  were  sent  out  to  labor  at  the 
entrenchments,  within  hearing  of  their 
sentinels.  About  midnight,  the  army 
silently  defiled  from  the  camp,  and 
marched  off  in  a  circuitous  route  through 
Allentown,  towards  Princeton. 

Although  it  was  the  most  inclement 

O 

season  of  the  year,  the  weather  greatly 

favored  the  Americans.     For  two  days, 

it   had    been    rather    warm,   soft,    and 

foggy,  and  great  apprehension  was  en- 

|  tertnined  lest  the  roads  should  be  al- 

|  most  impassable  for  a  march  requiring 

rapidity  ;  but  about  the  time  the  march 

commenced,  there  was  a  sudden  change 

in  the  weather.     The  wind  shifted ;  an 


462 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR. 


[BK.  III. 


intense  frosi  set  in,  and  the  road  speed 
ily  became  solid  and  easy  of  passage. 
The  soldiers  were  encouraged  by  this, 
and,  believing  that  Providence  had 
again  interposed  in  their  hour  of  diffi 
culty,  they  marched  forward  with  high 
spirit. 

Cornwallis  had  left  three  regiments 
at  Princeton,  under  Colonel  Mawhood, 
with  orders  to  advance  on  the  3d  of 
January.  Toward  daybreak,  they  sud 
denly  came  in  sight  of  the  approach 
ing  continental  troops,  with  whom 
they  were  almost  immediately  in  action. 
The  Americans,  posted  behind  a  fence, 
poured  in  a  heavy  and  well-directed 
volley,  after  receiving  which,  the  British, 
with  fixed  bayonets,  charged  them  with 
such  impetuosity,  that  abandoning  their 
shelter,  they  broke  and  fled  precipitate 
ly,  closely  pursued  by  their  victorious 
enemies.  Both  fugitives  and  pursuers, 
however,  were  suddenly  arrested  by 
the  sight  of  the  force  under  Washing 
ton,  who,  beholding  the  rout,  hastened 
on,  colors  in  hand,  to  rally  the  discom 
fited  troops.  At  no  time  in  his  life, 
perhaps,  was  he  exposed  to  more  immi 
nent  hazard.  The  Americans  immedi 
ately  rallied,  the  English  re-formed 
their  line,  both  levelled  their  guns,  and 
prepared  to  fire,  while  Washington, 
whose  ardor  had  hurried  him  forward 
into  a  most  perilous  position,  stood  like 
a  mark  for  the  bullets  of  both.  But 
God  preserved  him  for  his  country  and 
mankind.  He  escaped  without  a  hurt, 
and  urged  his  men  forward  to  the  at 
tack.  The  British,  however,  did  not 
wait  the  onset.  Mawhood,  already 
severely  handled,  and  seeing  reinforce 
ments  coming  up,  wheeled  off,  leaving 


his  artillery,  and  regaining  the  Trenton 
road,  continued  his  march  to  join  Corn 
wallis. 

Washington  advanced  to  Princeton, 
putting  to  flight  a  regiment  of  British 
troops,  and  taking  a  number  of  prison 
ers  in  the  town.  The  loss  of  the  Brit 
ish  was  about  a  hundred  killed,  and 
some  three  hundred  were  made  prison 
ers.  The  American  loss  was  only 
about  thirty  killed,  including  several 
officers.  The  principal  loss  was  Gen 
eral  Mercer,  a  gallant  soldier  and  able 
officer,  who  was  mortally  wounded,  and 
expired  on  the  12th  of  January.  His 
death  was  deeply  deplored  by  his 
countrymen. 

Early  in  the  morning,  Cornwallis 
was  greatly  chagrined  at  discovering 
that  Washington  had  escaped  out  of  his 
hands,  and  he  was  for  a  time  perplexed 
to  ascertain  where  he  had  betaken  him 
self.  But  the  booming  of  cannon  in 
the  direction  of  Princeton  opened  his 
eyes,  and  showed  him  how  Washington 
had  out-generaled  him.  Alarmed,  as 
well  he  might  be,  for  the  safety  of  the 
British  stores  at  Brunswick,  he  ad 
vanced  rapidly  towards  Princeton.  In 
the  American  army,  it  had  indeed  been 
proposed  to  make  a  forced  march  to 
Brunswick,  where  all  the  baggage  of 
the  British  army  was  deposited ;  but 
the  complete  exhaustion  of  the  men, 
who  had  been  without  rest,  and  almost 
without  food,  for  two  days  and  nights, 
pi-evented  the  adoption  of  the  measure. 
General  Washington  proceeded  to 
wards  Morristown,  and  Lord  Cornwal 
lis  pressed  on  his  rear ;  but  the  Amer 
icans,  on  crossing  Millstone  River,  broke 
down  the  bridge  at  Kingston,  to  mi-  • 


On.  II.] 


EXCESSES  AND  BARBARITIES  OF  THE  BRITISH. 


465 


could  not  read  them,  and  would  not 
understand  them ;  and  the  British  sol 
diers  thought  they  had  as  good  a  right 
to  a  share  of  the  booty  as  the  Hessians. 
The  loyalists  were  plundered  even  at 
New  York.  General  De  Heister  was 
considered  the  arch -plunderer.  He  of 
fered  the  house  he  lived  in  at  New  York 
to  public  sale  ;  though  the  property  of 
a  very  loyal  subject,  who  had  volun 
tarily  and  hospitabl/  accommodated 
him  with  it.  The  goods  of  others,  suf 
fering  restraint  or  imprisonment  among 
the  Americans,  were  sold  by  auction. 
The  carriages  of  gentlemen  of  the  first 
rank  were  seized,  their  arms  defaced, 
and  the  plunderer's  arms  blazoned  in 
their  place;  and  this,  too,  by  British 
officers.  Discontents  and  murmurs  in 
creased  every  hour  at  the  licentious 
ravages  of  the  soldiery,  both  British 
and  foreigners,  who  were  shamefully 
permitted,  with  unrelenting  hand,  to 
pillage  friend  and  foe  in  the  Jerseys. 
Neither  age  nor  sex  was  spared.  In 
discriminate  ruin  attended  every  per 
son  they  met  with.  Infants,  children, 
old  men  and  women,  were  left  in  their 
shirts,  without  a  blanket  to  cover  them, 
under  the  inclemency  of  winter.  Every 
kind  of  furniture  was  destroyed  and 
burnt ;  windows  and  doors  were  broken 
to  pieces  :  in  short,  the  houses  were  left 
uninhabitable,  and  the  people  without 
provisions;  for  every  horse,  cow,  ox, 
and  fowl,  was  carried  off.  Horrid  dep 
redations  and  abuses  were  committed 
by  that  part  of  the  army,  which  was 
stationed  at  or  near  Pennytown.  Six 
teen  young  women  fled  to  the  woods, 
to  avoid  the  brutality  of  the  soldiers ; 
and  were  there  seized  and  carried  off. 

VOL.  I.— Gl 


Bitter  complaints  arose  from  all  parts 
of  America;  and  they  were  echoed 
throughout  Europe,  to  the  heavy  re 
proach  of  England.  Among  those  who 
exclaimed  the  loudest,  were  the  French, 
who  were  naturally  humane,  and  also 
enemies  to  the  English,  and  partisans 
of  the  Americans.  The  cry  was  raised 
everywhere,  that  the  English  govern 
ment  had  revived  in  the  new  world  the 
fury  of  the  Goths,  and  the  barbarity  of 
the  northern  hordes.  But  so  much 
savage  fury  returned  upon  its  source, 
and  became  more  fatal  to  its  authors 
than  to  their  victims.  The  few  remain 
ing  friends  that  England  had,  became 
enemies,  and  her  enemies  were  filled 
with  new  hatred,  and  a  more  vehement 
desire  of  vengeance. 

Citizens  of  all  classes  flew  to  arms, 
with  a  sort  of  rage,  to  expel  from  their 
territory,  as  they  said,  these  infamous 
robbers.  Thus,  the  excesses  of  the 
royal  army  were  probably  more  in 
jurious  to  the  cause  of  the  British,  than 
even  the  efforts  of  Washington,  and 
the  resolves  of  Congress.  Had  Gen 
eral  Howe,  and  those  under  his  com 
mand,  pursued  the  course  which  Carle- 
ton  adopted  in  Canada,  a  course  of 
kindness  and  gentleness  towards  the 
prisoners  and  the  people,  in  general, 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  a 
large  portion  of  those  who  were  driven, 
in  self-defence,  to  join  the  army  of 
Washington,  would  have  remained  neu 
tral,  at  least,  and  perhaps  would  have 
been  persuaded  to  take  up  arms  for  the 
side  of  the  king  and  the  invading  force. 

Justice,  however,  requires  that  it  be 
stated  here,  that  excess  and  outrage 
were  not  confined  altogether  to  the 


466 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR. 


[BK.  111. 


British  troops.  Love  of  pillage  con 
taminated  the  Americans,  too,  to  some 
extent.  The  houses  and  property  of 
the  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  New 
Jersey  were  sacked,  under  pretext  that 
they  belonged  to  loyalists :  even  the 
officers  themselves  gave  their  soldiers 
the  example  of  depredation.  Thus 
they  were  pillaged  by  the  Hessians  and 
English  as  rebels  to  the  king,  and  by 
the  Americans,  as  being  his  partisans. 
These  excesses  became  so  revolting, 
that  Washington,  to  whom  they  caused 
infinite  pain,  was  constrained,  in  order 
to  put  a  stop  to  them,  to  issue  a  procla 
mation,  denouncing  the  most  rigorous 
penalties  against  the  perpetrators  of 
such  enormities.* 

As  illustrating  still  further  the  ter 
rible  state  of  suffering  and  misery  to 
which  prisoners  were  subjected  at  this 
period  of  the  war,  Ave  give  an  extract 
from  Gordon's  History,  a  work  of  de 
cided  value,  and  quite  reliable.  In  the 
month  of  January,  says  Gor- 
don,f  General  Howe  discharged 
all  the  privates,  who  were  prisoners  in 
New  York.  Great  complaints  were 
made  of  the  horrid  usage  the  Amer- 


1777. 


*  In  the  General  Orders  issued  at  the  time,  it  was 
declared  :  "  The  general  prohibits,  both  in  the  militia 
and  continental  troops,  in  the  most  positive  terms, 
the  infamous  practice  of  plundering  the  inhabitants, 
under  the  specious  pretence  of  their  b^ng  tories.  It 
is  our  business  to  give  protection  and  support  to  the 
poor  distressed  inhabitants,  not  to  multiply  and  in 
crease  their  calamities.  After  this  order,  any  officer 
found  plundering  the  inhabitants,  under  the  pretence 
of  their  being  tories,  may  expect  to  be  punished  in 
the  severest  manner.  The  adjutant-general  to  fur 
nish  the  commanding  officer  of  each  division,  with  a 
copy  of  these  orders,  who  is  to  circulate  copies 
among  his  troops  immediately." 

f  "  History  of  the  American  Revolution,"  vol.  ii., 
p.  173-5. 


icans  met  with   after  they   were   cap 
tured.     The   garrison    of  Fort  Wash 
ington  surrendered  by  capitulation  to 
General  Howe,  the  16th  of  November. 
The  terms  were,  that  the  fort  should 
be     surrendered,    the   troops   be   con 
sidered  prisoners  of  war,  and  that  the 
American    officers    should   keep   their 
baggage  and  side  arms.     These  articles 
were  signed  and  afterward  published 
in  the  New  York  papers.     Major  Otho 
Holland  Williams,  of  Rawlings's  rifle 
regiment,  in  doing  his  duty  that  day, 
unfortunately  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.      The  haughty,  imperious  de 
portment   of  the   officers,  and  the  in 
solent  scurrility  of  the  soldiers  of  the 
British  army,  soon  dispelled  his  hopes 
of  being  treated  with  lenity.     Many  of 
the  American  officers  were  plundered 
of  their  baggage,  and  robbed  of  their 
side     arms,    hats,     cockades,   etc.,    and 
otherwise  grossly  ill-treated.     He  and 
three  companions   were,   on  the  third 
day,  put  on  board  the  Baltic-Merchant, 
an    hospital    ship,    then    lying   in   the 
Sound.     The  wretchedness  of  his  situa 
tion  was  in  some  degree  alleviated,  by 
a  small  pittance  of  pork  and  parsnip, 
which  a  good-natured  sailor  spared  him 
from  his  own   mess.     The  fourth  day 
of  their  captivity,  Rawlings,    Hanson, 
M'Intire  and  himself,  all  wounded  offi 
cers,  were  put  into  one  common  dirt- 
cart,  and  dragged  through  the  city  of 
New  York,  as   objects  of  derision,  re 
viled  as  rebels,  and  treated  with  the 
utmost  contempt.     From  the  cart  they 
were  set  down  at  the  door  of  an  old 
waste  house,  the  remains  of  Hampden 
Hall,  near  Bridewell,  which,  because  of 
the  openness  and  filthiness  of  the  place, 


CH.  II.] 


HORRIBLE  SUFFERINGS   OF  PRISONERS. 


467 


he  had,  a  few  months  before,  refused  as 
barracks  for  his  privates ;  but  now  was 
willing  to  accept  for  himself  and  friends, 
in  hopes  of  finding  an  intermission  of 
the  fatigue  and  persecution  they  had 
perpetually  suffered.     Some  provisions 
were   issued   to   the    prisoners   in  the 
afternoon  of  that  day,  what  quantity 
he  could  not  declare,  but  it  was  of  the 
worst  quality   he  ever,   till  then,  saw 
made  use  of.     He  was  informed  the  al 
lowance  consisted  of  six  ounces  of  pork, 
one  pound  of  biscuit,  and  some  peas, 
per  day  for  each  man,  and  two  bushels 
and  a  half  of  sea  coal  per  week  for  the 
officers  to  each  fire-place.     These  were 
admitted  on  parole,  and  lived  generally 
in  waste  houses.     The  privates,  in  the 
coldest  season  of  the  year,  were  close 
confined  in  churches,  sugar-houses,  and 
other  open  buildings  (which  admitted 
all  kinds  of  weather)  and  consequently 
were  subjected  to  the  severest  kind  of 
persecution  that  ever  unfortunate  cap 
tives  suffered.     Officers  were  insulted, 
and    often   struck   for   attempting   to 
afford  some  of  the  miserable  privates  a 
small  relief.     In  about  three  weeks  he 
was  able  to  walk,  and  was  himself  a 
witness  to  the   extreme  wretchedness 
his  countrymen  suffered.     He  could  not 
describe  their  misery.     Their  constitu 
tions  were  not  equal  to  the  rigor  of  the 
treatment  they  received,  and  the  con 
sequence  was  the  death  of  many  hun 
dreds.     The  officers  were  not  allowed 
to  take  muster-rolls,  nor  even  to  visit 
their  men,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to 
ascertain   the  numbers  that  perished ; 
but  from  frequent  reports,  and  his  own 
observations,  he  verily  believed,  as  well 
as  had  heard  many  officers  give  it  as 


their  opinion,  that  not  less  than  fifteen 
hundred  prisoners  perished  in  the  course 
of  a  few  weeks  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  that  this  dreadful  mortality  was 
principally  owing  to  the  want  of  pro 
visions,  and  extreme  cold.  If  they  com 
puted  too  largely,  it  must  be  ascribed 
to  the  shocking,  brutal  manner  of  treat 
ing  the  dead  bodies,  and  not  any  de 
sire  of  exaggerating  the  account  of  their 
sufferings.  When  the  king's  commis 
sary  of  prisoners  intimated  to  some  of 
the  American  officers,  General  Howe's 
intention  of  sending  privates  home  on 
parole,  they  all  earnestly  desired  it;  a 
paper  was  signed  expressing  that  de 
sire  ;  the  reason  for  signing  was,  they 
well  knew,  the  effects  of  a  longer  con 
finement,  and  the  great  numbers  that 
died  when  on  parole  justified  their  pre- 
tentions  to  that  knowledge.  In  Janu 
ary,  almost  all  the  officers  were  sent  to 
Long  Island  on  parole,  and  there  bil- 
letted  on  the  inhabitants,  at  two  dollars 
per  week. 

The  filth  in  the  churches  (in  conse 
quence  of  fluxes)  was  beyond  descrip 
tion.  Seven  dead  were  found  in 
one  of  them,  at  the  same  time,  lying 
among  the  excrements  of  their  bodies. 
The  British  soldiers  were  full  of  their 
low  and  insulting  jokes  on  those  oc 
casions,  but  less  malignant  than  the 
tories.  The  provisions  dealt  out  to  the 
prisoners  were  not  sufficient  for  the 
support  of  life ;  and  were  deficient  in 
quantity,  more  so  in  quality.  The 
bread  was  loathsome  and  not  fit  to  be 
eaten,  and  was  thought  to  have  been 
condemned.  The  allowance  of  meat 
was  trifling,  and  of  the  baser  sort.  The 
consequence  was,  a  suspicion  of  pre- 


408 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR. 


[BK.  III. 


meditated  and  systematic  plan  to  de 
stroy  the  youths  of  the  land,  and  there 
by  ruin  the  country.  The  integrity  of 
these  suffering  prisoners  was  hardly 
credible.  Hundreds  submitted  to 
death,  rather  than  enlist  in  the  British 
service,  which  they  were  most  generally 
pressed  to  do.  It  was  the  opinion  of 
the  American  officers  that  General 
Howe  perfectly  understood  the  condi 
tion  of  the  private  soldiers ;  and  they 
from  thence  argued,  that  it  was  exactly 
such  as  he  and  his  council  had  devised. 
After  General  Washington's  success  in 
the  Jerseys,  the  obduracy  and  malevo 
lence  of  the  royalists  subsided  in  some 
measure.  The  surviving  prisoners  were 
ordered  to  be  sent  out  for  an  exchange ; 
but  several  of  them  fell  down  dead  in 
the  streets,  while  attempting  to  walk 
to  the  vessels. 

General  Washington  wrote  to  Gener 
al  Howe  in  the  beginning  of  April, — 
"  It  is  a  fact  not  to  be  questioned,  that 
the  usage  of  our  prisoners  while  in  your 
possession,  the  privates  at  least,  was 
such  as  could  not  be  justified.  This 
was  proclaimed  by  the  concurrent  testi 
mony  of  all  who  came  out.  Their  ap 
pearance  sanctified  the  assertion,  and 
melancholy  experience  in  the  speedy 
death  of  a  large  part  of  them,  stamped 
it  with  infallible  certainty." 

We  turn  from  these  painful  details 
of  the  miseries  of  war  to  the  considera 
tion  of  other  matters  in  this  year  of 
trial  and  suffering. 

Washington,  at  the  beginning  of 
1777,  determined  to  have  the  army 
inoculated  for  the  small-pox,  which  had 
made  fearful  ravages  in  the  ranks.  It 
was  carried  forward  as  secretly  and 


carefully  as  possible,  and  the  hospital 
physicians  in  Philadelphia  were  ordered 
at  the  same  time  to  inoculate  all  the 
soldiers  who  passed  through  that  city 
on  their  way  to  join  the  army.  The 
same  precautions  were  taken  in  the 
other  military  stations,  and  thus  the 
army  was  relieved  from  an  evil,  which 
would  have  materially  interfered  with 
the  success  of  the  ensuing  campaign. 
The  example  of  the  soldiery  proved 
a  signal  benefit  to  the  entire  popula 
tion  :  the  practice  of  inoculation  became 
general ;  and,  by  little  and  little,  this 
fatal  malady  disappeared  almost  en 
tirely. 

In  the  hope  that  something  might  be 
effected  at  New  York,  Washington 
ordered  General  Heath,  who  was  in 
command  in  the  Highlands,  to  move 
down  towards  the  city  with  a  consider 
able  force.  Heath  did  so,  and  in  a 
rather  grandiloquent  summons  called 
upon  Fort  Independence  to  surrender. 
The  enemy,  however,  stood  their 
ground,  and  Heath,  after  a  few  days, 
retreated,  having  done  nothing,  and 
exposed  himself  to  ridicule  for  not  hav 
ing  followed  up  his  words  with  suitable 
deeds.* 

Washington,  in  view  of  the  probable 
plans  of  Howe  for  the  next  campaign, 
was  full  of  anxious  thought  as  to  how 
he  should  be  prepared  to  meet  him 
with  any  hope  of  success.  His  force 
was  reduced  to  the  lowest  point ;  the 
pernicious  system  of  short  enlistments 
was  producing  disastrous  effects ;  and 
the  attempts  to  raise  the  army  contem 
plated  by  the  late  resolves  of  Congress 


See  living's  "Life  of  Washington,'1''  vol.  ii.,  p.  514. 


Cn.  II.  J 


SUCCESSFUL  ATTACK  ON  SAG  HARBOR. 


4G9 


were,  as  yet,  of  no  avail.  The  vexati 
ons  questions  of  rank  and  the  choice  of 
officers,  as  well  as  the  immense  hard-  - 
ships  and  trials  of  the  service,  exposed 
as  the  troops  were  to  hunger  and  cold 
and  nakedness,  rendered  it  exceedingly 
difficult  to  fill  up  the  ranks.  The  com- 
mander-in-chief  was  unceasing  in  his 
urgency  upon  the  different  states  to  for 
ward  the  enlistment  as  rapidly  as  pos 
sible,  in  order  that  he  might  make  prep 
arations  for  the  opening  of  the  spring.* 
Howe,  while  waiting  reinforcements 
from  England,  set  on  foot  an  expedition 
against  the  depot  of  American  stores, 
at  Peekskill,  which,  we  are  sorry  to 
say,  owing  to  the  smallness  of  the  force 
at  that  point,  and  the  suddenness  of  the 
attack,  was  in  great  measure  success 
ful.  Not  long  afterwards,  in 
the  latter  part  of  April,  a  simi 
lar  expedition  was  made  upon  the  bor 
ders  of  Connecticut.  Two  thousand 
men,  under  Governor  Try  on,  marched 
against  Danbury,  for  the  purpose  of  de 
stroying  the  stores  there  collected  for 
the  use  of  the  army.  The  Connecticut 
militia  bravely  met  the  enemy,  but 
were  unable  to  prevent  the  loss  of  the 
stores,  among  which  were  more  than  a 
thousand  tents,  at  that  time  of  special 
value  to  the  Americans.  The  brave 
General  Wooster,  although  now  at  the 
advanced  age  of  seventy,  engaged  with 
ardor  in  the  conflict,  and  fell  mortally 
wounded.  Arnold,  who  was  recruiting 
in  the  vicinity,  took  post  at  Ridgefield, 


1777. 


*  In  February  of  this  year,  Congress  resolved  — 
That  the  flag  of  the  thirteen  United  States  be  thir 
teen  stripes,  alternate  red  and  white ;  that  the  Union 
be  thirteen  stars,  white  in  a  blue  field,  representing 
a  new  constellation. 


to  dispute  the  passage  of  the  British, 
but  gave  way  after  a  sharp  conflict,  in 
which  he  was  wounded.  The  British 
reached  New  York,  after  having  burned 
and  destroyed,  with  a  species  of  savage 
ferocity,  every  thing  they  could  lay 
their  hands  upon. 

As  an  offset  to  these  expeditions 
against  the  Americans,  a  bold  plan  was 
formed  in  Connecticut  to  retaliate  upon 
the  enemy  on  Long  Island.  They  were 
informed  that  the  British  had  collected 
immense  stores  of  forage,  grain,  and 
other  necessaries  for  the  troops,  at  Sag 
Harbor,  and  that  it  was  defended  by 
only  a  detachment  of  infantry,  and  a 
sloop  of  twelve  guns.  The  English, 
however,  believed  themselves  sufficient 
ly  protected  by  their  armed  vessels 
which  cruised  in  the  Sound:  they 
deemed  it  hardly  possible  that  the 
Americans  would  dare  to  pass  it,  and 
attempt  any  thing  upon  Long  Island- 
But  the  latter  were  nowise  intimidated 
by  the  obstacles,  and  resolved  to  sur 
prise  Sag  Harbor,  by  a  sudden  incur 
sion.  Accordingly,  Colonel  Meigs,  one 
of  the  intrepid  companions  of  Arnold 
in  the  expedition  of  Canada,  crossed 
the  Sound  with  as  much  rapidity  as 
ability,  and  arrived  before  day  at  the 
place  where  the  magazines  were  situat 
ed.  Notwithstanding  the  resistance  of 
the  garrison  and  the  crews  of  the  ves 
sels,  he  burned  a  dozen  brigs  and  sloops 
which  lay  at  the  wharf,  and  entirely  de 
stroyed  every  thing  on  shore.  Having 
accomplished  the  object  of  the  expedi 
tion,  he  returned  without  loss  to  Guil- 
ford,  in  Connecticut,  bringing  with  him 
many  prisoners.  The  Americans  mani 
fested,  in  this  enterprise,  the  greatest 


470 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR. 


[BK.  III. 


humanity :  they  abstained  from  the  pil 
lage  of  private  property,  and  even  per 
mitted  the  prisoners  to  retain  what  be 
longed  to  them.  Congress  presented 
Colonel  Meigs  with  a  sword,  and  pub 
licly  thanked  him  and  the  brave  men 
under  his  command. 

General  Howe's  plans  for  the  opening 
of  the  campaign,  appear  to  have  been 
well  laid,  and  had  he  been  sufficiently 
furnished  with  troops,  and  acted 
with  promptitude  and  vigor, 
there  was  every  reason  to  suppose  that 
he  might  have  been  successful.  But 
Howe  was  not  well  supplied  with  rein 
forcements,  and  late  into  the  spring 
he  remained  singularly  inactive.  Wash 
ington,  accordingly,  was  gradually  fill 
ing  up  the  ranks,  to  be  able  to  sustain 
the  contest.  Unable,  as  yet,  to  pene 
trate  the  designs  of  Howe,  he  watched 
anxiously  for  the  earliest  indications, 
by  which  he  might  learn  where  the 
British  commander  intended  to  strike 
the  first  blow.  In  the  present  uncer 
tainty,  Washington  made  such  disposi 
tion  of  his  forces,  as  seemed  best  calcu 
lated  to  meet  the  emergency.  Accord 
ingly,  the  troops  raised  in  the  northern 
provinces,  were  stationed  partly  at 
Ticonderoga,  and  partly  at  Peekskill; 
those  of  the  middle  and  southern  prov 
inces,  as  far  as  North  Carolina,  occupied 
New  Jersey;  leaving  a  few  corps  for 
the  protection  of  the  more  western 
provinces. 

In  this  manner,  if  General  Howe 
moved  against  Philadelphia,  he  would 
find  in  front  all  the  forces  assembled  in 
New  Jersey,  and  in  addition,  those  en 
camped  at  Peekskill,  who  would  have 
descended  to  harass  his  right  flank.  If, 


on  the  other  hand,  he  took  the  direc 
tion  of  Albany,  the  corps  at  Peekskill 
would  defend  the  passages  in  front, 
while  his  left  flank  might  also  be  at 
tacked  by  the  troops  of  New  Jersey, 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  the  English  force  in 
Canada  were  to  come  by  sea,  to  join 
that  of  General  Howe  upon  the  shores 
of  New  Jersey,  the  troops  at  Peekskill 
could  immediately  unite  with  those  that 
occupied  the  same  province,  and  thus 
compose  a  formidable  army  for  the  de 
fence  of  Philadelphia.  If,  finally,  the 
army  in  Canada  attacked  Ticonderoga, 
the  troops  at  Peekskill  might  carry 
succors  to  those  who  were  charged  with 
the  defence  of  that  fortress.  But  as  it 
was  of  great  importance  to  preserve 
Philadelphia  in  the  power  of  the  United 
States,  Congress  ordered  the  formation 
of  a  camp  upon  the  western  bank  of 
the  Delaware,  with  the  double  object 
of  receiving  all  the  troops  that  arrived 
from  the  south  and  west,  and  of  serv 
ing,  in  case  of  need,  as  a  reserve.  Here 
also  were  to  assemble  all  the  recruits 
from  Pennsylvania,  reinforced  by  sev 
eral  regiments  of  continental  troops. 
Arnold,  who  was  at  the  time  in  Phila 
delphia,  was  placed  in  command  at  this 
post. 

Washington,  having  received  a  sea 
sonable  supply  of  twenty-four  thousand 
muskets,  just  arrived  from  France,  left 
Morristown,  and  towards  the  latter  part 
of  May,  occupied  a  strong  position  at 
Middlebrook,  nine  miles  from  New 
Brunswick.  On  the  13th  of 
June,  Howe  marched  out  of 
New  Brunswick,  ostensibly  to  attack 
Philadelphia,  but  in  reality,  if  possible, 


1777. 


Cu.  11.1 


WASHINGTON  AND   LAFAYETTE. 


471 


to  draw  Washington  from  his  defences, 
and  bring  on  a  general  engagement, 
which  the  commander-iu-chief  was  de 
termined  to  avoid.  Having  remained 
six  days  in  this  position  without  suc 
cess,  Howe  made  a  retrograde  movement 
towards  Amboy,  which  drew  down 
Washington  from  the  high  ground  as 
far  as  Quibbletown,  when  Howe,  sud 
denly  turning  round,  endeavored  to 
cut  him  off  from  the  hills  ;  but  Wash 
ington  retired  again  to  Middlebrook. 
Foiled  in  this  object,  Howe  crossed 
over  to  Staten  Island,  and  evacuated 
the  Jerseys. 

It  was  a  matter  of  great  perplexity 
to  Washington,  as  to  what  might  be 
the  meaning  of  several  movements  at 
this  time,  on  the  part  of  the  British. 
Burgoyne,  it  was  well  known,  was  in 
command  of  a  large  force  in  Canada, 
and  was  advancing  upon  Ticonderoga. 
In  New  York,  preparations  were  made 
for  some  expedition  by  sea,  which 
might  be  either  to  proceed  against 
Philadelphia,  or  to  attack  New  Eng 
land,  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  di 
version  in  favor  of  Burgoyue.  It  was 
not  unlikely,  also,  that  the  real  inten 
tion  of  all  these  measures  might  be,  to 
ascend  the  Hudson,  and  to  endeavor  to 
form  a  junction  with  Burgoyne.  Wash 
ington  moved  his  force  slowly,  so  as  to 
be  ready  for  this  latter  plan ;  but  when, 
in  July,  the  British  fleet  went  to  sea,  he 
retraced  his  steps  towards  the  Dela 
ware,  in  order  to  be  prepared  to  guard 
Philadelphia. 

During  this  period  of  suspense,  Wash 
ington  passed  a  few  days  in  Philadel 
phia,  in  conference  with  Congress.  It 
was  here,  for  the  first  time,  he  saw  the 


1777. 


enthusiastic  and  generous-hearted  Mar 
quis  de  Lafayette.  Our  limits  do  not 
admit  of  entering  into  the  de 
tails  of  his  romantic  adven 
tures  ;  his  being  roused,  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  with  the  story  of  the  Amer 
ican  resistance  to  British  oppression  ; 
his  leaving  a  young  wife,  to  whom  he 
was  tenderly  attached  ;  despite  the 
prohibition  of  the  French  ministry, 
anxious  to  avoid  openly  assisting  the 
Americans,  his  purchasing  a  vessel, 
and,  with  a  chosen  body  of  military 
comrades,  his  reaching  America  in 
safety ;  and  his  presenting  his  creden 
tials  to  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Af 
fairs.  At  first,  owing  to  the  numerous 
applications  for  employment,  he  re 
ceived  a  very  discouraging  answer; 
but  when  he  expressed  his  desire  to 
serve  as  a  volunteer,  without  pay,  his 
claims  were  admitted,  and  he  received 
the  grade  of  major-general,  before  he 
was  twenty  years  old.*  Washington 
seems  to  have  been  charmed,  at  once, 
with  the  youthful  patriot,  and  La 
fayette  attached  himself  to  the  grave 
commander-in-chief,  with  a  zeal  and 
earnestness  of  devotion,  that  never 
flagged.  Washington  invited  him  to 
consider  head-quarters  as  his  home,  and 

*  The  language  of  Congress,  July  31st,  1777, 
was  ; — 

"  Whereas,  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  out  of  his 
great  zeal  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  in  which  the  United 
States  are  engaged,  has  left  his  family  and  connec 
tions,  and,  at  his  own  expense,  come  over  to  offer 
his  services  to  the  United  States  without  pension,  or 
particular  allowance,  and  is  anxious  to  risk  his  life 
in  our  cause  : 

"  Resolved,  That  his  service  be  accepted,  and  that, 
in  consideration  of  his  zeal,  illustrious  family,  and 
connections,  he  have  the  rank  and  commission  of 
major-general  in  the  army  of  the  United  States." 


472 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR. 


[BK.  III. 


Lafayette  availed  himself  of  the  honor 
able  privilege.  "The  bond  of  indis 
soluble  friendship — the  friendship  of 
heroes,  was  sealed  from  the  first  hour 
of  their  meeting  to  last  throughout 
their  lives,  and  to  live  in  the  memory 
of  mankind  forever." 

In  this  connection,  it  is  but  right  to 
remind  the  reader  of  other  illustrious 
men,  who  came  from  the  old  world,  to 
aid  our  fathers  in  the  struggle  for 
liberty.  Kosciusko,  Pulaski,  De  Kalb, 
Steuben,  and  others,  are  ever  to  be 
held  in  honorable  remembrance. 

On  the  10th  of  July,  by  a  bold 
movement,  an  important  capture  was 
effected,  which  served  fully  to  offset 
the  capture  of  Lee.  General  Prescott, 
who  commanded  the  British  troops  in 
Rhode  Island,  finding  himself  on  an 
island,  surrounded  by  ships,  and  with  a 
force  greatly  superior  to  what  the 
Americans  could  assemble  in  this  quar 
ter,  became  extremely  negligent  of  his 
guard.  Earnestly  desiring  to  retaliate 
the  capture  of  General  Lee,  a  plan  was 
formed  for  surprising  General  Prescott 
in  his  quarters,  and  of  bringing  him 
off  prisoner.  Accordingly,  Lieutenant- 
colonel  Barton,  at  the  head  of  a  party 
of  forty  of  the  country  militia,  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  places,  embarked  in 
whale-boats,  and  after  having  rowed  a 
distance  of  above  ten  miles,  and  avoid 
ed  with  great  dexterity  the  numerous 
vessels  of  the  enemy,  landed  upon  the 
western  coast  of  Rhode  Island,  between 
Newport  and  Bristol  Ferry.  They  re 
paired  immediately,  with  the  utmost 
silence  and  celerity,  to  the  lodging  of 
General  Prescott.  Having  seized  the 
astonished  sentinels  who  guarded  the 


door,  an  aid-de-camp  went  up  into 
the  chamber  of  the  general,  and  arrest 
ed  him,  without  giving  him  time  even 
to  put  on  his  clothes ;  and  he  was  carried 
off  with  equal  secrecy  and  success.  This 
event  afforded  the  Americans  singular 
satisfaction.  It  was,  however,  particu 
larly  galling  to  General  Prescott,  who 
not  long  before  had  been  delivered  by 
exchange  from  the  hands  of  the  Amer 
icans,  after  having  been  taken  prisoner 
in  Canada.  In  addition  to  this,  he  had 
lately  been  guilty  of  a  petty  piece  of 
insolence,  in  setting  a  price  upon  the 
head  of  General  Arnold,  as  if  he  had 
been  a  common  outlaw  and  assassin,  an 
insult  which  Arnold  immediately  re 
torted,  by  setting  an  inferior  price  upon 
Prescott's  head.  Congress  publicly 
thanked  Lieutenant-colonel  Barton,  and 
presented  him  with  a  sword.  Howe, 
who  had  heretofore  refused  to  part  with 
Lee  on  any  terms,  was  now  brought  to 
a  different  view  of  the  matter,  and  that 
officer  was  allowed  to  return  to  his 
post  in  exchange  for  Prescott. 

Various  and  contradictory  accounts 
reached  Washington  of  the  course 
which  the  fleet  of  Howe  had  steered. 
At  one  time,  it  was  said  to  be  return 
ing  to  the  Hudson ;  at  another,  that  it 
was  entering  the  Delaware ;  and  at 
another,  that  it  had  sailed  away  to 
wards  Charleston.  After  a  great  deal 
of  delay,  late  in  the  month  of  August, 
it  was  ascertained  that  the  British  had 
entered  the  Chesapeake,  and  were  land 
ing  the  troops  at  the  head  of 
Elk  River,  intending  thence  to 
march  directly  upon  Philadelphia. 

At  the  place   of    debarkation,    the 
British  army  was  within  a  few  clays' 


1777. 


Cn  II.  i 


BATTLE  OF  THE  BRANDYWINE. 


473 


marcli  of  Philadelphia ;  no  great  rivers 
were  in  its  way ;  and  there  was  no  very 
strong  position  of  which  the  Americans 
could  take  possession.  On  landing, 
General  Howe  issued  a  proclamation, 
promising  pardon  and  protection  to  all 
who  should  submit  to  him ;  but,  as  the 
American  army  was  at  hand,  the  proc 
lamation  produced  little  effect. 

Washington  distinctly  understood 
the  nature  of  the  contest  in  which  he 
was  engaged ;  and,  sensible  of  the  in 
feriority  of  his  raw  and  undisciplined 
army,  to  the  veteran  troops  under  Sir 
William  Howe,  he  wished  to  avoid  a 
general  engagement :  but,  aware  of  the 
effect  which  the  fall  of  Philadelphia 
would  produce  on  the  minds  of  the 
mass  of  the  people,  who  have  no  fixed 
principle  or  steady  purpose,  and  who 
are  incapable  of  just  and  general  views, 


Brandy  wine,  to  skirmish  with  the  Brit 
ish,  and  retard  them  in  their  progress. 

On  the  morning  of  the  llth  of  Sep 
tember,  the  British  army  advanced  in 
two  columns ;  the  right,  under  General 
Knyphausen,  marched  straight  to 
Chad's  Ford;  the  left,  under  Lord 
Cornwallis,  accompanied  by  the  com- 
mander-in-chief,  and  Generals  Grey, 
Grant,  and  Agnew,  proceeded  by  a 
circuitous  route,  towards  a  point  named 
the  Forks,  where  the  two  branches  of 
the  Brandy  wine  unite,  with  a  view  to 
turn  the  right  of  the  Americans,  and 
gain  their  rear.  General  Knyphausen's 
van  soon  found  itself  opposed  to  the 
light  troops  under  General  Maxwell. 
A  smart  conflict  ensued.  Knyphausen 
rejjporced  his  advanced  guard,  and 


drov64he  Americans  across  the  rivulet, 
to  shelter',  themselves  under  their  bat 
he  determined  to  make  every  effort,  iifj'teries  on  the  north  bank.     Knyphausen 
order  to  retard  the  progress  and  defeat  j  ordered  some*  artillery  to  be  placed  on 

Accord- 
General 


the  aim  of  the  royal  army. 
ingly,  he  marched  to  meet 
Howe,  who,  from  want  of  horses,  many 
of  which  had  perished  in  the  voyage, 
and  from  other  causes,  was  unable  to 
proceed  from  the  head  of  the  Elk  be 
fore  the  3d  of  September.  On  the  ad 
vance  of  the  royal  army,  General  Wash 
ington  retreated  across  the  Brandy  wine, 
a  small  stream  which  fulls  into  the  Del 
aware  at  Wilmington.  He  took  post, 
with  his  main  body,  opposite  Chad's 
Ford,  where  it  was  expected  the  Brit 
ish  would  attempt  the  passage ;  and  or 
dered  General  Sullivan,  with  a  detach 
ment,  to  watch  the  fords  above.  He 
sent  General  Maxwell,  with  about  one 
thousand  light  troops,  to  occupy  the 
high  ground  on  the  other  side  of  the 

VOL.  I.— 62 


4he  most  advantageous  points,  and  a 
cannonade  was  carried  on  with  the 
American  batteries  on  the  heights  be 
yond  the  ford. 

Meanwhile,  the  left  wing  of  the 
British  crossed  the  fords  above  the 
Forks.  Of  this  movement,  Washing 
ton  had  early  notice ;  but  the  informa 
tion  which  he  received  from  different 
quarters,  through  his  raw  and  un- 
practiced  scouts,  was  confused  and  con 
tradictory,  and  consequently  his  opera 
tions  were  embarrassed.  After  pacing 
the  fords,  Lord  Cornwallis  took  tfce 
road  to  Dilworth,  which  led  him  on  the 
American  right.  General  Sullivan,  who 
had  been  appointed  to  guard  that  quar 
ter,  occupied  the  heights  above  Bir 
mingham  church,  his  left  extending  to 


474 


PKOGEESS   OF   THE  WAR. 


.  Ill 


the  Brandy  wine,  his  artillery  judiciously 
placed,  and  his  right  flank  covered  by 
woods.  About  four  in  the  afternoon, 
Lord  Cornwallis  formed  the  line  of 
battle,  and  began  the  attack  :  for  some 
time  the  Americans  sustained  it  with 
intrepidity,  but  at  length  gave  way. 
When  Washington  heard  the  firing  in 
that  direction,  he  ordered  General 
Greene,  with  a  brigade,  to  support 
Sullivan.  Greene  marched  four  miles 
in  forty-two  minutes,  but,  on  reaching 
the  scene  of  action,  he  found  Sullivan's 
division  defeated,  and  fleeing  in  con 
fusion.  He  covered  the  retreat;  and, 
after  some  time,  finding  an  advanta 
geous  position,  he  renewed  the  battle, 
and  arrested  the  progress  of  the  pur 
suing  enemy. 

Knyphausen,  as  soon  as  he  heard  the 
firing  of  Lord  Cornwallis's  division, 
forced  the  passage  of  Chad's  Ford,  at 
tacked  the  troops  opposite  to  him,  and 
compelled  them  to  make  a  precipitate 
and  disorderly  retreat.  Washington, 
with  the  part  of  his  army  which  he  was 
able  to  keep  together,  retired  with  his 
artillery  and  baggage,  to  Chester, 
where  he  halted,  within 'eight  miles  of 
the  British  army,  till  next  morning, 
when  he  retreated  to  Philadelphia. 
Night,  and  the  exhaustion  of  the  British 
troops,  saved  the  American  army  from 
pursuit. 

The  battle  at  the  Brandywine  was 
attended  with  severe  loss,  three  hun 
dred  having  been  killed,  six  hundred 
wounded,  and  four  hundred  taken 
prisoners.  The  British  loss  was  re 
ported  to  be  much  less,  not  exceeding 
Borne  six  hundred  killed  and  wounded. 
Lafayette,  who  was  on  duty  in  this 


battle,  was  severely  wounded  in  the 
leg,  which  laid  him  up  for  two  months. 
Count  Pulaski  also  displayed  great 
bravery  on  the  field  of  battle :  he  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-gen 
eral,  and  placed  in  command  of  the 
cavalry.  An  inquiry  was  instituted 
into  Sullivan's  conduct;  but  he  was 
honorably  acquitted. 

On  the  evening  after  the  battle, 
Howe  sent  a  party  to  Wilmington, 
who  seized  in  bed  Mr.  M'Kinley,  gov 
ernor  of  the  State  of  Delaware,  and  took 
a  shallop  lying  in  the  stream,  loaded 
with  the  rich  effects  of  some  of  the  in 
habitants,  together  with  the  public  rec 
ords  of  the  county,  and  other  valuable 
and  important  property. 

Having  allowed  his  army  one  day 
for  repose  and  refreshment,  General 
Washington  recrossed  the  Schuylkill. 

O  * 

and  proceeded  on  the  Lancaster  road, 
with  the  intention  of  meeting  and  again 
fighting  his  enemy.  Sir  William  Howe 
passed  the  night  of  the  llth  of  Septem 
ber,  on  the  field  of  battle ;  and  on  the 
two  succeeding  days  advanced  towards 
Chester,  and  also  took  possession  of 
Wilmington,  to  which  place  his  sick 
and  wounded  were  conveyed.  On  the 
15th,  the  American  army,  intending  to 
gain  the  left  of  the  British,  reached  the 
Warren  tavern,  on  the  Lancaster  road, 
twenty-three  miles  from  Philadelphia. 
Intelligence  being  received  early  next 
morning,  that  Howe  was  approaching 
in  two  columns,  Washington  determined 
to  meet  and  engage  him  in  front. 

Both  armies  prepared  with  alacrity 
for  battle.  The  advanced  parties  had 
met,  and  were  beginning  to  skirmish, 
when  they  were  separated  by  a  heavy 


CH.  II.] 


CONGRESS  LEAVE  PHILADELPHIA. 


475 


rain,  which  rendered  the  retreat  of  the 
Americans  a  measure  of  absolute  neces 
sity.  Their  gun-locks  not  being  well 
secured,  their  muskets  soon  became  un 
fit  for  use.  Their  cartridge-boxes  had 
oeen  so  inartificially  constructed  as  not 
to  protect  their  ammunition,  and  very 
many  of  the  soldiers  were  without  bay 
onets.  The  design  of  giving  battle  was 
reluctantly  abandoned,  and  the  retreat 
was  continued  all  day  and  great  part 
of  the  night,  through  a  most  distressing 
rain,  and  very  deep  roads.  A  few 
hours  before  day,  the  troops  halted  at 
the  Yellow  Springs,  where  the  alarm 
ing  fact  was  disclosed,  that  scarcely  one 
musket  in  a  regiment  could  be  dis 
charged,  and  scarcely  one  cartridge  in 
a  box  was  fit  for  war.  The  army  re 
tired  to  Warwick  furnace,  on  the  south 
branch  of  the  French  Creek,  where  a 
small  supply  of  muskets  and  ammuni 
tion  miorht  be  obtained,  in  time  to  dis- 

O  ? 

pute  the  passage  of  the  Schuylkill. 

General  Wayne,  with  a  detachment 
of  fifteen  hundred  men,  had  taken  post 
in  the  woods,  on  the  left  of  the  British 
army,  with  the  intention  of  harassing  it 
on  its  march.  On  the  evening  of  the 
20th  of  September,  General 
Grey  was  dispatched  to  sur 
prise  him,  and  successfully  executed 
the  enterprise;  killing  or  wounding, 
chiefly  with  the  bayonet,  about  three 
hundred  men,  taking  nearly  one  hun 
dred  prisoners,  and  making  himself 
master  of  all  their  baggage.  Grey  had 
only  one  captain  and  three  privates 
killed,  and  four  wounded.  Wayne  hav 
ing  been  censured  for  1his  result,  de 
manded  a  court-martial :  he  was  ac 
quitted  with  honor. 


1777. 


Foreseeing  the  necessity  of  speedily 
abandoning  Philadelphia,  Congress  re 
moved  the  magazines  and  public  stores: 
but  still  continued  to  protract  their 
sittings,  and  maintain  their  authority 
to  the  latest  moment.  So  far  from 
showing  any  decline  of  confidence  in 
Washington,  they  invested  him  with 
still  more  ample  authority  than  before. 
He  was  empowered  to  seize  upon  all 
provisions  needful  for  the  sustenance 
of  his  army,  paying  for  them  in  the 
public  certificates ;  and  even  to  try  by 
court-martial,  and  immediately  execute, 
all  persons  giving  any  assistance  to  the 
British,  or  furnishing  them  with  pro 
visions,  arms,  or  stores.  A  supply  of 
blankets,  shoes,  and  clothing,  was  also 
required  from  the  citizens  of  Philadel 
phia,  before  that  city  passed  into  the 
enemy's  hands.  These  stringent  pow 
ers,  often  painful  to  insist  upon,  were 
considered  to  be  of  inevitable  necessity 
in  the  face  of  an  advancing  British 
army,  and  with  the  knowledge  of  a  nu 
merous  body  of  sympathizing  tories  or 
hesitating  neutrals.  Alexander  Hamil 
ton,  who  was  now  of  the  grade  of  lieu 
tenant-colonel*  was  charged  with  this 
difficult  and  delicate  matter ;  it  is  super 
fluous,  perhaps,  to  say,  that  he  executed 
his  task  with  energy,  judgment,  and  as 
great  success  as  was  possible  under  the 
circumstances.* 

On  the  evening  of  the  18th  of  Sep 
tember,  Congress  left  Philadelphia  for 
the  -  second  time,  and  proceeded  first 

*  The  reader  will  be  interested,  we  are  sure,  in 
reading  a  Charge  to  the  Grand  Jury,  delivered  at  this 
date,  by  John  Jay,  Esq.,  chief  justice  of  the  State  of 
New  York.  It  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix  at  th« 
end  of  the  present  chapter. 


476 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR. 


.  in. 


to  Lancaster,  and  afterwards  to  York- 
town,  where  they  continued  for  eight 
months,  until  Philadelphia  was  evacu 
ated  by  the  British.  On  the  afternoon 
of  the  22d,  and  early  on  the  23d  of 
September,  Sir  William  Howe,  con 
trary  to  the  expectation  of  the  Amer 
ican  commander-in-chief,  crossed  the 
Schuylkill  at  Fatland  and  Gordon's 
Ford.  The  main  body  of  his  army  en 
camped  at  Germantown,  a  village,  seven 
miles  from  Philadelphia;  and,  on  the 
26th,  with  a  detachment  of  his  troops, 
he  took  peaceable  possession  of  the  city, 
where  he  was  cordially  received  by  the 
Quakers  and  other  royalists. 

On  receiving  information  of  the  suc 
cess  of  the  royal  army,  under  his  brother, 
at  the  Brandy  wine,  Lord  Howe  left  the 
Chesapeake  and  steered  for  the  Dela 
ware,  where  he  arrived  on  the  8th  of 
October.  As  soon  as  General  Howe 
had  gained  possession  of  Philadelphia, 
he  began  his  efforts  to  clear  the  course 
of  the  river,  in  order  to  open  a  free 
communication  with  the  fleet. 

The  Americans  had  labored  assidu 
ously  to  obstruct  the  navigation  of  the 
Delaware ;  and,  for  thaf  purpose,  had 
sunk  three  rows  of  chevaux-de-frise, 
formed  of  large  beams  of  timber  bolted 
together,  with  strong  projecting  iron 
pikes,  across  the  channel,  a  little  below 
the  place  where  the  Schuylkill  falls  into 
the  Delaware.  The  upper  and  lower 
rows  were  commanded  by  fortifications 
on  the  banks  and  islands  of  the  river, 
and  by  floating  batteries. 

While  the  detachments  employed  in 
assisting  to  clear  the  course  of  the  river 
weakened  the  royal  army  at  German- 
town,  Washington,  who  lay  encamped 


at  Skippack  Creek,  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Schuylkill,  about  seventeen  miles 
from  Germantown,  meditated  an  attack 
upon  it.  Germantown  consisted  of  one 
street,  about  two  miles  long;  the  line 
of  the  British  encampment  bisected  the 
village  almost  at  right  angles,  and  had 
its  left  covered  by  the  Schuylkill.  Wash 
ington,  having  been  reinforced  by  fif 
teen  hundred  troops  from  Peekskill, 
and  one  thousand  Virginia  militia, 
marched  from  Skippack  Creek  on  the 
evening  of  the  3d  of  October,  and  at 

O  ' 

dawn  of  day  next  morning  attacked 
the  royal  army.  After  a  smart  conflict, 
he  drove  in  the  advanced  guard,  which 
was  stationed  at  the  head  of  the  village, 
and,  with  his  army  divided  into  five 
columns,  prosecuted  the  attack ;  but 
Lieutenant-colonel  Musgrave,  of  the 
40th  regiment,  which  had  been  driven 
in,  and  who  had  been  able  to  keep  five 
companies  of  the  regiment  together, 
threw  himself  into  a  large  stone  house 
in  the  village,  belonging  to  Mr.  Chew, 
which  stood  in  front  of  the  main  col 
umn  of  the  Americans,  and  there  al 
most  a  half  of  Washington's  army  was 
detained  for  a  considerable  time.  In 
stead  of  masking  Chew's  house  with  a 
sufficient  force,  and  advancing  rapidly 
with  their  main  body,  the  Americans 
attacked  the  house,  which  was  obsti 
nately  defended.  The  delay  was  very 
unfortunate ;  for  the  critical  moment 
was  lost  in  fruitless  attempts  on  the 
house;  the  royal  troops  had  time  to 
get  under  arms,  and  be  in  readiness  tc 
resist  or  attack,  as  circumstances  re 
quired.  General  Grey  came  to  the  as 
sistance  of  Colonel  Musgrave ;  the  en 
gagement  for  some  time  was  general 


CH.  II.] 


BATTLE   OF  GERMANTOWN. 


477 


and  warm;  at  length  the  Americans 
began  to  give  way,  and  effected  a  re 
treat,  with  all  their  artillery.  The 
morning  was  very  foggy,  a  circum 
stance  which  had  prevented  the  Amer 
icans  from  combining  and  conducting 
their  operations  as  they  otherwise  might 
have  done,  but  which  now  favored  their 
retreat,  by  concealing  their  movements. 

In  this  engagement,  the  British  had 
six  hundred  men  killed  or  wounded; 
among  the  slain  were  Brigadier-general 
Agnew  and  Colonel  Bird,  officers  of  dis 
tinguished  reputation.  The  Americans 
lost  an  equal  number  in  killed  and 
wounded,  besides  four  hundred,  who 
were  taken  prisoners.  General  Nash, 
of  North  Carolina,  was  among  those 
who  were  killed.  After  the  battle, 
Washington  returned  to  his  encamp 
ment  at  Skippack  Creek.* 

But  although  the  British  army  had 
been  successful  in  repulsing  the  Amer 
icans,  yet  their  situation  was  not  com 
fortable  ;  nor  could  they  easily  main 
tain  themselves  in  Pennsylvania,  unless 
the  navigation  of  the  Delaware  were 
opened,  and  a  free  communication  es 
tablished  between  the  fleet  and  army. 
The  upper  line  of  chevaux-de-frise,  was 
protected  by  a  work  named  Fort  Mifflin, 


*  Mr.  Sparks,  in  recording  this  battle,  speaks  of 
the  good  effect  of  it  upon  the  views  of  the  Count  de 
Vergennes,  who  remarked  to  the  American  com 
missioners  in  Paris,  "  That  nothing  struck  him  so 
much  as  General  Washington's  attacking  and  giving 
battle  to  General  Howe's  army ;  that  to  bring  an  army, 
raised  within  a  year,  to  this,  promises  everything," 
From  this,  as  well  as  other  occurrences,  it  is  evident 
that  the  French  government  narrowly  scanned  the 
military  movements  of  Washington,  and  also,  that, 
his  being  the  commander-in-chief,  had  an  important 
bearing  upon  their  final  decision  to  give  aid  to  the 
American  cause. 


erected  on  a  marshy  island  in  the  Del. 
aware,  called  Mud  Island,  formed  by  an 
accumulation  of  sand  and  vegetable 
mould  near  the  Pennsylvania  bank  of 
the  river,  and  by  a  redoubt,  called  Red- 
bank,  on  the  Jersey  side.  At  a  small 
distance  below  Mud  Island,  and  nearly 
in  a  line  with  it,  are  two  others,  named 
Province  and  Hog's  Islands ;  between 
these  and  the  Pennsylvania  bank  of  the 
river  was  a  narrow  channel,  of  suffi 
cient  depth  to  admit  ships  of  moderate 
draught  of  water.  The  reduction  of 
Forts  Mifflin  and  Redbank,  and  the 
opening  of  the  Delaware,  were  of  essen 
tial  importance  to  the  British  army  in 
the  occupation  of  Philadelphia.  In  or 
der,  therefore,  that  he  might  be  able 
more  conveniently  to  assist  in  those 
operations,  Howe,  on  the  19th  of  Oc 
tober,  withdrew  his  army  from  German- 
town,  and  encamped  in  the  vicinity  of 
Philadelphia. 

He  dispatched  Count  Douop,  a 
German  officer,  with  twelve  hundred 
Hessians,  to  reduce  Redbank.  This 
detachment  crossed  the  Delaware,  at 
Philadelphia,  on  the  evening  of  the  21st 
of  October,  and  next  afternoon  reached 
the  place  of  its  destination.  Count 
Donop  summoned  the  fort  to  surren 
der ;  but  Colonel  Greene,  of  Rhode 
Island,  who  commanded  in  the  redoubt, 
answered  that  he  would  defend  his  post 
to  the  last  extremity.  Count  Donop 
immediately  led  his  troops  to  the  as 
sault,  advancing  under  a  close  fire  from 
the  fort,  and  from  the  American  vessels 
of  war.  and  floating  batteries  on  the 
river ;  he  forced  an  extensive  and  un 
finished  outwork,  but  could  make  no 
impression  on  the  redoubt.  The  cc  unt 


478 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR. 


LBn.  Ill 


was  mortally  wounded ;  the  second  in 
command  also  was  disabled ;  and,  after 
a  desperate  conflict  and  severe  loss,  the 
assailants  were  compelled  to  retreat  un 
der  a  fire  similar  to  that  which  had  met 
them  in  their  advance.  Count  Donop 
was  made  prisoner,  and  soon  died  of 
his  wounds. 

The  affair  did  not  terminate  here. 
That  part  of  the  fleet  which  co-operated 
in  the  attack  was  equally  unfortunate. 
The  Augusta,  Roebuck,  Liverpool, 
Pearl,  and  Merlin,  vessels  of  war,  had 
passed  through  an  opening  in  the  lower 
line  of  chevaux-de-frise ;  and,  on  the 
commencement  of  Count  Donop's  at 
tack,  moved  up  the  river  with  the  flow 
ing  tide.  But  the  artificial  obstructions 
had  altered  the  course  of  the  channel, 
and  raised  sand  banks  where  none  ex 
isted  before.  Hence,  the  Augusta  and 
Merlin  grounded  a  little  below  the 
second  row  of  chevaux-de-frise.  At 
the  return  of  the  tide,  every  exertion 
was  made  to  get  them  off,  but  in  vain. 
In  the  morning,  the  Americans  perceiv 
ing  their  condition,  began  to  fire  upon 
them,  and  sent  fire-ships  against  them. 
The  Augusta  caught  fire;  and,  the 
flames  spreading  rapidly,  it  was  with 
the  utmost  difficulty  that  the  crew  were 
got  out  of  her.  The  second  lieutenant, 
chaplain,  gunner,  and  some  seamen,  per 
ished  in  the  flames;  but  the  greater 
part  of  the  crew  was  saved.  The  Mer 
lin  was  abandoned  and  destroyed. 

Notwithstanding  these  misfortunes, 
the  operations  requisite  for  reducing  the 
forts  on  the  river,  were  carried  on  with 
great  activity.  Batteries  were  erected 
on  the  Pennsylvania  bank,  opposite  Mud 
Island ;  but  from  the  difficulty  of  con 


structing  works  on  marshy  ground,  and 
of  transporting  heavy  artillery  through 
swamps,  much  time  was  consumed  be 
fore  they  could  be  got  ready  to  act 
with  effect.  The  British  also  took  pos 
session  of  Province  Island;  and,  al 
though  it  was  almost  wholly  overflow 
ed,  erected  works  upon  it. 

On  the  15th  of  November,  every 
thing  was  ready  for  a  grand  attack  on 
Fort  Mifflin.  •  The  Vigilant  armed  ship 
and  a  hulk,  both  mounted  with  heavy 
cannon,  passed  up  the  strait  between 
Hog  and  Province  Islands  and  the 
Pennsylvania  bank,  in  order  to  take 
their  station  opposite  the  weakest  part 
of  the  fort.  The  Isis,  Somerset,  Hoe- 
buck,  and  several  frigates,  sailed  up  the 
main  channel,  as  far  as  the  second  line 
of  chevaux-de-frise  would  permit  them, 
and  placed  themselves  in  front  of  the 
work. 

The  little  garrison  of  Fort  Mifflin, 
not  exceeding  three  hundred  men,  had 
greatly  exerted  themselves  in  opposing 
and  retarding  the  operations  of  the 
British  fleet  and  army  against  them ; 
and  in  this  desperate  crisis,  their  cour 
age  did  not  forsake  them.  A  terrible 
cannonade  against  Fort  Mifflin  was  be 
gun  and  carried  on  by  the  British  bat 
teries  and  shipping  ;  and  was  answered 
by  the  fort,  by  the  American  galleys- 
and  floating  batteries  on  the  river,  and 
by  their  works  on  the  Jersey  banlc 
In  the  course  of  the  day,  the  fort  was 
in  a  great  measure  demolished,  and 
many  of  the  guns  dismounted.  The 
garrison,  finding  their  post  no  longer 
tenable,  retired,  by  means  of  their  ship 
ping,  during  the  night.  Two  days 
afterwards,  the  post  at  Eedbank  was 


CH.  II.] 


WASHING!  ON  AT  VALLEY  FORGE. 


479 


evacuated  also.  Lord  Cornwallis  march 
ed  against  it ;  but  the  garrison  retreat 
ed  before  his  arrival. 

The  American  shipping  in  the  river, 
being  now  left  unprotected,  retired  up 
the  stream :  part  of  it,  by  keeping  close 
to  the  Jersey  side,  passed  the  batteries 
at  Philadelphia  during  the  night,  and 
escaped ;  the  rest  was  set  on  fire,  and 
abandoned.  Even  the  part  of  it,  how 
ever,  which  escaped  at  this  time,  was 
afterwards  destroyed.  Thus  the  navi 
gation  of  the  Delaware  was  opened, 
and  a  free  communication  established 
between  the  fleet  and  army ;  but  the 
defence  of  the  river  was  so  obstinate, 
that  a  considerable  part  of  the  cam 
paign  was  wasted  in  clearing  it. 

Washington  having  received  a  rein 
forcement  from  the  northern  army, 
after  the  termination  of  the  campaign 
in  that  quarter,  left  his  strong  camp  at 
Skippack  Creek,  and,  advancing  nearer 
the  British,  occupied  an  advantageous 
position  at  White  Marsh,  fourteen  miles 
from  Philadelphia.  He  had  a  valley 
and  rivulet  in  front,  and  his  right  was 
protected  by  an  abattis,  or  fence  of 
trees  cut  down,  with  their  top  branches 
pointed  and  turned  outwards. 

Sir  William  Howe  thinking  that 
Washington,  encouraged  by  his  rein 
forcements,  would  hazard  a  battle  for 
the  recovery  of  the  capital  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  or  that  a  successful  attack  might 
be  made  on  his  position,  marched  from 
Philadelphia  on  the  evening  of  the  4th 
of  December,  and  next  morning  took 
post  on  Chestnut  Hill,  in  front  of  the 
right  wing  of  the  American  army. 
During  the  two  succeeding  days,  Gen 
eral  Howe  made  several  movements  in 


front  of  the  hostile  encampment,  and 
some  skirmishing  ensued.  But  Wash 
ington  remained  within  his  lines  ;  and 
Howe,  deeming  it  uuadvisable  to  attack 
him  there,  and  seeing  no  probability  of 
being  able  to  provoke  him  to  engage 
on  more  equal  terms,  returned  with  his 
army,  on  the  8th  of  December,  to  Phil- 
adelphia.  At  that  time,  the  two  armies 
were  nearly  equal  in  point  of  numerical 
force,  each  consisting  of  upwards  of 
fourteen  thousand  men.  Soon  after 
wards  General  Washington  determined 
to  quit  White  Marsh,  and  go  into 
winter-quarters  at  Valley  Forge,  about 
twenty  miles  from  Philadelphia. 

During  the  active  part  of  the  cam 
paign,  the  British  army  was  most  nu 
merous  ;  and  although,  in  the  beginning 
of  December,  the  numerical  force  of  the 
two  armies  was  nearly  equal,  yet  there 
was  a  great  difference  in  the  quality 
and  equipment  of  the  troops.  Those 
under  Howe  were  veterans,  accustomed 
to  the  most  exact  discipline  and  subor 
dination,  well  armed,  and  abundantly 
supplied  with  military  stores  and  other 
necessaries  :  but  those  under  Washing 
ton,  were,  for  the  most  part,  raw  levies 
and  militia,  ill-disciplined,  imperfectly 
armed,  and  strangers  to  military  sub 
ordination  ;  hence,  the  Americans  were 
unable  to  meet  the  royal  troops  on 
equal  terms.  Washington  was  obliged 
to  occupy  strong  positions,  and  to  be 
wary  in  all  his  movements :  he  was 
beaten  at  the  Brandywine,  and  re 
pulsed  at  Germantown:  on  the  other 
hand,  although  Howe  was  successful  in 
all  his  operations,  yet  he  gained  nothing 
by  the  campaign,  but  good  winter-quar 
ters  in  Philadelphia. 


480 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  II. 


[BK.  ID. 


APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    II 


L  LETTER  FROM  MAJOR  GENERAL  ROBERTSON 
TO  HIS  EXCELLENCY  GOVERNOR  LIVINGSTON. 

NEW  YORK,  January  4,  1777. 

SIR  : — I  am  interrupted  in  ray  daily  attempts 
to  soften  the  calamities  of  persons,  and  reconcile 
their  case  with  our  security,  by  a  general  cry  of 
resentment,  arising  from  an  information  — 

That  officers  in  the  king's  service,  taken  on  the 
27th  of  November,  and  Mr.  John  Brown,  a  dep 
uty  commissary,  are  to  be  tried  in  Jersey  for  high 
treason  ;  and  that  Mr.  Iliff  and  another  prisoner 
have  been  hanged. 

Though  I  am  neither  authorized  to  threaten  or 
to  soothe,,  my  wish  to  prevent  an  increase  of  hor 
rors,  will  justify  my  using  the  liberty  of  an  old  ac 
quaintance,  to  desire  your  interposition  to  put  an 
end  to,  or  prevent  measures  which,  if  pursued  on 
one  side,  would  tend  to  prevent  every  act  of  hu 
manity  on  the  other,  and  render  every  person  who 
exercises  this  to  the  king's  enemies,  odious  to  his 
friends. 

I  need  nst  }>oint  out  to  you  all  the  cruel  conse 
quences  of  sucn  &  procedure.     I  am  hopeful  you'll 
prevent  them,  and  excuse  this  trouble  from, 
Sir,  your  obedient  humble  servant, 

JAMES  ROBERTSON. 

N.  B.  At  the  moment  that  the  cry  of  murder 
reached  my  ears,  I  was  signing  orders  that  Fell's 
request  to  have  the  liberty  of  the  city,  and  Colonel 
Reynold  now  be  set  free  on  his  parole,  should  be 
complied  with.  I  have  not  recalled  the  order,  be 
cause,  though  the  evidence  be  strong,  I  cannot 
believe  it  possible,  a  measure  so  cruel  and  un- 
politic,  could  be  adopted,  where  you  bear  sway. 

To  WILLIAM  LIVINGSTON,  Esq.,  etc.,  etc. 

GOVERNOR  LIVINGSTON'S  ANSWER. 

January  7,  1777. 

SIR  : — Having  received  a  letter  under  your 
signature,  dated  the  4th  instant,  which  I  have 
Borne  reason  to  think  you  intended  for  me,  I  sit 


down  to  answer  your  inquiries  concerning  certain 
officers  in  the  service  of  your  king,  taken  on 
Staten  Island,  and  one  Browne,  who  calls  himself 
a  deputy  commissary  ;  and  also  respecting  one 
Iliff  and  another  prisoner,  (I  suppose  you  must 
mean  John  Mee,  he  having  shared  the  fate  yen 
mention,)  who  have  been  hanged. 

Buskirk,  Earl  and  Hammel,  who  are,  I  pre 
sume,  the  officers  intended,  with  the  said  Browne, 
were  sent  to  me  by  General  Dickenson,  as  prison 
ers  taken  on  Staten  Island.  Finding  them  all  to 
be  subjects  of  this  state,  and  to  have  committed 
treason  against  it,  the  council  of  safety  committed 
them  to  Trenton  jail.  At  the  same  time  I  ac 
quainted  General  Washington,  that  if  he  chose 
to  treat  the  three  first,  who  were  British  officers, 
as  prisoners  of  war,  I  doubted  not  the  Council  of 
Safety  would  be  satisfied.  General  Washington 
has  since  informed  me,  that  he  intends  to  consider 
them  as  such  ;  and  they  are  therefore  at  his  ser 
vice,  whenever  the  commissary  of  prisoners  shall 
direct  concerning  them.  Browne,  I  am  told,  com 
mitted  several  robberies  in  this  state,  before  he 
took  sanctuary  on  Staten  Island,  and  I  should 
scarcely  imagine  that  he  has  expiated  the  guilt  of 
his  former  crimes,  by  committing  the  greater  one, 
of  joining  the  enemies  of  his  country.  However, 
if  General  Washington  chooses  to  consider  him 
also  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  I  shall  not  interpose  in 
the  matter. 

Iliff  was  executed  after  a  trial  by  a  jury,  for 
enlisting  our  subjects,  himself  being  one,  as  re 
cruits  in  the  British  army,  and  he  was  apprehended 
on  his  way  with  them  to  Staten  Island.  Had  he 
never  been  subject  to  this  state,  he  would  have 
forfeited  his  life  as  spy.  Mee  was  one  of  his 
company,  and  had  also  procured  our  subjects  to 
enlist  in  the  service  of  the  enemy. 

If  these  transactions,  sir,  should  induce  you  to 
countenance  greater  severities  towards  our  people, 
whom  the  fortune  of  war  has  thrown  into  your 


OH.  II.] 


JUDGE  JAY'S  CHARGE. 


481 


power,  than  they  have  already  suffered,  you  will 
pardon  me  for  thinking  that  you  go  farther  out 
of  your  way  to  find  palliatives  for  inhumanity 
than  necessity  seems  to  require  ;  and  if  this  be  the 
cry  of  murder  to  which  you  allude,  as  having 
reached  your  ears,  I  sincerely  pity  your  ears  for 
being  so  frequently  assaulted  with  cries  of  murder 
much  more  audible,  because  much  less  distant ;  I 
mean  the  cries  of  your  prisoners,  who  are  con 
stantly  perishing  in  the  jails  of  New  York,  the 
coolest  and  most  deliberate  kind  of  murder,  from 
the  rigorous  manner  of  their  treatment. 

I  am,  with  all  due  respect,  your  most  humble 

servant, 

WILLIAM  LIVINGSTON. 

JAMES  ROBERTSON,  Esq.,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

P.  S.  You  have  distinguished  me  by  a  title 
which  I  have  neither  authority  nor  ambition  to 
assume.  I  know  of  no  man,  sir,  who  bears  sway 
in  this  state.  It  is  our  peculiar  felicity,  and  our 
superiority  over  the  tyrannical  system  we  have 
discarded,  that  we  are  not  swayed  by  men.  In 
New  Jersey,  sir,  the  laws  alone  bear  sway. 


II.  JUDGE  JAY'S  CHARGE. 

The  charge  delivered  by  JOHN  JAY,  ESQ.,   Chief 
Justice  of  the  State  of  New  York,  to  the  Grand 
Jury  of  the  Supreme  Court,  held  at  Kingston, 
in  Ulster  County,  September  9,  1777.* 
GENTLEMEN  : — It  affords  me  very  sensible  pleas 
ure  to  cosgratulate  you  on  the  dawn  of  that  free, 
mild  and  equal  government,  which  now  begins  to 
rise  and  break  from  amidst  those  clouds  of  an 
archy,   confusion,    and   licentiousness,  which  the 
arbitrai'y  and  violent  domination  of  the  king  of 
Great  Britain  had  spread,  in  greater  or  less  de 
grees,  throughout  this  and  the  other  American 
states.     And  it  gives  me  particular  satisfaction 
to  remark,  that  the  first  fruits  of  our  excellent 
Constitution  appear  in  a  part  of  this  state,  whose 
inhabitants    have    distinguished   themselves,   by 
having  unanimously  endeavored  to  deserve  them. 
This  is  one  of  those  signal  instances,  in  which 


•  AnvEUTiSEMENT. — The  following  charge  was  given  at  a  time 
wlion  the  Assembly  and  Se?iato  'vere  convening,  and  the  whole  sys 
tem  of  government,  established  by  the  Constitution,  about  being 
put  in  motion.  The  Grand  Inquest  was  composed  of  the  most  re 
spectable  characters  in  the  county,  and  no  less  than  twenty-two  of 
tlicm  attended  and  wern  sworn. 

VOL.  I.— 63 


Divine  Providence  has  made  the  tyranny  of 
princes  instrumental  in  breaking  the  chains  of 
their  subjects,  and  rendered  the  most  inhuman  de 
signs,  productive  of  the  best  consequences,  to 
those  against  whom  they  were  intended. 

The  infatuated  sovereign  of  Britain,  forgetful 
that  kings  were  the  servants,  not  the  proprietors, 
and  ought  to  be  the  fathers,  not  the  incendiaries 
of  their  people,  hath,  by  destroying  our  former 
Constitutions,  enabled  us  to  erect  more  eligible 
systems  of  government  on  their  ruins,  and,  by 
unwarrantable  attempts,  to  bind  us,  in  all  cases 
whatever,  has  reduced  us  to  the  happy  necessity 
of  being  free  from  his  control  in  any. 

Whoever  compares  our  present  with  our  former 
Constitution,  will  find  abundant  reason  to  rejoice 
in  the  exchange,  and  readily  admit,  that  all  the 
calamities,  incident  to  this  war,  will  be  amply 
compensated  by  the  many  blessings  flowing  from 
this  glorious  revolution.  A  revolution  which,  in 
the  whole  course  of  its  rise  and  progress,  is  dis 
tinguished  by  so  many  marks  of  the  Divine  favor 
and  interposition,  that  no  doubt  can  remain  of  its 
being  finally  accomplished. 

It  was  begun,  and  has  been  supported,  in  a 
manner  so  singular,  and  I  may  say,  miraculous, 
that  when  future  ages  shall  read  its  history,  they 
will  be  tempted  to  consider  great  part  of  it  as 
fabulous.  What,  among  other  things,  can  appear 
more  unworthy  of  credit,  than  that  in  an  enlight 
ened  age,  in  a  civilized  and  Christian  country,  in 
a  nation  so  celebrated  for  humanity,  as  well  as  love 
of  liberty  and  justice,  as  the  English  once  justly 
were,  a  prince  should  arise,  who,  by  the  influence 
of  corruption  alone,  should  be  able  to  seduce 
them  into  a  combination,  to  reduce  three  millions 
of  his  most  loyal  and  affectionate  subjects,  to  ab 
solute  slavery,  under  pretence  of  a  right,  apper 
taining  to  GOD  alone,  of  binding  them  in  all  cases 
whatever,  not  even  excepting  cases  of  conscience 
and  religion  ?  What  can  appear  more  improb 
able,  although  true,  than  that  this  prince,  and 
this  people,  should  obstinately  steel  their  hearts, 
and  shut  their  ears,  against  the  most  humble  pe 
titions  and  affectionate  remonstrances,  and  un 
justly  determine,  by  violence  and  force,  to  execute 
designs  which  were  reprobated  by  every  principle 
of  humanity,  equity,  gratitude  and  policy — de 
signs  which  would  have  been  execrable,  if  in 
tended  against  savages  and  enemies,  and  yet 
formed  against  men  descended  from  the  same  con- 


482 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  II. 


[BK.  in 


mon  ancestors  with  themselves ;  men,  who  had 
liberally  contributed  to  their  support,  and  cheer 
fully  fought  their  battles,  even  in  remote  and  bale 
ful  climates  ?  Will  it  not  appear  extraordinary, 
that  thirteen  colonies,  the  object  of  their  wicked 
designs,  divided  by  variety  of  governments  and 
manners,  should  immediately  become  one  people 
and.  though  without  funds,  without  magazines, 
without  disciplined  troops,  in  the  face  of  their  ene 
mies,  unanimously  determine  to  be  free  ;  and,  un 
daunted  by  the  power  of  Britain,  refer  their  cause 
to  the  justice  of  the  Almighty,  and  resolve  to  re 
pel  force  by  force  ?  Thereby  presenting  to  the 
world  an  illustrious  example  of  magnanimity  and 
virtue  scarcely  to  be  paralleled.  Will  it  not  be 
matter  of  doubt  and  wonder,  that,  notwithstand 
ing  these  difficulties,  they  should  raise  armies,  es 
tablish  funds,  carry  on  commerce,  grow  rich  by 
the  spoils  of  their  enemies,  and  bid  defiance  to  the 
armies  of  Britain,  the  mercenaries  of  Germany, 
and  the  savages  of  the  wilderness  ?  But,  how 
ever  incredible  these  things  may  in  future  appear, 
we  know  them  to  be  true,  and  we  should  always 
remember,  that  the  many  remarkable  and  unex 
pected  means  and  events,  by  which  our  wants 
have  been  supplied,  and  our  enemies  repelled  or 
restrained,  are  such  strong  and  striking  proofs  of 
the  interposition  of  heaven,  that  our  having  been 
hitherto  delivered  from  the  threatened  bondage  of 
Britain,  ought,  like  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews 
from  Egyptian  servitude,  to  be  forever  ascribed  to 
its  true  cause,  and  instead  of  swelling  our  breasts 
with  arrogant  ideas  of  our  prowess  and  import 
ance,  kindle  in  them  a  flame  of  gratitude  and 
piety,  which  may  consume  all  remains  of  vice  and 
irreligion. 

Blessed  be  God !  the  time  will  now  never 
arrive  when  the  prince  of  a  country,  in  an 
other  quarter  of  the  globe,  will  command  your 
obedience  and  hold  you  in  vassalage.  His  consent 
has  ceased  to  be  necessary,  to  enable  you  to  enact 
laws  essential  to  your  welfare  ;  nor  will  you,  in 
future,  be  subject  to  the  imperious  sway  of  rulers, 
instructed  to  sacrifice  your  happiness,  whenever  it 
might  be  inconsistent  with  the  ambitious  views  of 
their  royal  master. 

The  Americans  are  the  first  people  whom 
heaven  has  favored  with  an  opportunity  of  de 
liberating  upon,  and  choosing  the  forms  of  gov 
ernment  under  which  they  should  live  ;  all  other 
constitutions  have  derived  their  existence  from 


violence  or  accidental  circumstances,  and  are 
therefore  probably  more  distant  from  their  per 
fection,  which,  though  beyond  our  reach,  may 
nevertheless  be  approached  under  the  guidance  of 
reason  and  experience. 

How  far  the  people  of  this  state  have  improved 
this  opportunity,  we  are  at  no  loss  to  determine. 
Their  Constitution  has  given  general  satisfaction 
at  home,  and  been  not  only  approved,  but  ap 
plauded  abroad.  It  would  be  a  pleasing  task  to 
take  a  minute  view  of  it,  to  investigate  its  prin 
ciples,  and  remark  the  connection  and  use  of  ita 
several  parts  ;  but  that  would  be  a  work  of  too 
great  length  to  be  proper  on  this  occasion.  I 
must  therefore  confine  myself  to  general  observa 
tions  ;  and  among  those  which  naturally  arise 
from  a  consideration  of  this  subject,  none  are 
more  obvious,  than  that  the  highest  respect  has 
been  paid  to  those  great  and  equal  rights  of  hu 
man  nature,  which  should  forever  remain  inviolate 
in  every  society  ;  and  that  such  care  has  been 
taken  in  the  disposition  of  the  legislative,  execu 
tive  and  judicial  powers  of  government,  as  to 
promise  permanence  to  the  Constitution,  and  give 
energy  and  impartiality  to  the  distribution  of  jus 
tice.  So  that,  while  you  possess  wisdom  to  dis 
cern,  and  virtue  to  appoint  men  of  worth  and 
abilities,  to  fill  the  offices  of  the  state,  you  will  be 
happy  at  home  and  respectable  abroad.  Yonr 
life,  your  liberties,  your  property,  will  be  at  the 
disposal  only  of  your  Creator  and  yourselves. 
You  will  know  no  power  but  such  as  you  will 
create,  no  authority  unless  derived  from  your 
grant ;  no  laws,  but  such  as  acquire  all  their  obli 
gations  from  your  consent. 

Adequate  security  is  also  given  to  the  rights  of 
conscience  and  private  judgment.  They  arc,  b^ 
nature,  subject  to  no  control  but  that  of  the 
Deity,  and  in  that  free  situation  they  are  now  left. 
Every  man  is  permitted  to  consider,  to  adore  and 
to  worship  his  Creator  in  the  manner  most  agree 
able  to  his  conscience.  No  opinions  are  dictated  ; 
no  rules  of  faith  prescribed  ;  no  preference  given 
to  one  sect  to  the  prejudice  of  others.  The  Con 
stitution,  however,  has  wisely  declared,  that  the 
"  liberty  of  conscience,  thereby  granted,  shall  not 
be  so  construed,  as  to  excuse  acts  of  licentiousness, 
or  justify  practices  inconsistent  with  the  peace  or 
safety  of  this  state."  In  a  word,  the  Convention, 
by  whom  that  Constitution  was  formed,  were  of 
opinion,  that  the  Gospel  of  CHRIST,  like  the  ark  of 


Cn.  II.] 


JUDGE  JAY'S  CHARGE. 


483 


GOD,  would  not  fall,  though  unsupported  by  the 
arm  of  flesh,  and  happy  would  it  be  for  mankind, 
if  that  opinion  prevailed  more  generally. 

But  let  it  be  remembered,  that  whatever  marks 
of  wisdom,  experience  and  patriotism  there  may 
be  in  your  Constitution,  yet,  like  the  beautiful  sym 
metry,  the  just  proportions,  and  elegant  forms  of 
our  first  parent,  before  their  Maker  breathed  into 
them  the  breath  of  life,  it  is  yet  to  be  animated, 
and  till  then,  may  indeed  excite  admiration,  but 
will  be  of  no  use.  "FT  *^  people  it  must  re 
ceive  its  spirit,  and  by  them  be  quickened.  Let 
virtue,  honor,  the  love  of  liberty  and  of  science 
be,  and  remain,  the  soul  of  this  Constitution,  and 
it  will  become  the  source  of  great  and  extensive 
happiness  to  this  and  future  generations.  Vice, 
ignorance,  and  want  of  vigilance,  will  be  the  only 
enemies  able  to  destroy  it.  Against  these  provide, 
and,  of  these,  be  forever  jealous.  Every  member 
of  the  state,  ought  diligently  to  read. and  study 
the  Constitution  of  his  country,  and  teach  the 
rising  generation  to  be  free.  By  knowing  their 
rights,  they  will  sooner  perceive  when  they  are 
violated,  and  be  the  better  prepared  to  defend  and 
assert  them. 

This,  gentlemen,  is  the  first  court  held  under 
the  authority  of  our  Constitution,  and  I  hope  its 
proceedings  will  be  such,  as  to  merit  the  appro 
bation  of  the  friends,,  and  avoid  giving  cause  of 
censure  to  the  enemies,  of  the  present  establish 
ment. 

It  is  proper  to  observe,  that  no  person  in  this 
state,  h»:wever  exalted  or  low  his  rank,  however 


dignified  or  humble  his  station,  but  has  a  right  to 
the  protection  of,  and  is  amenable  to  the  laws  of 
the  land ;  and  that  if  those  laws  be  wisely  made, 
and  duly  executed,  innocence  will  be  defended,  op 
pression  punished,  and  vice  restrained.  Hence  it 
becomes  the  common  duty,  and  indeed  the  com 
mon  interest,  of  every  subject  of  the  state,  and 
particularly  of  those  concerned  in  the  distribution 
of  justice,  to  unite  in  repressing  the  licentious,  in 
supporting  the  laws,  and  thereby  diffusing  the 
blessings  of  peace,  security,  order,  and  good  gov 
ernment,  through  all  degrees  and  ranks  of  men 
among  us. 

I  presume  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  remind  you, 
that  neither  fear,  favor,  resentment,  or  other  per 
sonal  and  partial  considerations,  should  influence 
your  conduct.  Calm,  deliberate  reason,  candor, 
moderation,  a  dispassionate,  and  yet  a  deter 
mined  resolution  to  do  your  duty,  will,  I  am 
persuaded,  be  the  principles  by  which  you  will  be 
directed. 

You  will  be  pleased  to  observe,  that  all  offences 
committed  in  this  county  against  the  peace  of  the 
people  of  this  state,  from  treason  to  trespass,  are 
proper  objects  of  your  attention  and  inquiry. 

You  will  pay  particular  attention  to  the  prac 
tice  of  counterfeiting  the  bills  of  credit,  emitted  by 
the  general  CONGRESS,  or  other  of  the  AMERICAN 
STATES,  and  of  knowingly  passing  such  counter 
feits.  Practices  no  less  criminal  in  themselves, 
than  injurious  to  the  interest  of  that  great  cause, 
on  the  success  of  which  the  happiness  of  AMERICA 
so  essentially  depends. 


484 


THE  NORTHERN  CAMPAIGN  OF  1777. 


,  111. 


CHAPTER    III. 
1777. 

THE     NOKTHEKN     CAMPAIGN     OF      177V. 

Durgoyne  appointed  commander  over  Carleton  —  Force  under  his  commap'''  '-Indians  employed  by  the  British 
Government  —  Burgoyne's  speech  to  the  Indians  —  His  grandiloquent  proclamation  —  St.  Clair  at  Ticonderoga 
—  British  occupy  Sugar  Hill  —  St.  Clair  determines  to  retreat  —  Pursued  by  the  British  —  Severe  loss  to  the 
Americans  —  Consternation  throughout  the  colonies  in  consequence  of  Burgoyne's  success  —  Schuyler's 
vigorous  efforts  to  retard  Burgoyne's  advance  —  Proceedings  of  Congress  —  Washington's  letter  —  P»,emforce- 
ments  sent  to  the  North  —  Burgoyne's  slow  progress  —  Difficulties  in  his  way  —  Determines  to  seek  supplies 
by  an  expedition  against  Bennington  —  Zeal  of  Langdon  —  Stark  in  command  —  Baum  Defeated  —  Praise 
due  to  Stark — St.  Leger  on  the  Mohawk  —  Invests  Fort  Stanwix  —  Battle  near  Oriskany — Herkimer's 
death  —  "Willet's  sally  —  Arnold's  stratagem  —  Indian  fickleness  —  British  retreat  —  Gates  appointed  over 
Schuyler  —  Schuyler's  chagrin  —  Gates's  correspondence  with  Burgoyne  —  Death  of  Miss  McCrea  —  Burgoyne'a 
difficulties  increase  —  Crosses  the  Hudson  —  Severe  battle  at  Stillwater  —  Americans  gain  the  advantage  — 
Crisis  in  affairs  —  Second  battle  —  Very  sharp  contest  —  Fraser's  death  —  Lady  Ackland's  heroism  —  Bur 
goyne  attempts  to  retreat  —  Unable  to  do  so  —  Capitulation  —  Clinton  on  the  Hudson  —  His  success  there  — 
Vandalism  of  Vaughan  — Botta's  remarks  —  Kindness  of  Americans  to  the  foe  —  Congress  refuse  to  allow 
British  troops  to  embark.  APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  III. — I.  Burgoyne's  proclamation,  etc.  —  Poetic  Version  of 
the  proclamation.  II.  Extract  from  Gates's  and  Burgoyne's  correspondence. 


WHILE  Washington  was  engaged,  as 
we  have  related,  in  endeavoring  to 
maintain  the  cause  of  liberty  in  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  the  northern 
campaign  was  carried  on  with  vigor 
and  with  brilliant  success.  We  have 
before  spoken  of  the  plan  of  the  Brit 
ish  commander  'to  open  a  passage  by 
way  of  the  Hudson  to  Canada,  and 
thus  sever  the  Eastern  States  from  the 
remainder  of  the  confederacy,  a  plan 
which,  if  it  could  have  been  effected, 
would  have  seriously  injured  the  Amer 
ican  cause.  On  a  previous  page  (see 
pp.  370-4)  we  have  told  the  story  of  the 
Canada  expedition  and  its  ill  success, 
until  in  June,  1776,  the  Americans  en 
tirely  evacuated  Canada.  We  have  also 
detailed  the  vigorous  efforts  of  Carleton 
to  advance  southwardly,  (p.  427,  etc.) 
and  the  obstinate  resistance  of  the 


Americans  on  the  Lake  under  Arnold 
The  approach  of  winter  prevented  that 
able  British  officer  from  further  ad 
vances.  We  now  take  up  the  story  at 
the  opening  of  the  campaign  of  1777. 

General  Burgoyne,  who  was  an  am 
bitious  enterprising  man,  had  succeeded 
in  obtaining  the  command  of  the  Brit 
ish  forces  in  Canada,  notwithstanding 

'  O 

Carleton  had  displayed  superior  ability 
in  conducting  operations  in  that  quar 
ter  the  year  previous,  and  was  entitled 
to  a  continuance  of  his  command.  Bur 
goyne  had  visited  England  during  the 
winter,  concerted  with  the  ministry  a 
plan  of  the  campaign,  and  given  an  es 
timate  of  the  force  necessary  for  its 
successful  execution.  Several  distin 
guished  officers  were  sent  out  with  him, 
as  Generals  Philips,  Eraser,  Powel, 
Hamilton,  Reidesel,  and  Specht.  Be- 


CH.  III.] 


BURGOYNE'S  SPEECH  TO  THE  INDIANS. 


485 


sides  a  fine  train  of  artillery  and  a 
suitable  body  of  artillerymen,  an  army, 
consisting  of  more  than  seven  thousand 
veteran  troops,  excellently  equipped, 
and  in  a  high  state  of  discipline,  was 
put  under  his  command.  Besides  this 
regular  force,  he  had  a  great  number 
of  Canadians  and  savages. 

The  employment  of  the  Indians  was 
deliberately  determined  upon  by  the 
British  government  at  the  very  com 
mencement  of  hostilities.  This,  though 
sometimes  doubted,  is  clearly  proved 
by  the  letters  of  Lord  Dartmouth  to 
Colonel  Johnson,  under  date  of  the  5th 
and  24th  of  July,  1775.  "It  is  his 
Majesty's  pleasure,"  says  the  secretary, 
"that  you  do  lose  no  time  in  taking 
such  steps  as  may  induce  the  Six  Na 
tions  to  take  up  the  hatchet  against  his 
Majesty's  rebellious  subjects  in  Amer 
ica,  and  to  engage  them,  in  his  Majes 
ty's  service  upon  such  plan  as  shall  be 
suggested  to  you  by  General  Gage,  to 
whom  this  letter  is  sent,  accompanied 
with  a  large  assortment  of  goods  for 
presents  to  them  upon  this  important 
occasion."*  As  no  small  dependence 
was  placed  upon  the  Indian  allies,  Gen- 
ral  Carleton  was  directed  to  use  all  his 
influence  to  bring  a  large  body  of  them 
into  the  field,  and  his  exertions  were 
very  successful. 

After  detaching  Colonel  St.  Leger, 
with  a  body  of  light  troops  and  In 
dians,  amounting  to  about  eight  him- 


*  See  Judge  Campbell's  interesting  paper,  read  be 
fore  the  "  New  York  Historical  Society,"  Oct.  7th, 
1815,  in  relation  to  "  the  direct  agency  of  the  British 
Government  in  the  employment  of  the  Indians  in  the 
Revolutionary  War."  Appendix  to  "  The  Border 
Warfare  of  New  }>»•*•  "  pp.  321-337. 


1777. 


dred  men,  by  the  way  of  Lake  Oswego 
and  the  Mohawk  River,  to  make  a  di 
version  in  that  quarter,  and  to  join 
him  when  he  advanced  to  the 
Hudson,  General  Burgoyne  left 
St  John's,  on  the  16th  of  June,  and,  pre 
ceded  by  his  naval  armament,  sailed 
up  Lake  Champlain,  and  in  a  few 
days  landed  and  encamped  near  Crown 
Point,  earlier  in  the  season  than  it  had 
been  supposed  possible  for  him  to  ef 
fect  this  movement. 

It  was  here  that  Burgoyne  gave  the 
Indians  a  war-feast,  and  made  a  speech 
to  them,  calculated  to  inflame  their 
zeal,  and  intended  also  to  restrain  their 
barbarous  excesses.  "  Go  forth,"  he 
said,  "  in  the  might  of  your  valour ; 
strike  at  the  common  enemies  of  Great 
Britain  and  America,  disturbers  of  pub 
lic  order,  peace,  and  happiness,  destroy 
ers  of  commerce,  parricides  of  the 
state."  lie  praised  their  perseverance 
and  constancy,  and  patient  endurance 
of  privation,  and  artfully  flattered 
them  by  saying,  that  in  these  respects 
they  offered  a  model  of  imitation  for 
his  army.  He  then  entreated  of  them, 
as  the  king's  allies,  to  regulate  their 
own  mode  of  warfare  by  that  pro 
scribed  to  their  civilized  brethren.  "  I 
positively  forbid,"  he  further  said  to 
them,  "  all  bloodshed  when  you  are  not 
opposed  in  arms.  Aged  men,  women, 
and  children,  must  be  held  sacred  from 
the  knife  and  hatchet  even  in  the  time 
of  actual  conflict.  You  shall  receive 
compensation  for  the  prisoners  you 
take,  but  you  shall  be  called  to  ac 
count  for  scalps.  In  conformity  and 
indulgence  to  your  customs,  which  have 
affixed  an  idea  of  honor  to  such  badges 


486 


THE  NORTHERN   CAMPAIGN   OF   1777. 


[BK.  IIL 


of  victory,  you  shall  be  allowed  to  take 
tlie  scalps  of  tlie  dead  when  killed  by 
your  fire  and  in  fair  opposition,  but  on 
no  account,  or  pretence,  or  subtlety,  or 
prevarication,  are  they  to  be  taken 
from  the  wounded,  or  even  the  dying, 
and  still  less  pardonable,  if  possible, 
will  it  be  held  to  kill  men  in  that  con 
dition  on  purpose,  and  upon  a  supposi 
tion  that  this  protection  to  the  wounded 
would  thereby  be  evaded."  The  In 
dians,  were,  as  usual,  ready  to  promise 
what  was  expected  of  them ;  but  no 
reliance  was  to  be  placed  upon  their 
promises,  and  the  English  name  re 
ceived  a  stain  not  easy  to  efface,  in 
having  let  loose  upon  the  Americans 
the  savage  fury  of  their  Indian  confed 
erates. 

Burgoyne  having  advanced  to  Ti- 
conderoga,  under  date  of  July  2d, 
Issued  a  grandiloquent  proclamation, 
addressed  to  the  people  of  the  coun 
try,  threatening  terrible  things  to 
the  refractory,  and  holding 
out  promises  of  protection  and 
favor  to  those  who  would  submit. 
This  proclamation,  coming  from  a  man 
of  some  considerable  literary  preten 
sion,  is  a  curious  document ;  the  reader 
will  find  it  in  the  Appendix  to  the 
present  chapter,  as  also  one  of  those 
keen,  satirical  replies  to  which  it  gave 
rise.  In  truth,  nothing  could  have 
been  more  ill-judged;  for  the  Amer 
icans  were  the  last  people  in  the  world 
to  be  frightened  or  cajoled  by  bom 
bastic  words. 

Ticonderoga  was  but  poorly  garri 
soned,  in  consequence  of  the  larger 
part  of  the  force  from  the  north  hav 
ing  joined  the  commander-in-chief,  in 


177T. 


New  Jersey.  General  St.  Clair  was  in 
command,  and  had  about  two  thou 
sand  men  under  him;  but  the  works 
were  extensive  enough  to  require  ten 
thousand  to  man  them  fully  against  a 
strong  invading  force.  Opposite  Ticon 
deroga,  on  the  east  side  of  the  channel, 
which  is  here  between  three  hundred 
and  four  hundred  yards  wide,  stands  a 
high  circular  hill,  called  Mount  Inde 
pendence,  which  had  been  occupied  by 
the  Americans  when  they  abandoned 
Crown  Point,  and  strongly  fortified 
On  the  top  of  it,  which  is  flat,  they 
had  erected  a  fort,  and  provided  it  suf 
ficiently  with  artillery.  Near  the  foot 
of  the  mountain,  which  extends  to  the 
water's  edge,  they  had  raised  entrench 
ments,  and  mounted  them  with  heavy 
guns,  and  had  covered  those  lower 
works  by  a  battery  about  half  way  up 
the  hill. 

With  prodigious  labor  they  had 
constructed  a  communication  between 
those  two  posts,  by  means  of  a  wooden 
bridge  which  was  supported  by  twenty- 
two  strong  wooden  pillars,  placed  at 
nearly  equal  distances  from  each  other. 
The  spaces  between  the  pillars  were 
filled  up  by  separate  floats,  strongly 
fastened  to  each  other  and  to  the  pil 
lars,  by  chains  and  rivets.  The  bridge 
was  twelve  feet  wide,  and  the  side  of 
it  next  Lake  Champlain  was  defended 
by  a  boom  formed  of  large  pieces  of 
timber,  bolted  and  bound  together  by 
double  iron  chains  an  inch  and  a  half 
thick.  Thus  an  easy  communication 
was  established  between  Ticonderoga 
and  Mount  Independence,  and  the  pas 
sage  of  vessels  up  the  strait  prevented. 

Immediately  after  passing  Ticonder- 


CH.  III.] 


ST.   CLAIR  EVACUATES  TICONDEROGA. 


48? 


oga,  the  channel  becomes  wider,  and, 
on  the  south-east  side,  receives  a  large 
body  of  water  from  a  stream,  at  that 
point  called  South  River,  but  higher 
up,  named  Wood  Creek.  From  the 
south-west  come  the  waters  flowing 
from  Lake  George;  and  in  the  angle 
formed  by  the  confluence  of  those  two 
streams  rises  a  steep  and  rugged  emi 
nence,  called  Sugar  Hill,  which  over 
looks  and  commands  both  Ticonderoga 
and  Mount  Independence.  That  hill 
had  been  examined  by  the  Americans; 
but  General  St.  Clair,  considering  the 
force  under  his  command  insufficient  to 
occupy  the  extensive  works  of  Ticon 
deroga  and  Mount  Independence,  and 
flattering  himself  that  the  extreme  dif 
ficulty  of  the  ascent  would  prevent  the 
British  from  availing  themselves  of  it, 
neglected  to  take  possession  of  Sugar 
Hill. 

When  the  van  of  Burgoyne's  army 
appeared,  St.  Clair  was  ignorant  of  the 
powerful  force  which  was  at  hand.  No 
news  of  the  large  reinforcements  from 
Europe  had  reached  him,  and  he  sup 
posed  that  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
repulse  any  assault  upon  the  fort.  The 
British,  however,  -encamped  with  a 
large  force  only  four  miles  from  the 
forts,  and  the  fleet  anchored  just  be 
yond  the  reach  of  the  guns.  After  a 
slight  resistance,  Burgoyne  took  posses 
sion  of  Mount  Hope,  an  important  post 
on  the  south  of  Ticonderoga,  which 
commanded  part  of  the  lines  of  the 
for4--,  as  well  as  the  channel  leading  to 
Lake  George,  and  extended  his  lines  so 
as  completely  to  invest  the  fort  on  the 
west  side.  The  German  division,  under 
General  Reidesel,  occupied  the  eas 


tern  bank  of  the  channel,  and  sent 
forward  a  detachment  to  the  vicinity 
of  the  rivulet  which  flows  from  Mount 
Independence.  Burgoyne,  being  in 
formed  that  Sugar  Hill,  if  occupied, 
completely  commanded  the  fortress,  re 
solved  to  take  possession  of  it  at  once  • 
and  with  very  great  labor  and  difficulty, 
after  five  days'  labor,  the  artillery  was 
dragged  to  the  top,  and  the  hill  waa 
named  Mount  Defiance,  because  now  the 
British  were  able  to  defy  their  enemies 
to  good  purpose. 

The  besieged  were  unable  to  oppose 
any  check  to  these  movements,  and  St. 
Clair  was  now  nearly  surrounded.  Only 
the  space  between  the  stream  which 
flows  from  Mount  Independence  and 
South  River  remained  open,  and  that 
was  to  be  occupied  next  day. 

In  these  circumstances  it  was  requi 
site  for  the  garrison  to  come  to  a 
prompt  and  decisive  resolution ;  either, 
at  every  hazard,  to  defend  the  place  to 
the  last  extremity,  or  immediately  to 
abandon  it.  St.  Clair  called  a  council  of 
war,  the  members  of  which  unanimously 
advised  the  immediate  evacuation  of  the 
forts  ;  and  preparations  were  instantly 
made  for  carrying  this  decision  into  ef 
fect.  The  British  had  the  command  of 
the  communication  with  Lake  George ; 
and,  consequently,  the  garrison  could 
not  escape  in  that  direction.  The  re 
treat  could  be  effected  by  the  South 
River  only.  Accordingly,  the  invalids, 
the  hospital,  and  such  stores  as  could 
be  most  easily  removed,  were  put  on 
board  two  hundred  boats,  and,  escorted 
by  Colonel  Long's  regiment,  proceeded, 
on  the  night  between  the  5th  and  6th 
of  July,  up  the  South  River  towards 


488 


THE  NORTHERN   CAMPAIGN   OF   1777. 


[BK.  in. 


1777. 


Skeenesborough.  The  garrisons  of  Ti- 
conderoga  and  Mount  Independence 
marched  by  land  through  Castleton 
towards  the  same  place.  The  troops 
were  ordered  to  march  out  in  profound 
silence,  and  particularly  to  set  nothing 
on  fire.  But  these  prudent  orders 
were  disobeyed ;  and,  before  the  rear 
guard  was  in  motion,  the  house  on 
Mount  Independence,  which  General 
Fermoy  had  occupied,  was  seen  in 
flames.  That  served  as  a  signal  to  the 
enemy,  who  immediately  entered  the 
works,  and  fired,  but  without  effect,  on 
the  rear  of  the  retreating  army. 

The  Americans  marched  in  some 
confusion  to  Hubbardton,  whence  the 
main  body,  under  St.  Clair,  pushed  for 
ward  to  Castleton.  But  the  English 
were  not  idle.'  General  Fra- 
ser,  at  the  head  of  a  strong 
detachment  of  grenadiers  and  light 
troops,  commenced  an  eager  pursuit 
by  land,  upon  the  right  bank  of  Wood 
Creek.  General  Reidesel,  behind  him, 
rapidly  advanced  with  his  Brunswick- 
ers,  either  to  support  the  English,  or  to 
act  separately,  as  occasion  might  re 
quire.  Burgoyne  determined  to  pur 
sue  the  enemy  by  water.  But  it  was 
first  necessary  to  destroy  the  boom  and 
bridge  which  had  been  constructed  in 
front  of  Ticonderoga.  The  British 
seamen  and  artificers  immediately  en 
gaged  in  the  operation,  and  in  less 
time  than  it  would  have  taken  to  de 
scribe  their  structure,  those  works, 
which  had  cost  so  much  labor  and  so 
vast  an  expense,  were  cut  through  and 
demolished.  The  passage  thus  cleared, 
the  ships  of  Burgoyne  immediately  en 
tered  Wood  Creek,  and  proceeded 


with  extreme  rapidity  in  search  of  the 
enemy.  All  was  in  movement  at  once 
upon  land  and  water.  By  three  iir. 
the  afternoon,  the  van  of  the  British 
squadron,  composed  of  gun-boats,  came 
up  with  and  attacked  the  American 
galleys  near  Skeenesborough  Falls.  In 
the  mean  time,  three  regiments  which 
had  been  landed  at  South  Bay,  ascended 
and  passed  a  mountain  with  great  ex 
pedition,  in  order  to  turn  the  enemy 
above  Wood  Creek,  to  destroy  his 
works  at  the  Falls  of  Skeenesborousrh. 

O      / 

and  thus  to  cut  off  his  retreat  to  Fort 
Anne.  But  the  Americans  eluded  this 
stroke  by  the  rapidity  of  their  flight. 
The  British  frigates  having  joined  the 
van,  the  galleys,  already  hard  pressed 
by  the  gun-boats,  were  completely 
overpowered.  Two  of  them  surren 
dered  ;  three  of  them  were  blown  up 
The  Americans  now  despaired :  hav 
ing  set  fire  to  their  boats,  mills,  and 
other  works,  they  fell  back  upon  Fort 
Anne  higher  up  Wood  Creek.  All 
their  baggage,  however,  was  lost,  and 
a  large  quantity  of  provisions  and  mili 
tary  stores  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
British. 

The  pursuit  by  land  was  not  less  ac 
tive.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the 
Tth  of  July,  the  British  overtook  the 
American  rear-guard,  who,  in  opposi 
tion  to  St.  Glair's  orders,  had  lingered 
behind  and  posted  themselves  on  strong 
ground  in  the  vicinity  of  Hubbardton. 
Eraser's  troops  were  little  more  than 
half  the  number  opposed  to 

.  1777. 

him,  but  aware  that   Keidesel 
was  close  behind,  and  fearful  lest  his 
chase  should  give  him  the  slip,  he  or 
dered  an  immediate  attack.     Warner 


CH.  III.] 


BURGOYNE'S  SUCCESS  AT  FIRST. 


488 


opposed  a  vigorous  resistance,  but  a 
large  body  of  his  militia  retreated,  and 
left  him  to  sustain  the  combat  alone, 
when  the  firing  of  Keidesel's  advanced 
guard  was  heard,  and  shortly  after  his 
whole  force,  drums  beating  and  colors 
flying,  emerged  from  the  shades  of  the 
forest ;  and  part  of  his  troops  immedi 
ately  effected  a  junction  with  the  Brit 
ish  line.  Fraser  now  gave  orders  for  a 
simultaneous  advance  with  the  bayo 
net,  which  was  effected  with  such  re 
sistless  impetuosity  that  the  Amer 
icans  broke  and  fled,  sustaining  a  very 
serious  loss.  St.  Clair,  upon  hearing 
the  firing,  endeavored  to  send  back 
some  assistance,  but  the  discouraged 
militia  refused  to  return,  and  there 
was  no  alternative  but  to  collect  the 
wrecks  of  his  army,  and  proceed  to 
Fort  Edward  to  effect  a  junction  with 
Scliuyler. 

Burgoyne  lost  not  a  moment  in 
following  up  his  success  at  Skeenes- 
borough,  but  dispatched  a  regiment  to 
effect  the  capture  of  Fort  Anne,  de 
fended  by  a  small  party  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Long.  This  of 
ficer  judiciously  posted  his  troops  in  a 
narrow  ravine  through  which  his  assail 
ants  were  compelled  to  pass,  and  open 
ed  upon  them  so  severe  a  fire  in  front, 
flank,  and  rear,  that  the  British  regi 
ments,  nearly  surrounded,  with  diffi 
culty  escaped  to  a  neighboring  hill, 
where  the  Americans  attacked  them 
anew  with  such  vigor  that  they  must 
have  been  utterly  defeated,  had  not 
the  ammunition  of  the  assailants  given 
out  at  this  critical  moment.  No  longer 
being  able  to  fight,  Long's  troops  fell 
back,  and,  setting  the  fort  on  fire,  also 

VOL.  I.— 64 


1777. 


directed  their  retreat  to  the  head-quar 
ters  at  Fort  Edward. 

Nothing,  as  Botta  remarks,*  could 
exceed  the  consternation  and  terror 
which  the  victory  of  Ticonderoga,  and 
the  subsequent  successes  of 
Burgoyne,  spread  through  the 
American  provinces,  nor  the  joy  and 
exultation  they  excited  in  England. 
The  arrival  of  these  glad  tidings  was 
celebrated  by  the  most  brilliant  re 
joicings  at  court,  and  welcomed  with 
the  same  enthusiasm  by  all  those  who 
desired  the  unconditional  reduction  of 
America.  They  already  announced  the 
approaching  termination  of  this  glo 
rious  war ;  they  openly  declared  it  a 
thing  impossible,  that  the  rebels  should 
ever  recover  from  the  shock  of  their 
recent  losses,  as  well  of  men  as  of 
arms,  and  of  military  stores,  and  espe 
cially  that  they  should  ever  regain 
their  courage  and  reputation,  which, 
in  war,  always  contribute  to  suc 
cess,  as  much,  at  least,  as  arms  them 
selves.  Even  the  ancient  reproaches 
of  cowardice  were  renewed  against  the 
Americans,  and  their  own  partisans 
abated  much  of  the  esteem  they  had 
borne  them.  They  were  more  than 
half  disposed  to  pronounce  the  colo 
nists  unworthy  to  defend  that  liberty, 
which  they  gloried  in  with  so  much 
complacency.  But  it  deserves  to  be 
noted  here  especially,  that  there  was 
no  sign  of  faltering  on  the  part  of  the 
people,  no  disposition  to  submit  to  the 
invading  force.  The  success  of  the 
enemy  did  but  nerve  our  fathers  to 

*  "  History  of  the  War  of  Independence,"  vol.  iv 
p.  280. 


490 


THE  NORTHERN   CAMPAIGN  OF   1777. 


[BK.    111. 


more  vigorous  resolves  to  maintain  the 

O 

cause  of  liberty  even  unto  death. 

Certainly,  the  campaign  had  been 
opened  and  prosecuted  thus  far  in  a 
very  dashing  style  by  Burgoyne,  and 
had  he  been  able  to  press  forward,  it 
i3  quite  possible  that  success  might 
have  crowned  his  efforts.  But  there 
were  some  sixteen  miles  of  forest  yet 
to  be  traversed  ;  Burgoyne  delayed  for 
his  baggage  and  stores ;  and  mean 
while,  General  Schuyler,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  American  forces,  took 
such  steps  as  would  necessarily  put  a 
stop  to  the  rapid  approach  of  the  ene 
my.  Trenches  were  opened  ;  the  roads 
and  paths  were  obstructed  ;  the  bridges 
were  broken  up ;  and  in  the  only  prac 
ticable  defiles,  large  trees  were  cut  in 
such  ji  manner,  on  both  sides  of  the 
road,  as  to  fall  across  and  lengthwise, 
which,  with  their  branches  interwoven, 
presented  an  insurmountable  barrier: 
in  a  word,  this  wilderness,  of  itself  by 
no  means  easy  of  passage,  was  thus 
rendered  almost  absolutely  impenetra 
ble.  Nor  did  Schuyler  rest  satisfied 
with  these  precautions ;  he  directed 
the  cattle  to  be  removed  to  the  most 
distant  places,  and  the  stores  and  bag 
gage  from  Fort  George  to  Fort  Ed 
ward,  that  articles  of  such  necessity 
for  the  troops  might  not  fall  into  the 
power  of  the  British.  He  urgently  de 
manded  that  all  the  regiments  of  regu 
lar  troops  found  in  the  adjacent  states 
should  be  sent,  without  delay,  to  join 
him ;  he  also  made  earnest  and  fre 
quent  calls  upon  the  militia  of  New 
England  and  of  New  York.  He  like 
wise  exerted  his  utmost  endeavors  to 
procure  himself  recruits  in  the  vicinity 


of  Fort  Edward  and  the  city  of  Al 
bany  ;  the  great  influence  he  enjoyed 
with  the  inhabitants,  gave  him,  in  this 
quarter,  all  the  success  he  could  desire 
Finally,  to  retard  the  progress  of  the 
enemy,  he  resolved  to  threaten  his  left 
flank.  Accordingly,  he  detached  Colo 
nel  Warner,  with  his  regiment,  into 
the  state  of  Vermont,  with  orders  to 
assemble  the  militia  of  the  country,  and 
to  make  incursions  towards  Ticonder- 
oga.  In  fact,  Schuyler  did  every  thing 
which  was  possible  to  be  done  under 
the  circumstances ;  and  it  is  not  too 
much  to  assert,  in  justice  to  the  good 
name  of  General  Schuyler,  that  the 
measures  which  he  adopted  paved  the 
way  to  the  victory  which  finally  crown 
ed  the  American  arms  at  Saratoga. 

Washington,  equally  with  Congress. 
supposing  that  Schuyler's  force  was 
stronger,  and  that  of  the  British  weak 
er,  than  was  really  the  case,  was  very 
greatly  distressed  and  astonished  at  the 
disasters  which  befell  the  American 
cause  in  the  north.  He  waited,  there 
fore,  with  no  little  anxiety,  later  and 
more  correct  information  before  he  was 
willing  to  pronounce  positively  upon 
the  course  pursued  by  St.  Clair.  When 
that  officer  joined  Schuyler,  the  whole 
force  did  not  exceed  four  thousand 
four  hundred  men  ;  about  half  of  these 
were  militia,  and  the  whole  were  ill 
clothed,  badly  armed,  and  greatly  dis 
pirited  by  the  recent  reverses.  Very 
ungenerously  and  unjustly,  it  was  pro 
posed  to  remove  the  northern  officers 
from  the  command,  and  send  succes 
sors  in  their  places.  An  inquiry  was  in 
stituted  by  order  of  Congress,  which 
resulted  honorably  for  Schuyler  and 


CH.  III.] 


FORCE  UNDER  STARK. 


493 


need  of  pioviding  defence  for  the  fron 
tiers,  and  with  whole-hearted  patriotism 
thus  addressed  them :  "  I  have  three 
thousand  dollars  in  hard  money ;  I  will 
pledge  my  plate  for  three  thousand 
more.  I  have  seventy  hogsheads  of 
Tobago  rum.  which  shall  be  sold  for 

O  i 

the  most  it  will  bring.  These  are  at 
the  service  of  the  state.  If  we  succeed 
in  defending  our  fire-sides  and  homes  I 
may  be  remunerated  ;  if  we  do  not, 
the  property  will  be  of  no  value  to  me. 
Our  old  friend  Stark,  who  so  nobly 
sustained  the  honor  of  our  state  at 
Bunker  Hill,  may  be  safely  entrusted 
with  the  conduct  of  the  enterprise,  and 
we  will  check  the  progress  of  Bur- 
goyne."  This  brave  son  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  conceiving  himself  aggrieved  by 
certain  action  of  Congress  in  appointing 
junior  officers  over  his  head,  had  re 
signed  his  commission.  He  was  now 
prevailed  upon  to  take  service  under 
authority  from  his  native  state,  it  being 
understood  that  he  was  to  act  indepen 
dently  as  to  his  movements  against  the 
enemy.  Stark's  popularity  speedily 
called  in  the  militia,  who  were  ready  to 
take  the  field  under  him  without  hesita 
tion. 

Soon  after,  Stark  proceeded  to  Man 
chester,  twenty  miles  north  of  Benning- 
ton,  where  Colonel  "Warner  had  taken 
post  with  the  troops  under  his 
command.  Here  he  met  Gen 
eral  Lincoln,  who  had  been  sent  by 
Schuyler  to  lead  the  militia  to  the  west 
bank  of  the  Hudson.  Stark  refused  to 
accede  to  Schuyler's  demand,  and  Con 
gress,  on  the  19th  of  August,  passed  a 
vote  of  censure  upon  his  conduct.  But 
Stark  did  not  know  of  this  ;  and  as  his 


course  was  clearly  that  of  sound  policy, 
and  his  victory  two  days  before  the 
censure  cast  upon  him  showed  it  to  be 
so,  he  had  the  proud  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  the  Commander-in-chief 
approved  of  his  plan  of  harassing  the 
rear  of  the  British,  and  that  the  victory 
of  Bennington  paralyzed  the  entire  op 
erations  of  Burgoyne. 

On  the  day  that  Baum  set  out  Stark 
arrived  at  Bennington.  The  progress 
of  the  German  troops,  at  first  tolerably 
prosperous,  was  soon  impeded  by  the 
state  of  the  roads  and  the  weather,  and 
as  soon  as  Stark  heard  of  their  ap 
proach  he  hurried  off  expresses  to  War 
ner  to  join  him,  who  began  his  march 
in  the  night.  After  sending  forward 
Colonel  Gregg  to  reconnoitre  the  ene 
my,  he  advanced  to  the  rencontre  with 
Baum,  who  finding  the  country  thus 
risino;  around  him,  halted  and  entrench- 

o 

ed  himself  in  a  strong  position  above 
the  Wollainsac  Kiver,  and  sent  off  an 
express  to  Burgoyne,  who  instantly  dis 
patched  Lieutenant-Colonel  Breyman 
with  a  strong  reinforcement. 

O 

During  the  15th  of  August,  the  rain 
prevented  any  serious  movement.*  The 


*  An  anecdote  connected  with  this  battle  is  worth 
relating.  Among  the  reinforcements  from  Berkshire 
county,  came  a  clergyman,  with  a  portion  of  his 
flock,  resolved  to  make  bare  the  arm  of  flesh  against 
the  enemies  of  the  country.  Before  daylight  on  the 
morning  of  the  16th,  he  addressed  the  commander 
as  follows  :  "  We  the  people  of  Berkshire  have  been 
frequently  called  upon  to  fight,  but  have  never  been 
led  against  the  enemy.  We  have  now  resolved,  if 
you  will  not  let  us  fight,  never  to  turn  out  again." 
General  Stark  asked  him,  "  if  he  wished  to  march 
then,  when  it  was  dark  and  rainy."  "  No,"  was  the 
answer.  "Then,"  continued  Stark,  "if  the  Lord 
should  once  more  give  us  sunshine,  and  I  do  not  give 
you  fighting  enough,  I  will  never  ask  you  to  come 


494 


THE  NORTHERN  CAMPAIGN   OF   1777. 


[Bs.  Ill 


Germans  and  English,  continued  to  la 
bor  at  their  entrenchments,  upon  which 
they  had  mounted  two  pieces  of  artil 
lery.  The  following  day  was  bright 
and  sunny,  and  early  in  the  morning 
Stark  sent  forward  two  columns  to 
storm  the  entrenchments  at  different 
points,  and  when  the  firing  had  com 
menced,  threw  himself  on  horseback 
and  advanced  with  the  rest  of  his 
troops.  As  soon  as  the  enemy's  col 
umns  were  seen  forming  on  the  hill 
side,  he  exclaimed,  "  See,  men !  there 
are  the  red-coats  ;  we  must  beat  to-day, 
or  Molly  Stark's  a  widow."  The  mili 
tia  replied  to  this  appeal  by  a  tremen 
dous  shout,  and  the  battle  Avhich  en 
sued,  as  Stark  states  in  his  official  re 
port,  "lasted  two  hours,  and  was  the 
hottest  I  ever  saw.  It  was  like  one 
continual  clap  of  thunder."  The  In 
dians  ran  off  at  the  beginning  of  the 
battle  ;  the  tories  were  driven  across 
the  river ;  and  although  the  Germans 
fought  bravely,  they  were  compelled 
to  abandon  the  entrenchments,  and  fled, 
leaving  their  artillery  and  baggage  on 
the  field. 

As  Breyman  and  his  corps  approach 
ed,  they  heard  the  firing,  and  hurried 
forward  to  the  aid  of  their  countrymen. 
An  hour  or  two  earlier,  and  they  might 
have  given  a  different  turn  to  the  affair, 
but  the  heavy  rain  had  delayed  their 
progress.  They  met  and  rallied  the 
fugitives,  and  returned  to  the  field  of 
battle.  Stark's  troops,  who  were  en 
gaged  in  plunder,  were  taken  in  great 


again."  The  weather  cleared  up,  in  the  course  of 
the  day,  and  the  men  of  Berkshire  followed  their 
spiritual  guide  into  action. 


measure  by  surprise,  and  the  victory 
might  after  all  have  been  wrested  from 
their  grasp,  but  for  the  opportune  ar 
rival  of  Warner's  regiment  at  the  criti 
cal  moment.  The  battle  continued  un 
til  sunset,  when  the  Germans,  over 
whelmed  with  numbers,  at  length  aban 
doned  their  baggage  and  fled.  Colonel 
Baum,  their  brave  commander,  was 
killed,  and  the  British  loss  amounted 
to  some  eight  or  nine  hundred  effective 
troops,  in  killed  and  prisoners.  The 
loss  of  the  Americans  was  thirty  killed 
and  forty  wounded.  Stark's  horse  was 
killed  in  the  action. 

Too  much  praise,  as  Mr.  Everett  well 
remarks,*  cannot  be  bestoAved  on  the 
conduct  of  those  who  gained  the  battle 
of  Bennington,  officers  and  men.  It  is 
perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  example 
of  the  performance  by  militia  of  all  that 
is  expected  of  regular,  veteran  troops. 
The  fortitude  and  resolution,  Avith  which 
the  lines  at  Bunker  Hill  Avere  main 
tained,  by  recent  recruits,  against  the 
assault  of  a  powerful  army  of  expe 
rienced  soldiers,  have  always  been  re 
garded  with  admiration.  But  at  Ber 
nington,  the  hardy  yeomen  of  New 
Hampshire,  Vermont,  and  Massachu 
setts,  many  of  them  fresh  from  the 
plough  and  unused  to  the  camp,  "ad 
vanced,"  as  General  Stark  expresses  it 
in  his  official  letter,  "  through  fire  and 
smoke,  and  mounted  breastworks,  that 
were  well  fortified  and  defended  with 
cannon," 

Fortunately  for  the  success  of  the 
battle,  Stark  was  most  ably  seconded 
by  the  officers  under  him ;  every  pre- 

*  "  Life  of  John  StarTc?  p.  58. 


CH.  III.] 


THE    VICTORY  AT  BENN1NGTON. 


495 


vions  disposition  of  his  little  force  was 
most  faithfully  executed.  He  expresses 
his  particular  obligations  to  Colonels 
Warner  and  Herrick,  "  whose  superior 
skill  was  of  great  service  to  him."  In 
deed  the  battle  was  planned  and  fought 
with  a  degree  of  military  talent  and 
science,  which  would  have  done  no  dis 
credit  to  any  service  in  Europe.  A 
higher  degree  of  discipline  might  have 
enabled  the  general  to  check  the  eager 
ness  of  his  men  to  possess  themselves  of 
the  spoils  of  victory ;  but  his  ability, 
even  in  that  moment  of  dispersion  and 
under  the  flush  of  success,  to  meet  and 
conquer  a  hostile  reinforcement,  evinces 
a  judgment  and  resource,  not  often 
equalled  in  partisan  warfare. 

In  fact,  it  would  be  the  height  of  in- 

*  O 

justice  not  to  recognize,  in  this  battle, 
the  marks  of  the'  master  mind  of  the 
leader,  which  makes  good  officers  and 
good  soldiers  out  of  any  materials,  and 
infuses  its  own  spirit  into  all  that  sur 
round  it.  This  brilliant  exploit  was  the 
work  of  Stark,  from  its  inception  to  its 
achievement.  His  popular  name  called 
the  militia  together.  His  resolute  will 
obtained  him  a  separate  commission, — 
at  the  expense,  it  is  true,  of  a  wise  po 
litical  principle, — but  on  the  present 
occasion,  with  the  happiest  effect.  His 
firmness  prevented  him  from  being 
overruled  by  the  influence  of  General 
Lincoln,  which  would  have  led  him, 
with  his  troops,  across  the  Hudson. 
How  few  are  the  men,  who  in  such  a 
crisis  would  not  merely  not  have  sought, 
but  actually  have  repudiated,  a  junction 
with  the  main  army  !  How  few,  who 
would  not  only  have  desired,  but  actu 
ally  insisted  on  taking  the  responsibility 


of  separate  action  !  Having  chosen  the 
burden  of  acting  alone,  he  acquitted 
himself  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty, 
with  the  spirit  and  vigor  of  a  man,  con 
scious  of  ability  proportioned  to  the 
crisis.  He  advanced  against  the  enemy 
with  promptitude  ;  sent  forward  a  small 
force  to  reconnoitre  and  measure  his 
strength  ;  chose  his  ground  deliberate 
ly  and  with  skill ;  planned  and  fought 
the  battle  with  gallantry  and  success. 

The  consequences  of  this  victory 
were  of  great  moment.  It  roused  the 
people,  and  nerved  them  to  the  contest 
with  the  enemy ;  and  it  also  justified 
the  sagacity  of  Washington,  whose 
words  we  have  quoted  on  a  previous 
page.  Burgoyne's  plans  were  wholly 
deranged,  and  instead  of  relying  upon 
lateral  excursions,  to  keep  the  popula 
tion  in  alarm,  and  obtain  supplies,  he 
was  compelled  to  procure  necessaries 
as  best  he  might,  and  the  militia  flock 
ed  to  the  standard  of  Gates.  His  rear 
was  exposed,  and  Stark,  acting  on  his  line 
of  policy,  prepared  to  place  himself  so 
that  Burgoyne  might  be  hemmed  in, 
and  be,  as  soon  after  he  was,  unable  to 
advance  or  retreat. 

The  defeat  at  Bennington  was,  how 
ever,  not  the  only  misfortune  which 
now  fell  upon  the  British  arms.  We 
have  noted,  on  a  previous  page,  that 
Burgoyne  had  detached  Colonel  St. 
Leger  with  a  body  of  regular  troops, 
Canadians,  loyalists,  and  Indians,  by 
the  way  of  Oswego,  to  make  a  diver- 
sion  on  the  upper  part  of  the  Mohawk 
River,  and  afterwards  join  him  on  his 
way  to  Albany.  On  the  2d  of  August, 
St.  Leger  approached  Fort  Stanwix,  or 
Schuyler,  a  log  fortification,  situated  on 


490 


THE  NORTHERN   CAMPAIGN   OF   1777. 


K.  III. 


1777. 


rising  ground,  near  the  source  of  the 
Mohawk  River,  and  garrisoned  by  about 
six  hundred  continentals,  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Ganse- 
voort.  Next  day,  he  invested 
the  place  with  an  army  of  sixteen  or 
seventeen  hundred  men,  nearly  one 
half  of  whom  were  Indians,  and  the 
rest  British,  Germans,  Canadians,  and 
tories.  On  being  summoned  to  sur 
render,  Gansevoort  answered  that  he 
would  defend  the  place  to  the  last. 

On  the  approach  of  St.  Leger  to  Fort 
Schuyler,  General  Herkimer,  who  com 
manded  the  militia  of  Tryon  County, 
assembled  abc^kseven  hundred  of 
them,  and  march ea  to  the  alkistance  of 
the  garrison.  On  the  forenoon  of  the 
6th  of  August,  a  messenger  from  Her- 

O  '  O 

kimer  found  means  to  enter  the  fort, 
and  gave  notice  that  he  was  only  eight 
miles  distant,  and  intended  that  day  to 
force  a  passage  into  the  fort,  and  join 
the  garrison.  Gansevoort  resolved  to 
aid  the  attempt  by  a  vigorous  sally, 
and  appointed  Colonel  Willet  with  up 
wards  of  two  hundred  men  to  that  ser 
vice. 

St.  Leger  received  information  of 
the  approach  of  Herkimer,  and  placed 
a  large  body,  consisting  of  the  "  Johnson 
Greens,"  and  Brant's  Indians,  in  am 
bush,  near  Oriskany,  on  the  road  by 
which  he  was  to  advance.  Herkimer 
fell  into  the  snare.  The  first  notice 
which  he  received  of  the  presence  of 
an  enemy,  was  from  a  heavy  discharge 
of  musketry  on  his  troops,  which  was 
instantly  followed  by  the  war-whoop 
of  the  Indians,  who  attacked  the  militia 
with  their  tomahawks.  Though  dis 
concerted  by  the  suddenness  of  the  at 


tack,  many  of  the  militia  behaved  with 
spirit,  and  a  scene  of  unutterable  con 
fusion  and  carnage  ensued.  The  royal 
troops  and  the  militia  became  so  closely 
crowded  together,  that  they  had  not 
room  to  use  fire-arms,  but  pushed  and 
pulled  each  other,  and,  using  their  dag 
gers,  fell  pierced  by  mutual  wounds. 
Some  of  the  militia  fled  at  the  first  on 
set;  others  made  their  escape  after 
wards  ;  about  a  hundred  of  them  re 
treated  to  a  rising  ground,  where  they 
bravely  defended  themselves,  till  a  suc 
cessful  sortie  from  the  fort,  compelled 
the  British  to  look  to  the  defence  of 
their  own  camp.  Colonel  Willet,  in 
this  sally,  killed  a  number  of  the  enemy, 
destroyed  their  provisions,  carried  off 
some  spoil,  and  returned  to  the  fort, 
without  the  loss  of  a  man.  Beside  the 
loss  of  the  brave  General  Herkimei, 
who  was  slain,  the  number  of  the  killed 
was  computed  at  four  hundred.  St. 
Leger,  imitating  the  grandiloquent 
style  of  Burgoyne,  again  summoned 
the  fort  to  surrender,  but  Colonel  Gan 
sevoort  peremptorily  refused. 

Colonel  Willet,  accompanied  by 
Lieutenant  Stockwell,  having  passed 
through  the  British  camp,  eluded  the 
patrols  and  the  savages,  and  made  their 
way  for  fifty  miles  through  pathless 
woods  and  dangerous  morasses,  inform 
ed  General  Schuyler  of  the  position  of 
the  fort,  and  the  need  of  help  in  the 
emergency.  He  determined  to  afford 
it  to  the  extent  of  his  power,  and  Ar 
nold,  who  was  always  ready  for  such 
expeditions,  agreed  to  take  command 
of  the  troops  for  the  purpose  of  reliev 
ing  the  fort.  Arnold  put  in  practice 
an  acute  stratagem,  which  materially 


Cn.  III.' 


ST.   LEGER  RETREATS  HASTILY. 


facilitated  his  success.  It  was  this. 
Among  tlie  tory  prisoners,  was  one 
Yost  Cuyler,  who  had  been  condemned 
to  death,  but  whom  Arnold  agreed  to 
spare,  on  consideration  of  his  implicitly 
carrying  out  his  plan.  Accordingly, 
Cuyler,  having  made  several  holes  in 
his  coat,  to  imitate  bullet-shots,  rushed 
breathless  among  the  Indian  allies  of 
St.  Leger,  and  informed  them  that  he 
had  just  escaped  in  a  battle  with  the 
Americans,  who  were  advancing  on 
them  with  the  utmost  celerity.  While 
pointing  to  his  coat  for  proof  of  his 
statement,  a  sachem,  also  in  the  plot, 
came  in  and  confirmed  the  intelligence. 
Other  scouts  arrived  speedily  with  a  re 
port,  which  probably  grew  out  of  the 
affair  at  Bennington,  that  Burgoyne's 
army  was  entirely  routed.  All  this 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  the  fickle- 
minded  red  men. 

Fort  Schuyler  was  better  constructed, 
and  defended  with  more  courage  than 
St.  Leger  had  expected ;  and  his  light 
artillery  made  little  impression  on  it. 
His  Indians,  who  liked  better  to  take 
scalps  and  plunder  than  to  besiege 
fortresses,  became  very  unmanageable. 
The  loss  which  they  had  sustained  in 
the  encounters  with  Herkimer  and 
Willet  deeply  affected  them  :  they  had 
expected  to  be  witnesses  of  the  tri 
umphs  of  the  British,  and  to  share 
with  them  the  plunder.  Hard  ser 
vice  and  little  reward  caused  bitter 
didappointment ;  and  when  they  knew 
that  a  strong  detachment  of  Ameri 
cans  was  marching  against  them,  they 
resolved  to  take  safety  in  flight.  St. 
Leger  employed  every  argument  and 
artifice  to  detain  them,  but  in  vain; 

VOL.  I.— 65 


part  of  them  went  off",  and  all  the  rest 
threatened  to  follow  if  the  siege  wero 
persevered  in.  Therefore,  on  the  22 d 
of  August,  St.  Leger  raised  the  siege, 
and  retreated  with  circumstances  indi 
cating  great  alarm :  the  tents  were  left 
standing,  the  artillery  was  abandoned, 
and  a  great  part  of  the  baggage,  am 
munition,  and  provisions,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  garrison,  a  detachment 
from  which  harassed  the  retreating 

o 

enemy.  But  the  British  troops  were 
exposed  to  greater  danger  from  the 
fury  of  their  savage  allies  than  from 
the  pursuit  of  the  Americans*  During 
the  retreat  they  robbed  the  officers  of 
their  baggage  and  the  army  generally 
of  theri*  provisions  and  stores.  Not  con 
tent  with  this,  they  first  stripped  off 
their  arms,  and  afterwards  murdered 
with  their  own  bayonets,  all  those  who 
from  inability  to  keep  up,  from  fear, 
or  other  cause  were  separated  from  the 
main  body.  The  confusion,  terror,  and 
sufferings  of  this  retreat  found  no  res 
pite  till  the  royal  troops  reached  the 
Lake  on  their  way  to  Montreal. 

Arnold  arrived  at  Fort  Schuyler  two 
dars  after  the  retreat  of  the  besiegers ; 
buo  nnding  no  occasion  for  his  services, 
he  soon  returned  to  camp.  The  suc 
cessful  defence  of  Fort  Stanwix  or 
Schuyler  powerfully  co-operated  with 
the  defeat  of  the  royal  troops  at  Ben 
nington  in  raising  the  spirits  and  in 
vigorating  the  activity  of  the  Ameri 
cans.  The  loyalists  became  timid  ;  the 
wavering  besran  to  doubt  the  success 

O  O 

of  the  royal  arnis  ;  and  the  great  body 
of  the  people  was  convinced  that  noth 
ing  but  steady  exertion  on  their  part 
was  necessary,  to  ruin  that  nrmy  which 


498 


THE  NORTHERN   CAMPAIGN   OF   1777. 


[BK. 


1777. 


a  short  time  before  had  appeared  to  be 
sweeping  every  obstacle  from  its  path, 
on  the  high  road  to  victory. 

Before  these  important  successes 
had  materially  changed  the  face  of  af 
fairs,  Congress  had  taken  a  step  which 
was  as  ungracious  as  it  was  unjust  to 
wards  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  pat 
riotic  officers  in  the  American  army. 
Owing  to  several  causes,  the  New  Eng 
land  members  were  bitterly  prejudiced 
against  General  Schuyler,  and  the  rapid 
progress  of  Burgoyne  at  the  beginning 
of  the  campaign  raised  quite  a  clamor 
against  the  commander  of  the 
northern  army.  Through  the 
influence  of  Schuyler's  enemies  and  the 
well  understood  wishes  of  Gates  to  be 
placed  in  command,  Congress,  on  the 
4th  of  August  voted  to  supersede 
Schuyler,  and  elevate  Gates  to  the  post 
of  honor.  This  happening  just  at  the 
time  when  it  was  evident  that  Bur- 
goyne's  career  was  about  to  be  effec 
tually  stopped,  was  especially  aggrava 
ting;  and  Schuyler  felt  acutely,  as 
every  honorable  man  must  feel  under 
such  circumstances,  the  dissrrace  of  be- 

>  O 

ing  displaced  at  this  critical  moment. 
"It  is,"  said  he,  writing  to  Washing 
ton,  "  matter  of  extreme  chagrin  to 
me  to  be  deprived  of  the  command  at 
a  time,  when  soon,  if  ever,  we  shall 
be  enabled  to  face  the  enemy ;  when  we 
are  on  the  point  of  taking  ground 
where  they  must  attack  to  a  disadvan 
tage,  should  our  force  be  inadequate  to 
facing  them  in  the  field ;  when  an  op 
portunity  will,  in  all  probability,  occur, 
in  which  I  might  evince  that  I  am  not 
what  Congress  have  too  plainly  insinu 
ated  in  taking  the  command  from  me." 


Marshall  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that 
Schuyler's  "removal  from  the  com« 
rnand  was  probably  severe  and  unjust 
as  respected  himself,  but  perhaps  wise 
as  respected  America.  The  frontier  to 
wards  the  ^kes  was  to  be  defended  by 
the  troops  of  New  England ;  and  how 
ever  unfounded  their  prejudices  against 
him  might  be,  it  was  prudent  to  con 
sult  them." 

Gates,  who  arrived  on  the  19th  of 
August,  found  every  thing  in  capital 
condition  for  successfully  carrying  on 
the  campaign.  Fresh  troops  had  come 
in,  and  the  people  on  all  sides,  the  har 
vesting  having  just  been  completed, 
were  ready  to  join  the  army.  Schuy 
ler,  too,  rising  superior  to  all  persona] 
considerations,  intermitted  no  activity, 
and  receiving  Gates  with  that  high- 
toned  courtesy,  peculiar  to  gentlemen 
of  the  old  school,  he  said  to  him :  "  I 
have  done  all  that  could  be  done,  as  far 
as  the  means  were  in  my  power,  to  in 
spire  confidence  in  the  soldiers  of  our 
own  army,  and  I  flatter  myself  with 
some  success,  but  the  palm  of  victory 
is  denied  me,  and  it  is  left  to  you,  gen 
eral,  to  reap  the  fruits  of  my  labors.  I 
will  not  fail,  however,  to  second  your 
views,  and  my  devotion  to  rny  country 
will  cause  me  with  alacrity  to  obey  all 
your  orders." 

Soon  after  Gates  entered  upon  the 
command,  he  had  a  brief,  and  by  no 
means  pleasant  correspondence  with 
Burgoyne.  On  the  30th  of  August, 
the  British  general  complained  of  the 
harsh  treatment  experienced  by  the 
loyalists  who  had  been  made  prisoners 
at  Bennin^ton,  and  hinted  at  retaliation. 

O 

On  the  2d  of  September,  Gates  answer- 


CH.  III.] 


THE  MURDER  OF  MISS  M'CREA. 


499 


ed  his  lottei,  and  recriminated  by  ex 
patiating  on  the  horrid  atrocities  perpe 
trated  by  the  Indians  who  accompanied 
the  armies  of  General 'Burgoyne  and 
Colonel  St.  Leger,  and  imputed  them  to 
Burgoyne.  One  barbarous  act  com 
mitted  by  an  Indian  attached  to  Bur- 
goyne's  army,  although  it  involved  only 
a  case  of  individual  suffering,  yet  made 
a  deep  impression  on  the  public  rnind, 
and  being  published  in  every  news 
paper  in  the  country,  roused  popular 
indignation  to  the  highest  pitch. 

A  young  lady,  by  the  name  of 
M'Crea,  as  distinguished  for  her  virtues 
as  for  the  beauty  of  her  person,  and 
the  gentleness  of  her  manners,  of  re 
spectable  family,  and  recently  affianced 
to  a  British  officer,  was,  on  the  27th  of 
July,  seized  by  the  savages  in  her 
father's  house,  near  Fort  Edward,  drag 
ged  into  the  woods,  with  several  other 
young  people,  of  both  sexes,  and  there 
barbarously  scalped,  and  afterwards 
murdered.  Thus,  this  ill-fated  damsel, 
instead  of  being  conducted  to  the  hy 
meneal  altar,  received  an  inhuman 
death  at  the  very  hands  of  the  com 
panions  in  arms  of  that  husband  she 
was  about  to  espouse.  Such  is  the 
usual  account;  but  other  authorities 
state,  that  her  affianced  lover,  fearing 
that  some  ill  might  betide  the  object 
of  his  affection,  as  well  in  consequence 
of  the  obstinate  attachment  of  her 
father  to  the  royal  cause,  as  because 
their  mutual  passion  was  already  pub 
licly  talked  of,  had,  by  the  promise  of 
a  large  recompense,  induced  two  In 
dians,  of  different  tribes,  to  take  her 
under  their  escort,  and  conduct  her  in 
safety  to  the  camp  The  two  savages 


went  accordingly,  and  brought  her 
through  the  woods ;  but  just  before 
they  were  about  to  place  her  in  the 
hands  of  her  future  husband,  they  fell 
to  quarrelling  about  their  recompense, 
each  contending  that  it  belonged  en 
tirely  to  himself,  when  one  of  them, 
transported  with  brutal  fury,  raised  his 
bloody  tomahawk,  and  with  a  single 
blow,  laid  the  unhappy  maiden  dead  at 
his  feet.*  No  wonder  that  the  minds 
of  the  people  were  embittered  against 
those  who  could  degrade  themselves 
by  the  aid  of  such  allies.  The  impulse 
given  to  the  public  mind  by  such 
atrocities  more  than  counterbalanced 
any  advantages  which  the  British  de 
rived  from  the  assistance  of  the  In- 
dians.f 

Although  Burgoyne,  defeated  in  his 
expedition  against  Bennington,  and  dis 
appointed  in  the  expectation  of  assist 
ance  from  St.  Leger,  was  left  to  his  own 
resources,  yet  he  was  unwilling  to  aban 
don  the  arduous  enterprise  in  which  he 
was  engaged ;  but  still  hoping  every 
day  to  hear  news  of  Clinton's  approach 
from  New  York,  he  nattered  himself 
that  he  should  be  able  to  accomplish 
the  great  object  of  the  campaign.  In 
order,  however,  to  procure  subsistence 
for  his  army,  he  was  obliged  to  revert 
to  the  tedious  and  toilsome  mode  of 
bringing  supplies  from  Fort  George; 

*  Mr.  Lossing,  in  his  valuable  "  Pictorial  Field 
Boole  of  the  Revolution"  has  devoted  several  interest 
ing  pages  to  the  consideration  of  the  story  of  Misa 
M'Crea,  from  which  it  appears  most  probable,  that 
this  young  lady  was  killed  by  a  shot  fired  by  a  party 
of  Americans  in  pursuit  of  the  Indiana,  who  had 
carried  her  off :— vol.  i.,  p.  96-100. 

f  See  Appendix  II.,  at  the  end  of  the  present 
chapter. 


r>o;) 


THE  NORTHERN   CAMPAIGN  OF   1777. 


[BK.  HI 


nod  he  prosecuted  this  work  with  per 
severing  industry.  Having,  by  un- 
unwearied  exertions,  collected  provis 
ions  for  thirty  days,  and  constructed 
a  bridge  of  boats  over  the  Hudson,  in 
place  of  the  rafts  which  had  been  car 
ried  away  by  a  flood,  he  made  what 
proved  to  be,  in  the  result,  a  fatal 
movement;  he  crossed  the  river  on 
the  13th  and  14th  of  September,  and 
encamped  on  the  heights  and  plains  of 
Saratoga,  twenty  miles  below  Fort  Ed 
ward,  and  thirty-seven  above  Albany. 

Gates,  who  was  now  joined  by  all 
the  continental  troops  destined  for  the 
northern  department,  and  reinforced 
by  considerable  bodies  of  militia,  left 
the  strong  position  which  Sclmyler  had 
taken  at  the  confluence  of  the  Mohawk 
with  the  Hudson,  proceeded  sixteen 
miles  up  the  river  toward  the  enemy, 
and  by  advice  of  the  gallant  Kosciusko, 
formed  a  strong  camp  at  Behmus's 
Heights,  near  Stillwater.  The  two 
armies  were  only  about  twelve  miles 
distant  from  each  other ;  but  the 
bridges  between  them  were  broken 
down,  the  roads  were  bad,  and  the 
country  was  covered  with  woods ;  con 
sequently  the  progress  of  the  British 
army,  encumbered  by  its  fine  train  of 
artillery  and  numerous  wagons,  was 
slow,  and  it  was  attended  with  some 
skirmishing. 

o 

On  the  evening  of  the  17th,  Bur- 
goyne  encamped  within  four  miles  of 
the  American  army,  and  spent  the  next 
day  in  repairing  the  bridges  between 
the  two  camps,  which  he  accomplished 
with  some  loss.  About  mid-day,  on 
the  19th  of  September,  he  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  right  wing  of  his 


army,  and  advanced  through  the  woods 
toward  the  left  of  the  American  camp ; 
General  Eraser  and  Colonel  Breyman, 
with  the  grenadiers  and  light  infantry, 
covered  his  right  flank;  and  the  In 
dians,  loyalists,  and  Canadians,  pro 
ceeded  in  front.  The  left  wing  and 
artillery,  commanded  by  Generals 
Philips  and  Reidesel,  proceeded  along 
the  main  road  near  the  river. 

It  would  seem  to  have  been  Gates's 
plan,  to  remain  on  the  defensive  within 
his  lines,  but  the  ardor  of  the  troops, 
and  the  impetuous  daring  of  Arnold, 
led  to  his  detaching  Morgan,  with  his 
riflemen,  who,  after  a  spirited  skirmish, 
drove  back  the  Canadians  and  Indians 
upon  the  main  body  of  the  English. 
Eraser,  meanwhile,  was  pushing  onward 
as  fast  as  the  irregular  and  woody 
ground  would  permit,  to  turn  the 
American  left,  when  he  was  suddenly 
encountered  by  Arnold,  who  had  plan 
ned  a  similar  attack  on  him.  The  lat 
ter,  writh  his  accustomed  bravery,  led 
the  men  with  shouts  to  the  attack,  but 
was  at  length  driven  back  by  Eraser. 
Rallying  again,  and  joined  by  fresh 
reinforcements,  he  threatened  to  cut  off 
Eraser's  division  from  the  main  body ; 
but  Eraser  parried  this  attempt,  by 
bringing  up  new  regiments,  while 
Philips  dispatched  four  pieces  of  light 
artillery  to  strengthen  the  point  thus 
menaced.  Thus  the  conflict  was  for  a 
while  suspended,  but  about  three  o'clock 
it  raged  with  increased  fury.  The  Brit 
ish  artillery  thundered  upon  the  enemy, 
but  from  the  closeness  of  the  forest,  pro 
duced  but  little  effect.  Their  troops 
then  advanced  with  the  bayonet,  driving 
the  Americans  within  the  woods,  who 


CH.  III.J 


15ATTLE  NEAR  STILL  WATER, 


501 


again  sallied  forth  and  renewed  the 
combat  with  desperate  fury,  and  thus 
each  party  alternately  bore  back  the 
other — the  British  guns  being  several 
times  taken  and  retaken.  Terrible  ex 
ecution  was  done  by  the  American  rifle 
men,  who  climbed  into  trees,  and  pick 
ed  off  the  British  officers;  Burgoyne 
himself  having  a  most  narrow  escape. 
The  conflict  ended  only  with  the  day.  ! 
The  Americans  retired  to  their  camp, 
and  the  British  lay  all  night  on  their 
arms  near  the  field  of  battle. 

In  this  action,  in  which  each  party 
had  nearly  three  thousand  men  actually 
engaged,  the  British  lost  upwards  of 
five  hundred  in  killed  and  wounded, 
and  the  Americans  about  four  hundred 
men.  Night  separated  the  combatants : 
each  side  claimed  the  victory,  and  each 
believed  that  with  a  part  only  of  its 
own  force,  it  had  beaten  the  whole  of 
the  hostile  army.  But  although  neither 
army  was  defeated,  it  was  evident  who 
had  gained  the  advantage  ;  Burgoyne 
had  failed  in  the  attempt  to  dislodge 
the  enemy,  and  his  progress  was  ar 
rested.  His  communication  with  the 

lakes   was    cut  off,   and    his   resources  j 

. 
were   daily  failing;    while   the  Amer-  j 

icans  had  the  same  opportunities  of  j 
gaining  supplies  as  before,  and  their 
strength  was  still  increasing  by  the 
arrival  of  fresh  troops.  In  such  cir 
cumstances,  to  fight  without  a  decisive 
^ictory,  was,  to  the  British,  nearly 
equivalent  to  a  defeat;  and  to  fight 
without  being  beaten,  was,  to  the 
Americans,  productive  of  most  of  the 
I  valuable  consequences  of  victory.  Ac 
cordingly,  the  news  of  the  battle  was 
received  with  joy  and  exultation 


1*777. 


throughout  the  United  States,  and 
the  ruin  of  the  invading  army  was  con 
fidently  anticipated.  The  militia  were 
encouraged  to  take  the  field,  and  assist 
in  consummating  the  work  so  auspi 
ciously  begun.  At  that  time,  the  army 
under  the  command  of  General  Gates 
did  not  much  exceed  seven  thousand 
men ;  but  it  was  soon  after  considerably 
increased. 

Burgoyne,  seeing  that  he  was  now  in 
a  most  critical  condition,  and  that  he 
must  either  starve  or  fight,  determined 
upon  the  latter.  The  7th  of 
October,  had  now  been  reached, 
and  he  could  not,  as  he  informed  Clin 
ton,  possibly  hold  out  beyond  the  12th. 
A  decisive  blow  must  be  struck,  and  in 
this  way  he  hoped  to  find  some  loop 
hole  of  escape  from  his  present  posi 
tion.  Not  daring  to  withdraw  from 
the  lines  more  than  fifteen  hundred 
regular  troops,  he  issued  forth  on  the 
morning  of  the  7th,  partly  to  cover  a 
foraging  party,  and  also  if  possible,  to 
turn  the  American  left,  which,  since 
the  first  battle,  had  been  considerably 
strengthened.  After  some  preliminary 
skirmishing,  about  two  o'clock  the  con 
flict  bewail  in  earnest.  The  British  ri^ht 

o  O 

was  under  Earl  Balcarras,  the  left  un 
der  Major  Ackland,  and  the  artillery 
under  Major  Williams,  while  Generals 
Philips  and  Reidesel  commanded  the 
centre.  To  General  Fraser  was  confided 
the  charge  of  five  hundred  picked  men, 
destined,  at  the  critical  moment,  to  fall 
upon  the  American  left  flank.  Gates 
perceiving  this  design,  detached  Mor 
gan  with  his  rifle  corps  and  other  troops, 
three  times  outnumbering  Eraser's,  to 
overwhelm  that  officer  at  the  same  mo- 


502 


THE  NORTHERN  CAMPAIGN  OF   1777. 


[BK.  ill 


ment  that  a  large  force  attacked  the 
British  left. 

Our  limits  do  not  admit  of  details ; 
nor  are  they  important.  Both  sides 
fought  with  bravery  and  strove  hard 
for  victory.  The  battle  raged  with 
unabated  fury  during  the  remainder  of 
the  day.  Arnold,  like  an  incarnate 
spirit  of  war  and  bloodshed,  seemed  to 
be  everywhere  urging  on  the  men  to 
battle.  General  Fraser,  the  gallant  and 
able  officer,  fell  mortally  wounded  ; 
and  Burgoyne,  at  last,  overpowered  by 
numbers,  and  pressed  on  all  sides  by 
the  superior  fire  of  the  Americans,  re 
gained  his  camp  with  great  difficulty, 
and  with  the  loss  of  his  field-pieces  and 
most  of  his  artillery  corps.  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Breyman  was  killed,  and  Major 
Williams  and  Major  Ackland,  the  lat 
ter  being  wounded,  were  made  pris 
oners.*  The  Americans,  whose  loss 

*  Thacher,  in  his  "  Military  Journal,"  makes  af 
fecting  mention  of  the  noble  wife  of  Major  Ackland  : 
his  words  are  worth  quoting  :  "  This  heroic  lady, 
from  conjugal  affection,  was  induced  to  follow  the 
fortune  of  her  husband  during  the  whole  campaign 
through  the  wilderness.  Having  been  habituated  to 
a  mode  of  life  with  which  those  of  rank  and  fortune 
are  peculiarly  favored,  her  delicate  frame  was  ill 
calculated  to  sustain  the  indescribable  privations  and 
hardships  to  which  she  was  unavoidably  exposed 
during  an  active  campaign.  Her  vehicle  of  convey 
ance  was,  part  of  the  time,  a  small  two-wheeled  tum- 
oril,  drawn  by  a  single  horse,  over  roads  almost  im 
passable.  Soon  after  she  received  the  affecting  in 
telligence  that  her  husband  had  received  a  wound, 
and  was  a  prisoner,  she  manifested  the  greatest  ten 
derness  and  affection,  and  resolved  to  visit  him  in 
our  camp  to  console  and  alleviate  his  sufferings.. 
With  this  view  she  obtained  a  letter  from  Burgoyne 
to  General  Gates,  and  not  permitting  the  prospect  of 
being  out  in  the  night,  and  dretjched  in  rain,  to  re 
press  her  zeal,  she  proceeded,  in  an  open  boat,  with 
a  few  attendants,  and  arrived  at  o;ir  out-post  in  the 
night,  in  a  suffering  condition,  from  extreme  wet  and 
cold.  The  sentinel,  faithful  to  his  duty,  detained 
them  in  the  boat  till  Major  Dearborn,  the  officer  of 


had  been  comparatively  trifling,  lay 
all  night  on  their  arms,  about  half  a 
mile  from  the  British  lines,  intending 
to  renew  the  attack  in  the  mornino;. 

o 

During  the  night,  Burgoyne  skilfull y 
changed  his  position,  which  was  clearly 
untenable,  and  drew  his  whole  army  into 
a  strong  camp  on  the  river  heights,  ex 
tending  his  right  up  the  river.  During 
this  movement,  General  Fraser  was  fast 
sinking.  He  had  been  carried  to  a 
house  occupied  by  the  Baroness  Keide- 
sel,  who,  amid  the  roar  of  artillery  and 
musketry,  was  expecting  the  arrival  of 
her  husband,  and  Generals  Burgoyne, 
Philips,  and  Fraser  to  dinner,  when  the 
latter  was  brought  in.  Other  wound 
ed  officers  speedily  followed,  until  the 
room  of  the  baroness  and  her  children 
was  turned  into  an  hospital  for  the 
dying.  During  the  night,  Fraser  often' 
exclaimed,  "  Oh  fatal  ambition !  Poor 
General  Burgoyne  !  Oh  my  poor  wife  !" 
He  expressed  a  wish  to  be  buried  at 
six  next  evening,  in  the  great  redoubt. 
About  eight  in  the  morning  he  expired. 
Although  a  retreat  was  now  decided  on, 
and  delay  was  dangerous,  yet  Burgoyne 
could  not  but  linger  a  few  hours  to  com 
ply  with  the  request  of  his  gallant  com 
panion  in  arms.  The  day  passed  away 
in  skirmishes  with  the  enemy,  and  in 
preparations  for  departure.  At  six  in 

the  guard,  could  arrive.  He  permitted  them  to  land, 
and  afforded  Lady  Ackland  the  best  accommodations 
in  his  power,  and  treated  her  with  a  cup  of  tea  in 
his  guard-house.  When  General  Gates,  in  the  morn 
ing,  was  informed  of  the  unhappy  situation  of  Lady 
Ackland,  he  immediately  ordered  her  a  safe  escort. 
and  treated  her  himself  with  the  tenderness  of  a 
parent,  directing  that  every  attention  should  be  be 
stowed  which  her  rank,  sex,  character  and  cir 
cumstances  required.  She  was  soon  conveyed  to 
Albany,  where  she  found  her  wounded  husband.." 


CH.  III.] 


BURGOYNE  COMPLETELY  HEMMED  IN. 


503 


the  evening,  the  corpse  of  the  departed 
general,  wrapped  in  a  sheet,  was  brought 
out,  and  the  generals  accompanied  it 
in  solemn  funeral  procession,  and  in 
full  sight  of  both  armies.  The  English 
soldiers,  by  whom.  Fraser  was  great 
ly  beloved,  watched  its  progress  with 
heavy  hearts,  while  the  American  ar 
tillery  continued  to  play  upon  the  re 
doubt.  Having  reached  the  summit  of 
the  hill,  the  funeral  procession  came  to 
a  halt,  and  the  chaplain,  with  the  balls 
spattering  the  earth  upon  him,  calmly 
read  the  whole  of  the  impressive  burial 
service  in  the  Prayer  Book. 

Hardly  was  this  sad  duty  discharged, 
when  the  army  was  put  in  motion. 
The  sick  and  wounded  were  abandoned 
to  the  mercy  of  the  Americans,  who 
treated  them  with  great  humanity ;  and 
*all  through  that  night,  notwithstand 
ing  the  rain  and  mud  and  the  state 

O 

of  the  road,  the  wearied  troops  slowly 
advanced.  At  six  in  the  morning,  the 
army  came  to  a  halt ;  the  soldiers,  worn 
out  as  they  were,  fell  asleep  in  their 
wet  clothes — the  officers  were  little  bet 
ter  off — and  the  ladies  accompanying 
the  army  were  compelled  to  submit 
to  the  same  privations,  which  they 
endured  with  unflagging  cheerfulness. 
The  bridge  over  the  Fishkill  Creek  was 
broken  down,  and  to  cover  the  retreat, 
Burgoyne  ordered  General  Schuyler's 
house  and  mills  to  be  set  on  fire.  What 
with  the  weather  and  other  drawbacks, 
the  army  did  not  reach  Saratoga,  a  dis 
tance  of  only  six  miles,  until  evening 
on  the  following  day. 

Burgoyne  was  now  convinced  that 
it  was  impossible  to  conduct  any  further 
offensive  operations,  and  determined, 


as  a  last  resort,  to  try  to  make  good 
his  retreat  to  Fort  George.  Ar 
tificers  were  accordingly  dis 
patched  under  a  strong  escort,  to  repair 
the  bridges  and  open  the  roads,  but  they 
were  compelled  to  make  a  precipitate 
retreat.*  The  situation  of  General  Bur 
goyne  becoming  every  hour  more  haz 
ardous,  he  resolved  to  attempt  a  re 
treat  by  night  to  Fort  Edward ;  but 
even  this  retrograde  movement  was 
rendered  impracticable.  While  the 
army  was  preparing  to  march,  intelli 
gence  was  received  that  the  Americans 
had  already  possessed  themselves  of  the 
fort,  and  that  they  were  well  provided 
with  artillery.  No  avenue  to  escape 
now  appeared.  Incessant  toil  and  con 
tinual  engagements  had  worn  down 

O     O 

the  British  army ;  its  provisions  were 

*  Marshall,  following  Gordon,  states  a  fact  whict 
shows  how  imminent  a  risk  was  run  by  the  Ameri 
cans  when  on  the  very  eve  of  victory.  Gates,  it  ap 
pears,  had  received  what  he  supposed  to  be  certain 
intelligence  that  the  main  body  of  Burgoyne's  army 
had  marched  off  for  Fort  Edward,  and  that  a  rear 
guard  only  was  left  in  the  camp,  who,  after  a  while, 
were  to  push  off  as  fast  as  possible,  leaving  the  heavy 
basgage  behind.  On  this  it  was  concluded  to  ad 
vance  and  attack  the  camp  in  half  an  hour.  Gen 
eral  Nixon's  being  the  eldest  brigade,  crossed  the 
Saratoga  Creek  first :  unknown  to  the  Americans, 
Burgoyne  had  a  line  formed  behind  a  parcel  of 
brushwood  to  support  the  post  of  artillery  where  the 
attack  was  to  be  made.  General  Glover  with  his 
brigade  was  on  the  point  of  following  Nixon.  Just 
as  he  entered  the  water,  he  saw  a  British  soldier 
crossing,  whom  he  called  and  examined.  This  sol 
dier  was  a  deserter,  and  communicated  the  very  im 
portant  fact,  that  the  whole  British  army  were  :n 
their  encampment  Nixon  was  immediately  stopped, 
and  the  intelligence  conveyed  to  Gates,  who  counter 
manded  his  orders  for  the  assault,  and  called  back 
his  troops,  not  without  sustaining  some  loss  from  the 
British  artillery.  General  Wilkinson,  in  his  Memoirs, 
confirms  this  statement  in  its  main  particulars.  Soo 
Gordon's  "  History  of  the  American  Revolution"  vol 
ii.,  p.  261. 


504 


THE  NORTHERN  CAMPAIGN  OF  1777. 


Ill 


nearly  exhausted,  and  there  were  no 
means  of  procuring  a  supply.  The  men 
bore  up  bravely ;  while  the  courage 
and  constancy  of  the  gentle  sex  were 
beyond  all  praise.  "A  terrible  can 
nonade,"  says  the  Baroness  Keidesel,  in 
her  interesting  narrative,  "was  com 
menced  by  the  enemy  against  the  house 
in  which  I  sought  to  obtain  shelter  for 
myself  and  children,  under  the  mistaken 
idea  that  all  the  generals  were  in  it. 
Alas !  it  contained  none  but  wounded 
and  women.  We  were  at  last  obliged 
to  resort  to  the  cellar  for  refuge,  and  in 
one  corner  of  this  I  remained  the  whole 
day,  my  children  sleeping  on  the  earth 
with  their  heads  in  my  lap,  and  in  the 
same  situation  I  passed  a  sleepless  night. 
Eleven  cannon  balls  passed  through  the 
house,  and  we  could  distinctly  hear 
them  roll  away.  One  poor  soldier, 
v/no  was  lying  on  a  table,  for  the  pur 
pose  of  having  his  leg  amputated,  was 
struck  by  a  shot,  which  carried  away 
his  other ;  his  comrades  had  left  him, 
and  when  we  went  to  his  assistance, 
we  found  him  in  a  corner  of  the  room, 
into  which  he  had  crept,  more  dead 
than  alive,  scarcely  breathing.  My  re 
flections  on  the  danger  to  which  my 
husband  was  exposed,  now  agonized  me 
exceedingly,  and  the  thoughts  of  my 
children,  and  the  necessity  of  strug 
gling  for  their  preservation,  alone  sus 
tained  me."  The  cellar  was  filled  with 
terrified  women  and  wounded  officers, 
upon  whom  the  baroness  attended  with 
devoted  zeal,  resigning  even  her  own 
food  to  relieve  their  more  pressing  wants. 
One  day  her  husband  and  General 
Philips  came  over  to  see  her,  at  the 
imminent  risk  of  their  lives :  the  latter 


declaring,  as  he  went  away,  "  I  would 
not  for  ten  thousand  guineas  come 
again  to  this  place,  my  heart  is  almost 
broken.1'  This  sad  state  of  things  con 
tinued  for  several  days,  when,  to  the 
baroness's  great  joy.  a  cessation  of  hos 
tilities  was  agreed  upon. 

On  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  Oc 
tober,  Burgoyne  sent  the  following 
message  to  the  American  commander  • 
"  After  having  fought  you  twice,  Lieu 
tenant-General  Burgoyne  has  waited 
some  days  in  his  present  position,  de 
termined  to  try  a  third  conflict  against 
any  force  you  could  bring  against  him. 
He  is  apprized  of  your  superiority  of 
numbers,  and  the  disposition  of  your 
troops  to  impede  his  supplies,  and  ren 
der  his  retreat  a  scene  of  carnage  on 
both  sides.  In  this  situation,  he  is  im 
pelled  by  humanity,  and  thinks  him-* 
self  justified  by  established  principles 
and  precedents  of  state  and  war,  to 
spare  the  lives  of  brave  men  upon  hon 
orable  terms.  Should  Major-General 
Gates  be  inclined  to  treat  upon  that 
idea,  General  Burgoyne  would  propose 
a  cessation  of  arms  during  the  time  ne- 

O 

cessary  to  communicate  the  preliminary 
terms,  by  which  in  any  extremity  he 
and  his  army  mean  to  abide."  Two 
days  were  spent  in  discussion  and  set 
tlement  of  the  terms  of  a  surrender, 
and  on  the  morning  of  the  lYth  of 
October,  the  capitulation  was  formally 
agreed  upon.  Gates  wished  to 
obtain  a  surrender,  as  prisoners 
of  war ;  but  knowing  that  Clinton  was 
making  special  efforts  on  the  Hudson, 
in  hope  of  relieving  Burgoyne,  he  did 
not  think  it  worth  while  to  be  too  ten 
acious  on  this  point.  The  substance  of 


1777. 


CM.  III." 


CLINTON'S  ATTACK   ON  FORT  MONTGOMERY. 


505 


the  terms  agreed  upon,  was  as  follows : 
That  the  army  should  march  out  of  the 
camp  with  all  the  honors  of  war,  and 
its  camp  artillery,  to  a  fixed  place, 
where  they  were  to  deposit  their  arms, 
and  leave  the  artillery ;  to  be  allowed 
a  free  embarkation  and  passage  to  Eu 
rope,  from  Boston,  on  condition  of 
their  not  serving  again  in  America 
during  the  present  war ;  the  army  not 
to  be  separated,  particularly  the  men 
from  the  officers ;  roll-carrying  and 
other  duties  of  regularity  to  be  per 
mitted  ;  the  officers  to  be  admitted  on 
parole,  and  to  wear  their  side  arms  ;  all 
private  property  to  be  retained,  and 
the  public  to  be  delivered  upon  honor ; 
no  baggage  to  be  searched  or  molested ; 
all  persons,  of  whatever  country,  ap 
pertaining  to,  or  following  the  camp,  to 
be  fully  comprehended  in  the  terms  of 
capitulation,  and  the  Canadians  to  be 
returned  to  their  own  country,  liable  to 
its  conditions.* 


*  Wilkinson,  who  was  adjutant-general,  in  his 
"  Memoirs,"  gives  an  account  of  the  first  interview, 
between  the  conqueror  and  the  conquered  :  "  General 
Burgoyne  proposed  to  be  introduced  to  General  Gates, 
and  we  crossed  the  Fishkill,  and  proceeded  to  head 
quarters  on  horseback.  General  Burgoyne  in  front, 
with  his  Adjutant-general  Kingston,  and  his  aids- 
de-camp,  Captain  Lord  Petersham  and  Lieutenant 
Wilford,  behind  him  ;  then  followed  Major-general 
Philips,  the  Baron  Reidesel,  and  the  other  general 
officers,  and  their  suites,  according  to  rank.  General 
Gates,  ad  vised  of  Burgoyne's  approach,  met  him  at 
the  head  of  his  camp.  Burgoyne,  in  a  rich  royal 
uniform,  and  Gates,  in  a  plain  blue  frock.  When 
they  approached  nearly  within  sword's  length,  they 
reined  up  and  halted.  I  then  named  the  gentlemen, 
and  General  Burgoyne,  raising  his  hat  most  grace 
fully,  said,  '  The  fortune  of  war,  General  Gates,  has 
made  me  your  prisoner  ;'  to  which  the  conqueror,  re 
turning  a  courtly  salute,  promptly  replied,  '  1  shall 
always  be  ready  to  bear  testimony,  that  it  has  not 
bee-n  through  any  fault  of  your  excellency.''  Major- 
VOL.  I.— 66 


Early  in  October,  while  Burgoyne's 
condition  was  daily  becoming  more  and 
more  critical,  Clinton,  at  New  York, 
was  anxiously  waiting  the  arrival  of 
troops,  in  order  that  he  might  proceed 
up  the  Hudson,  and  endeavor  to  relieve 
Burgoyne.  Providentially,  for  the 
American  cause,  the  ships  were  three 
months  on  the  passage,  and  did  not  ar 
rive  till  the  beginning  of  October. 
Clinton  then  immediately  prepared  to 
attack  Forts  Clinton  and  Montgomery, 
in  the  Highlands,  with  three  thousand 
men,  and  some  ships  of  war  under 
Commodore  Hotham. 

These  forts  were  situated  on  high 
ground  of  difficult  access,  on  the  west 
ern  bank  of  the  river,  about  fifty  miles 
above  New  York.  They  were  sepa 
rated  by  a  rivulet,  which,  flowing  from 
the  hills,  empties  itself  into  the  Hud 
son.  Under  cover  of  the  guns,  a  boom 
was  stretched  across  the  river  from 
bank  to  bank,  and  strengthened  by  an 
immense  iron  chain  in  front,  as  well  as 
supported  by  chevaux-de-frise  sunk  be 
hind  it.  Above  this  strong  barrier,  a 
frigate  and  galleys  were  moored,  so  as 
to  be  able  to  direct  a  heavy  fire  against 
any  vessels  that  might  attempt  to  force 
a  passage.  This  seemed  to  present  an 
insuperable  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the 
British  shipping  towards  Albany.  Fort 

general  Philips  then  advanced,  and  he  and  Ger.eral 
Gates  saluted,  and  shook  hands  with  the  familiar.ty 
of  old  acquaintances.  The  Baron  Reidesel  and  other 
officers  were  introduced  in  their  turn."  Doctor  Ram 
say,  also,  in  his  "History  of  the  American  Revolu 
tion,"  p.  368,  says,  that "  the  conduct  of  Gensral  Bur 
goyne,  in  this  interview  with  General  Gates,  was 
truly  dignified,  and  the  historian  is  at  a  loss  whether 
to  admire  most,  the  magnanimity  of  the  victorious,  or 
the  fortitude  of  the  var-auished  general.1' 


50G 


THE  NORTHERN  CAMPAIGN   OF   1777. 


TIL 


Independence  stood  four  or  five  miles 
below,  on  a  high  point  of  land,  on  tlie 
opposite  side  of  the  river.  Fort  Con 
stitution  was  six  miles  above  the  boom, 
on  an  island  near  the  eastern  bank: 
Peekskill,  the  head-quarters  of  the  offi 
cer  who  commanded  on  the  Hudson, 
from  Kingsbridge  to  Albany  was  just 
below  Fort  Independence,  on  the  same 
side.  General  Putnam  was  in  com 
mand  at  the  time,  and  had  about  two 
thousand  men  under  him. 

On  the  5th  of  October,  Clinton  land 
ed  at  Verplank's  Point,  a  little  below 
Peekskill,  on  the  same  side  of  the  river. 
Putnam,  apprehending  that  the  enemy 
intended  to  attack  Fort  Independence, 
and  to  march  through  the  Highlands 
on  the  east  of  the  river  towards  Al 
bany,  retired  to  the  heights  in  his  rear ; 
and,  entertaining  no  suspicion  of  the 
real  point  of  attack,  neglected  to 
strengthen  the  garrisons  of  the  forts  on 
the  western  bank. 

The  British  fleet  moved  higher  up' 
the  river,  in  order  to  conceal  what  wras 
passing  at  the  place  where  the  troops 
had  landed  ;  and,  on  the  evening  of  the 
day  on  which  he  had  arrived  at  Ver 
plank's  Point,  Clinton  embarked  up 
wards  of  two  thousand  of  his  men,  leav 
ing  the  rest  to  guard  that  post.  Early 
next  moi  ning,  he  landed  at  Stony  Point, 
on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  and  im 
mediately  began  his  march  over  the 
mountains  towards  the  forts.  The 
roads  were  difficult,  and  the  enterprise 
perilous;  for  a  small  body  of  men, 
properly  posted,  might  not  only  have 
arrested  his  progress,  but  repulsed  him 
with  much  loss.  He,  however,  reached 
the  vicinity  of  the  forts  before  he  was 


discovered  ;  there  he  fell  in  with  a  pa 
trol,  who  immediately  retreated,  and 
gave  warning  of  the  approaching  dan 
ger.  Both  forts  were  attacked  at  the 
same  time.  Fort  Montgomery  was  soon 
taken,  but  most  of  the  garrison  made 
their  escape,  under  cover  of  the  dark 
ness,  and  by  their  knowledge  of  the 
mountain  passes.  Fort  Clinton  resisted 
obstinately,  but  it  was  stormed,  and  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  garrison 
killed  or  made  prisoners.  Putnam,  so 
soon  as  he  heard  the  firing,  endeavored 
to  afford  relief  to  the  garrison,  but  to 
no  purpose.  The  British  loss  was  about 
a  hundred  and  fifty  ;  the  American 
loss  was  double  that  of  the  enemy. 

The  vessels  of  war  belonging  to  the 
Americans,  being  unable  to  escape,  were 
set  on  fire,  to  prevent  their  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy.  "  The  flames," 
says  Stedman,  "suddenly  burst  forth, 
and,  as  every  sail  was  set,  the  vessels 
soon  became  magnificent  pyramids  of 
fire.  The  reflection  on  the  steep  side 
of  the  opposite  mountain,  and  the  long 
train  of  ruddy  light  which  shone  upon 
the  waters  for  a  prodigious  distance,  had 
a  wonderful  effect  ;  while  the  air  was 
filled  with  the  continued  echoes  from 
the  rocky  shores,  as  the  flames  grad 
ually  reached  the  loaded  cannons.  The 
whole  was  sublimely  terminated  by  the 
explosions,  which  left  all  again  in  dark 
ness.  As  soon  as  daylight  enabled 
them  to  begin,  the  fleet  set  to  work  and 
destroyed  the  boom  ;  Fort  Constitution 
was  obliged  to  surrender,  and  a  free 
road  was  open  along  the  river  shore  to 
Albany.  The  British  destroyed  every 
thing  ir  their  power,  and  sailed  up  the 
river  as  far  as  Esopus  ;  a  fine  village, 


CH.  III.] 


CAUSES  OF  BURGOYNE'S  FAILURE 


507 


which,  with  wanton  cruelty   thev  laid 

v    1 

in  ashes.  Why,  instead  of  this  useless 
vandalism,  the  British  did  not  push  for 
ward  to  Albany,  and  make  a  bold 
effort  in  Gates's  rear,  must  remain  a 
problem.  Had  they  done  so,  it  is  not 
improbable,  that  Burgoyne  might  have 
been  saved  even  in  his  extremity. 

These  outrages,  committed  at  the 
very  time  when  Gates  was  according 
honorable,  and  even  courteous,  con 
sideration  to  Burgoyne  and  his  army, 
aggravated  greatly  the  feelings  of  the 
Americans,  and  Gates  wrote  a  sharp 
letter  to  Vaughan,  the  British  general, 
on  this  subject,  concluding  it  in  these 
words :  "  Is  it  thus  that  the  generals 
of  the  king  expect  to  make  converts  to 
the  royal  cause  ?  Their  cruelties  oper 
ate  a  contrary  effect:  independence  is 
founded  upon  the  universal  disgust  of 
the  people.  The  fortune  of  war  has 
delivered  into  rny  hands  older  and  abler 
generals  than  General  Vaughan  is  re 
puted  to  be;  their  condition  may  one 
day  become  his,  and  then  no  human 
power  can  save  him  from  the  just  ven 
geance  of  an  offended  people." 

When  the  British  army  left  Ticon- 
deroga,  it  consisted  of  about  ten  thou 
sand  men,  exclusive  of  Indians ;  but, 
by  the  casualties  of  war,  and  by  de 
sertion,  it  was  reduced  to  about  six 
thousand  at  the  time  of  the  surrender. 
It  contained  six  members  of  Parliament. 
General  Gates  had  then  under  his  com 
mand  upward  of  nine  thousand  con 
tinentals,  and  four  thousand  militia. 
On  this  occasion,  the  Americans  gained 
a  remarkably  fine  train  of  brass  artil 
lery,  amounting  to  forty  pieces  of  dif 
ferent  descriptions,  and  all  the  arms 


and  baggage  of  the  troops.  Unable 
longer  to  retain  possession  of  the  forts 
on  the  lakes,  the  Britisn,  destroyed  the 
works  at  Ticonderoga  and  its  vicinity, 
threw  the  heavy  artillery  into  the  lake, 
and  retreated  to  Isle  aux  Noix  and  St. 
John's. 

Such,  says  Botta,*  was  the  fate  of  the 
British  expedition  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Hudson.  It  had  been  undertaken 
with  singular  confidence  of  success,  but 
the  obstacles  proved  so  formidable,  that 
those  who  had  expected  from  it  such 
brilliant  results,  were  themselves  its 
victims ;  and  those  it  had  alarmed  at 
first,  derived  from  it  the  most  import 
ant  advantages.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  that,  if  it  was  planned  with 
ability,  as  to  us  it  appears  to  have 
been,  it  was  conducted  with  imprudence 
by  those  who  were  entrusted  with  its 
execution.  For,  it  is  to  be  remarked, 
that  its  success  depended  entirely  on 
the  combined  efforts  of  the  generals 
who  commanded  upon  the  lakes,  and 
of  those  who  had  the  management  of 
the  war  in  the  state  of  New  York. 
But  far  from  moving  in  concert,  when 
one  advanced,  the  other  retired.  When 
Caiieton  had  obtained  the  command 
of  the  lakes,  Howe,  instead  of  ascend 
ing  the  Hudson,  towards  Albany,  car 
ried  his  arms  into  New  Jersey,  and  ad 
vanced  upon  the  Delaware.  When, 
'afterwards,  Burgoyne  entered  Ticon 
deroga  in  triumph,  Howe  embarked 
upon  the  expedition  against  Philadel 
phia  ;  and  thus  the  army  of  Canada 
was  deprived  of  the  assistance  it  ex- 


*  Botta's  " History  of  the  War  of  Independence" 
vol.  ii..  p.  328. 


508 


THE  NORTHERN   CAMPAIGN  OF   1777. 


[Ife.  Ill, 


pected  from  New  York.  The  ruin  of 
the  whole  enterprise  is  clearly  attribut 
able  to  this  want  of  co-operation. 

Immediately  after  the  victory  of  Sara 
toga,  Gates,  whose  duty  it  was  to  com 
municate  his  success  to  the  commander- 
in  chief,  neglected  this  evident  propriety, 
and  dispatched  his  aid-de-camp,  Wil 
kinson,  to  carry  the  good  news  direct 
to  Congress.  On  being  introduced  into 
the  Hall,  he  said :  "  The  whole  British 
army  has  laid  down  arms  at  Saratoga; 
our  own,  full  of  vigor  and  courage,  ex 
pect  your  orders :  it  is  for  your  wisdom 
to  decide  where  the  country  may  still 
have  need  of  their  services.'*  Congress 
passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  General 
Gates  and  to  his  army,  and  Wilkinson 
was  appointed  brigadier-general  by 
brevet.  They  decreed  that  Gates  should 
be  presented  with  a  medal  of  gold,  to 
be  struck  expressly  in  commemoration 
of  so  glorious  a  victory:  on  one  side 
of  it  was  the  bust  of  the  general,  with 
these  words  around :  "  HOEATIO  GATES, 
Dud  strenuo  ;  and  in  the  middle, 
Comitia  Americana.  On  the  reverse, 
Burgoyne  was  represented  in  the  atti 
tude  of  delivering  his  sword;  and  in 
the  back-ground,  on  the  one  side,  and 
on  the  other,  were  seen  the  two  armies 
of  England  and  of  America.  At  the 
top  were  these  words :  Salus  regionum 
septentrion.  ;  and  at  the  foot,  Hoste  ad 
Saratogam  in  deditione  acc&pto.  Die 
XVH  Oct.  MDCCLXXVII. 

The  kindness  and  consideration  of 
the  Americans  towards  their  vanquish 
ed  foes  deserve  great  praise.  The  sick 
and  the  wounded  were  carefully  at 
tended  to,  and  in  every  way  the  British 
officers  and  troops  were  made  to  feel 


that  their  conquerors  were  as  generous 
as  they  were  brave.  General  Schuyler 
was  particularly  magnanimous.  The 
Baroness  Reidesel,  in  her  Narrative, 
makes  mention,  in  the  warmest  terms, 
of  his  courtesy  and  politeness  to  her 
self  and  others.  "Some  days  after 
this,"  are  her  words,  "  we  arrived  at  Al 
bany,  where  we  so  often  wished  our 
selves ;  but  we  did  not  enter  it  as  we 
expected  we  should — victors !  We 
were  received  by  the  good  General 
Schuyler,  Jiis  wife,  and  daughters,  not 
as  enemies,  but  kind  friends,  and  they 
treated  us  with  the  most  marked  atten 
tion  and  politeness,  as  they  did  General 
Burgoyne,  who  had  caused  General 
Schuyler's  beautifully  finished  house  to 
be  burned.  In  fact,  they  behaved  like 
persons  of  exalted  minds,  who  deter 
mined  to  bury  all  recollection  of  theit 
oivn  injuries  in  the  contemplation  of 
our  misfortunes.  General  Burgoyne 
was  struck  with  General  Schuyler's 
generosity,  and  said  to  him,  '  You  show 
me  great  kindness,  though  I  have  done 
you  much  injury.'  'That  was  the  fate 
of  war,'  replied  the  brave  man  ;  '  let  us 
say  no  more  about  it.' " 

Burgoyne  proceeded  to  Boston,  and 
was  well  treated ;  but  it  was  not  lon^ 

'  O 

before  difficulties  arose.  Congress  was 
not  at  all  satisfied  with  the  prospect  of 
the  British  soldiers  sailing  for  England, 
to  relieve  others  who  would  be  dis 
patched  immediately  to  America;  and 
taking  advantage  of  several  pretexts, 
more  or  less  urgent,  they  finally  re 
fused  to  allow  the  embarkation  of  the 
troops  at  all.*  "  We  shall  not  under- 

*  See  Marshall's  "Life  of  Washington?1  vol.  i., 


Cn.  111.1 


BURGOYNE'S  PROCLAMATION. 


509 


take  to  decide,"  says  an  able  historian, 
"  whether  the  fears  manifested  by  Con 
gress  had  a  real  foundation,  and  we 
shall  abstain  as  well  from  blaming  the 
imprudence  of  Burgoyne,  as  from  prais 
ing  the  wisdom,  or  condemning  the  dis 


trust  of  Congress. 


It  is  but  too  cer- 


pp.  230-32.  An  English  writer,  speaking  of  this  matter, 
uses  the  following  language  :  "  The  troops  were  long 
detained  in  Massachusetts  ;  they  were  afterwards 
sent  to  the  back  parts  of  Virginia,  and  none  of  them 
were  released  but  by  exchange.  It  was  obviously 
the  aim  of  Congress  to  keep  five  thousand  men  out  of 
the  field ;  but  the  means  which  they  employed  for 
the  accomplishment  of  their  purpose  were  dishonor 
able,  and  they  lost  more  in  character  than  they 
ained  in  strength.  Honesty  is  the  best  policy  for 


tain,  that  in  these  civil  dissensions  and 
animosit'es,  appearances  become  real 
ities  and  probabilities  demonstration. 
Accordingly,  at  that  time,  the  Amer 
icans  complained  bitterly  of  British 
perfidy,  and  the  English  of  American 
want  of  faith." 


nations,  as  well  as  for  individuals  ;  but  the  conduct 
of  the  Americans  in  the  matter  under  consideration, 
had  more  of  the  trick  and  artifice  of  low  traffickers, 
than  of  the  fearless  integrity  becoming  the  rulers  of 
a  powerful  people.  Some  of  the  allegations  by  which 
they  attempted  to  justify  themselves  were  false,  and 
some  frivolous.  They  affected  to  distrust  British  faith 
and  honor;  but  it  is  easy  for  a  man  at  any  time  to 
accuse  his  neighbor  of  bad  intentions,  if  that  were  to 
be  sustained  as  a  valid  plea  for  his  own  dishonesty." 


APPENDIX    TO     CHAPTER    III. 


I.— BURGOYNE'S  PROCLAMATION. 

By  JOHN  BURGOYNE,  ESQ.,  lieutenant-general  of 
his  majesty's  armies  in  America,  colonel  of  the 
queen's  regiment  of  light  dragoons,  governor  of 
Fort  William,  in  North  Britain,  one  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Commons  of  Great  Britain, 
and  commanding  an  army  and  fleet  employed  on 
an  expedition  from  Canada,  etc.,  etc. 

The  forces  entrusted  to  my  command,  are  de 
signed  to  act  in  concert,  and  upon  a  common 
principle,  with  the  numerous  armies  and  fleets 
which  already  display  in  every  quarter  of  Amer 
ica,  the  power,  the  justice,  and,  when  properly 
sought,  the  mercy  of  the  king. 

The  cause  in  which  the  British  arms  is  thus  ex 
erted,  applies  to  the  most  affecting  interests  of 
the  human  heart ;  and  the  military  servants  of 
the  crown,  at  first  called  forth  for  the  sole  pur 
pose  of  restoring  the  rights  of  the  Constitution, 
now  combine  with  love  of  their  country,  and  duty 


to  their  sovereign,  the  other  extensive  incitements, 
which  form  a  due  sense  of  the  general  privileges 
of  mankind.  To  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  tem 
perate  part  of  the  public,  and  the  breasts  of  suf 
fering  thousands,  in  the  provinces,  be  the  melan 
choly  appeal,  whether  the  present  unnatural 
rebellion  has  not  been  made  a  foundation  for  the 
completest  system  of  tyranny  that  ever  God,  in 
his  displeasure,  suffered  for  a  time  to  be  exercised 
over  a  froward  and  stubborn  generation. 

Arbitrary  imprisonment,  confiscation  of  prop 
erty,  persecution,  and  torture,  unprecedented  in 
the  inquisition  of  the  Romish  church,  are  among 
the  palpable  enormities  that  verify  the  affirma 
tive.  These  are  inflicted,  by  assemblies  and  com 
mittees,  who  dare  to  profess  themselves  friends  to 
liberty,  upon  the  most  quiet  subjects,  without  dis 
tinction  of  age  or  sex,  for  the  sole  crime,  often  for 
the  sole  suspicion,  of  having  adhered  in  principle 
to  the  government  under  which  they  were  born, 
and  to  which,  by  every  tie,  divine  and  human, 


510 


APPENDIX  TO  CHAPTER  III. 


[BK. 


they  owe  allegiance.  To  consummate  these  shock 
ing  proceedings,  the  profanation  of  religion  is 
added  to  the  most  profligate  prostitution  of  com 
mon  reason  ;  the  consciences  of  men  are  set  at 
naught ;  and  multitudes  are  compelled  not  only 
to  bear  arms,  but  also  to  swear  subjection  to  an 
usurpation  they  abhor. 

Animated  by  these  considerations  ;  at  the  head 
of  troops  in  the  full  powers  of  health,  discipline, 
and  valor ;  determined  to  strike  where  necessary, 
and  anxious  to  spare  where  possible,  I>  by  these 
presents,  invite  and  exhort  all  persons,  in  all 
places  where  the  progress  of  this  army  may  point, 
— and  by  the  blessing  of  God,  I  will  extend  it  far 
— to  maintain  such  a  conduct  as  may  justify  me  in 
protecting  their  lands,  habitations,  and  families. 
The  intention  of  this  address  is  to  hold  forth  se 
curity,  not  depredation  to  the  country.  To  those 
whom  spirit  and  principle  may  induce  to  partake 
the  glorious  task  of  redeeming  their  countrymen 
from  dungeons,  and  re-establishing  the  blessings 
of  legal  government,  I  offer  encouragement  and 
employment  ;  ari-d,  upon  the  first  intelligence  of 
their  association,  I  will  find  means  to  assist  their 
undertakings.  The  domestic,  the  industrious,  the 
infirm,  and  even  the  timid  inhabitants,  I  am  de 
sirous  to  protect,  provided  they  remain  quietly  at 
their  houses  ;  that  they  do  not  suffer  their  cattle 
to  be  removed,  nor  their  corn  or  forage  to  be  se 
creted  or  destroyed ;  that  they  do  not  break  up 
their  bridges  or  roads ;  nor  by  any  other  act,  di 
rectly  or  indirectly,  endeavor  to  obstruct  the  oper 
ations  of  the  king's  troops,  or  supply  or  assist 
those  of  the  enemy. 

Every  species  of  provision,  brought  to  my  camp, 
will  be  paid  for  at  an  equitable  rate,  and  in  solid 
coin. 

In  consciousness  of  Christianity,  my  royal  mas 
ter's  clemency,  and  the  honor  of  soldiership,  I 
have  dwelt  upon  this  invitation,  and  wished  for 
more  persuasive  terms  to  give  it  impression. 
And  let  not  people  be  led  to  disregard  it,  by  con 
sidering  their  distance  from  the  immediate  situa 
tion  of  my  camp.  I  have  but  to  give  stretch  to 
the  Indian  forces  under  my  direction — and  they 
amount  to  thousands — to  overtake  the  hardened 
enemies  of  Great  Britain  and  America.  I  con 
sider  them  the  same,  wherever  they  may  lurk. 

If,  notwithstanding  these  endeavors,  and  sin 
cere  inclinations  to  effect  them,  the  frenzy  of 
hostility  should  remain,  I  trust  I  shall  stand  ac 


quitted  in  the  eyes  of  God  and  men,  in  denouncing 
and  executing  the  vengeance  of  the  state  against 
the  wilful  outcasts.  The  messengers  of  justice 
and  of  wrath  await  them  in  the  field  :  and  devas 
tation,  famine,  and  every  concomitant  horror,  that 
a  reluctant,  but  indispensable  prosecution  of  mili 
tary  duty  must  occasion,  will  bar  the  way  to  their 
return. 

JOHN  BURGOYNE 

Camp,  at  Ticonderoga,  July  2,  1777. 
By  order  of  his  Excellency,  the  lieut.-general. 
ROBERT  KINGSTON,  Secretary. 


To  JOHN  BUKGOYNE,  ESQ.,  lieutenant-general  of 
his  majesty's  armies,  in  America,  colonel  of  the 
queen's  regiment  of  light  dragoons,  governor  of 
Fort  William,  in  North  Brilain,^one  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Commons  of  Great  Britain, 
and  commanding  an  army  and  fleet  employed, 
on  an  expedition  from  Canada,  etc.,  etc. 

Most  high,  most  mighty,  most  puissant,  and  sub 
lime  general! 

When  the  forces  under  your  command  arrived 
at  Quebec,  in  order  to  act  in  concert,  and  upon  a 
common  principle  with  the  numerous  fleets  and 
armies  which  already  display  in  every  quarter  of 
America,  the  justice  and  mercy  of  your  king,  we, 
the  reptiles  of  America,  were  struck  with  unusual 
trepidation  and  astonishment.  But  what  words 
can  express  the  plenitude  of  our  horror,  when  the 
colonel  of  the  queen's  regiment  of  light  dragoons 
advanced  towards  Ticonderoga.  The  mountains 
shook  before  thee,  and  the  trees  of  the  forest 
bowed  their  lofty  heads  ;  the  vast  lakes  of  the 
north  were  chilled  at  thy  presence,  and  the  mighty 
cataracts  stopped  their  tremendous  career,  and 
were  suspended  in  awe  at  thy  approach.  Judge, 
then,  Oh  ineffable  governor  of  Fort  William,  in 
North  Britain,  what  must  have  been  the  terro^ 
dismay,  and  despair  that  overspread  this  paltry 
continent  of  America,  and  us,  its  wretched  in 
habitants.  Dark  and  dreary,  indeed,  was  the 
prospect  before  us,  till,  like  the  sun  in  the  hori« 
zon,  your  most  gracious,  sublime,  and  irresistible 
proclamation,  opened  the  doors  of  mercy,  and 
snatched  us,  as  it  were,  from  the  jaws  of  annihila 
tion. 

We  foolishly  thought,  blind  as  we  were,  that 
your  gracious  master's  fleets  and  armies  were 
come  to  destroy  us  and  our  liberties ;  but  we  are 


CH.  Ill  J 


BURGOYNE'S  PROCLAMATION. 


r>n 


happy  in  hearing  from  you  (and  who  can  doubt 
what  you  assert  ?)  that  they  were  called  forth  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  restoring  the  rights  of  the  Con 
stitution,  to  a  froward  and  stubborn  generation. 

And  is  it  for  this,  0  I  sublime  lieutenant-gen 
eral,  that  you  have  given  yourself  the  trouble  to 
cross  the  wide  Atlantic,  and  with  incredible  fa 
tigue,  traverse  uncultivated  wilds  ?  And  we  un 
gratefully  refuse  the  proffered  blessing  ?  To  re 
store  the  rights  of  the  Constitution,  you  have 
called  together  an  amiable  host  of  savages,  and 
turned  them  loose  to  scalp  our  women  and  chil 
dren,  and  lay  our  country  waste  ;  this  they  have 
performed  with  their  usual  skill  and  clemency  ; 
and  yet  we  remain  insensible  of  the  benefit,  and 
unthankful  for  so  much  goodness. 

Our  Congress  have  declared  independence,  and 
our  Assemblies,  as  your  highness  justly  observes, 
have  most  wickedly  imprisoned  the  avowed  friends 
of  that  power  with  which  they  are  at  war,  and 
most  profanely  compelled  those,  whose  consciences 
will  not  permit  them  to  fight,  to  pay  some  small 
part  towards  the  expenses  their  country  is  at,  in 
supporting  what  is  called  a  necessary  defensive 
«var.  If  we  go  on  thus  in  our  obstinacy  and  in 
gratitude,  what  can  we  expect,  but  that  you 
should,  in  your  anger,  give  a  stretch  to  the  Indian 
forces  under  your  direction,  amounting  to  thou 
sands,  to  overtake  and  destroy  us  ?  or,  which  is 
ten  times  worse,  that  you  should  withdraw  your 
fleets  and  armies,  and  leave  us  to  our  own  misery, 
without  completing  the  benevolent  task  you  have 
begun,  of  restoring  to  us  the  rights  of  the  Con 
stitution  ? 

"We  submit — we  submit — most  puissant  colonel 
of  the  queen's  regiment  of  light  dragoons,  and 
governor  of  Fort  William,  in  North  Britain.  "We 
offer  our  heads  to  the  scalping-knife,  and  our  bel 
lies  to  the  bayonet.  Who  can  resist  the  force  of 
your  eloquence  ?  Who  can  withstand  the  terror 
of  your  arms  ?  The  invitation  you  have  made,  in 
the  consciousness  of  Christianity,  your  royal  mas 
ter's  clemency,  and  the  honor  of  soldiership,  we 
thankfully  accept.  The  blood  of  the  slain,  the 
cries  of  injured  virgins  and  innocent  children,  and 
the  never  ceasing  sighs  and  groans  of  starving 
wretches,  now  languishing  in  the  jails  and  prison- 
Bhips  of  New  York,  call  on  us  in  vain  ;  whilst  your 
sublime  proclamation  is  sounded  in  our  ears. 
Forgive  us,  0  our  country  !  Forgive  us,  dear 
posterity.  Forgive  us,  all  ye  foreign  powers,  who 


are  anxiously  watching  our  conduct  in  this  im- 
portant  struggle,  if  we  yield  implicitly  to  the  per 
suasive  tongue  of  the  most  elegant  colonel  of  her 
Majesty's  regiment  of  light  dragoons. 

Forbear,  then,  thou  magnanimous  lieutenant- 
general  1  Forbear  to  denounce  vengeance  against 
us  ;  forbear  to  give  a  stretch  to  those  restorers  of 
constitutional  rights,  the  Indian  forces  under  your 
direction.  Let  not  the  messengers  of  justice  and 
wrath  await  us  in  the  field,  and  devastation,  and 
every  concomitant  horror,  bar  our  return  to  the 
allegiance  of  a  prince,  who,  by  his  royal  will, 
would  deprive  us  of  every  blessing  of  life,  with  all 
possible  clemency. 

We  are  domestic,  we  are  industrious,  we  are 
infirm  and  timid  :  we  shall  remain  quietly  at 
home,  and  not  remove  our  cattle,  our  corn,  or 
forage,  in  hopes  that  you  will  come,  at  the  head 
of  troops,  in  the  full  powers  of  health,  discipline, 
and  valor,  and  take  charge  of  them  for  yourselves. 
Behold  our  wives  and  daughters,  our  flocks  and 
herds,  our  goods  and  chattels,  are  they  not  at  the 
mercy  of  our  lord  the  king,  and  of  his  lieutenant- 
general,  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
governor  of  Fort  William,  in  North  Britain  ? 

A.  B. 

C.  D. 

E.  F.,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

Saratoga,  July  10,  1777. 


POETIC  VERSION  OF  THE  PROCLAMATION. 
[ATTRIBUTED  TO  FRANCIS  HOPKINSON.] 

BY  John  Burgoyne,  and  Burgoyne,  John,  Esq. 

And  grac'd  with  titles  still  more  higher, 

For  I'm  Lieutenant-general,  too, 

Of  George's  troops  both  red  and  blue, 

On  this  extensive  continent ; 

And  of  Queen  Charlotte's  regiment 

Of  light  dragoons  the  Colonel  ; 

And  Governor  eke  of  Castle  Wil — 

And  furthermore,  when  I  am  there, 

In  House  of  Commons  I  appear, 

[Hoping  ere  long  to  be  a  Peer,] 

Being  a  member  of  that  virtuous  band 

Who  always  vote  at  North's  command  ; 

Directing,  too,  the  fleet  and  troops 

From  Canada,  as  thick  as  hops  ; 

And  all  my  titles  to  display, 

I'll  end  with  thrice  et  cetera. 

The  troops  consign'i  to  my  command, 


512 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  III. 


.  m. 


Like  Hercules  to  purge  the  land, 

Intend  to  act  in  combination 

With  th'  other  forces  of  the  nation, 

Displaying  wide  thro'  every  quarter 

What  Britain's  justice  would  be  after. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  show  it, 

And  every  mother's  son  must  know  it, 

That  what  she  meant  at  first  to  gain 

By  requisitions  and  chicane, 

She's  now  determin'd  to  acquire 

By  kingly  reason  ;  sword  and  fire. 

I  can  appeal  to  all  your  senses, 

Your  judgments,  feelings,  tastes  and  fancies  ; 

Your  ears  and  eyes  have  heard  and  seen, 

How  causeless  this  revolt  has  been  ; 

And  what  a  dust  your  leaders  kick  up  ; 

In  this  rebellious  civil  hickup, 

And  how,  upon  this  curs'd  foundation, 

Was  rear'd  the  system  of  vexation 

Over  a  stubborn  generation. 

But  now  inspired  with  patriot  love 
I  come,  th'  oppression  to  remove  ; 
To  free  you  from  the  heavy  clog 
Of  every  tyrant  demagogue, 
Who  for  the  most  romantic  story, 
Claps  into  limbo  loyal  Tory, 
All  hurly  burly,  hot  and  hasty, 
Without  a  writ  to  hold  him  fast  by  ; 
Nor  suffers  any  living  creature, 
[Led  by  the  dictates  of  his  nature,] 
To  fight  in  green  for  Britain's  cause, 
Or  aid  us  to  restore  her  laws  ; 
In  short,  the  vilest  generation 
Which  in  vindictive  indignation, 
Almighty  vengeance  ever  hurl'd 
From  this  to  the  infernal  world. 
A  Tory  cannot  move  his  tongue, 
But  whip,  in  prison  he  is  flung, 
His  goods  and  chattels  made  a  prey, 
By  those  vile  mushrooms  of  a  day, 
He's  tortured,  too,  and  scratch'd  and  bit, 
And  plung'd  into  a  dreary  pit ; 
Where  he  must  suffer  sharper  doom, 
Than  e'er  was  hatched  by  Church  of  Rome. 
These  things  are  done  by  rogues,  who  dare 
Profess  to  breathe  in  Freedom's  air. 
To  petticoats  alike  and  breeches 
Their  cruel  domination  stretches, 
For  the  sole  crime,  or  sole  suspicion 
[What  worse  is  done  by  th'  inquisition  ?] 
Of  still  adhering  to  the  crown, 


Their  tyrants  striving  to  kick  down, 
Who,  by  perverting  law  and  reason, 
Allegiance  construe  into  treason. 
Religion,  too,  is  often  made 
A  stalking  horse  to  drive  the  trade, 
And  warring  churches  dare  implore, 
Protection  from  th'  Almighty  power  ; 
They  fast  and  pray  :  in  Providence 
Profess  to  place  their  confidence  ; 
And  vainly  think  the  Lord  of  all 
Regards  our  squabbles  on  this  ball  ; 
Which  would  appear  as  droll  in  Britain 
As  any  whim  that  one  could  hit  on  ; 
Men's  consciences  are  set  at  naught, 
Nor  reason  valued  at  a  groat ; 
And  they  that  will  not  swear  and  fight, 
Must  sell  their  all,  and  say  good  night. 

By  such  important  views  there  pres't  tc 
I  issue  this  my  manifesto. 
I,  the  great  knight  of  de  la  Mancha, 
Without  'Squire  Carleton,  my  Sancho, 
Will  tear  you  limb  from  limb  asunder, 
With  cannon,  blunderbuss  and  thunder  ; 
And  spoil  your  feathering  and  your  tarring 
And  cagg  you  up  for  pickled  herring. 
In  front  of  troops  as  spruce  as  beaux, 
And  ready  to  lay  on  their  blows, 
I'll  spread  destruction  far  and  near  ; 
And  where  I  cannot  kill,  I'll  spare, 
Inviting,  by  these  presents,  all, 
Both  young  and  old,  and  great  and  small, 
And  rich  and  poor,  and  Whig  and  Tory, 
In  cellar  deep,  or  lofty  story  ; 
Where'er  my  troops,  at  my  command 
Shall  swarm  like  locusts  o'er  the  land. 
(And  they  shall  march  from  the  North  Pole 
As  far,  at  least,  as  Pensacole,) 
So  break  off  their  communications, 
That  I  can  save  their  habitations  ; 
For  finding  that  Sir  William's  plunders, 
Prove  in  the  event  apparent  blunders, 
It  is  my  full  determination, 
To  check  all  kinds  of  depredation  ; 
But  when  I've  got  you  in  my  pow'r, 
Favor'd  is  he,  I  last  devour. 

From  him  who  loves  a  quiet  life, 
And  keeps  at  home  to  kiss  his  wife, 
And  drinks  success  to  king  Pigmalion, 
And  calls  all  Congresses  Rabscallion, 
With  neutral  stomach  eats  his  supper, 
Nor  deems  the  contest  worth  a  copper  ; 


On.  III.] 


CORRESPONDENCE  OF  GATES  AND  BURGOYNE. 


513 


I  will  not  defalcate  a  groat, 

Nor  force  his  wife  to  cut  hi3  throat ; 

But  with  his  doxy  he  may  stay, 

And  live  to  fight  another  day  ; 

Drink  all  the  cider  he  has  made, 

And  have  to  boot,  a  green  cockade. 

But  as  I  like  a  good  Sir  Loin, 

And  mutton  chop  whene'er  I  dine, 

And  my  poor  troops  have  long  kept  Lent, 

Not  for  religion,  but  for  want, 

Whoe'er  secretes  cow,  bull  or  ox, 

Or  shall  presume  to  hide  his  flocks  ; 

Or  with  felonious  hand  eloign 

Pig,  duck,  or  gosling  from  Burgoyne, 

Or  dare  to  pull  the  bridges  down, 

My  boys  to  puzzle  or  to  drown  ; 

Or  smuggle  hay,  or  plow,  or  harrow, 

Cart,  horses,  wagons  or  wheelbarrow  ; 

Or  'thwart  the  path,  lay  straw  or  switch, 

As  folks  are  wont  to  stop  a  witch, 

I'll  hang  him  as  the  Jews  did  Ilaman  ; 

And  smoke  his  carcase  for  a  gammon. 

I'll  pay  in  coin  for  what  I  eat, 

Or  Continental  counterfeit. 

But  what's  more  likely  still,  I  shall, 

(So  fare  my  troops,)  not  pay  at  all. 

With  the  most  Christian  spirit  Gr'd, 
And  by  true  soldiership  inspir'd, 
I  speak  as  men  do  in  a  passion 
To  give  my  speech  the  more  impression. 
If  any  should  so  hardened  be, 
As  to  expect  impunity, 
Because  procul  a  fulmine, 
I  will  let  loose  the  dogs  of  Hell, 
Ten  thousand  Indians,  who  shall  yell, 
And  foam  and  tear,  and,  grin  and  roar, 
And  drench  their  moccasins  in  gore  ; 
To  these  I'll  give  full  scope  and  play 
From  Ticonderog  to  Florida  ; 
They'll  scalp  your  heads,  and  kick  your  skins, 

And  rip  your ,  and  flay  your  skins, 

And  of  your  ears  be  nimble  croppers, 
And  make  your  thumbs  tobacco-stoppers. 
If  after  all  these  loving  warnings, 
My  wishes  and  my  bowels'  yearnings, 
You  shall  remain  as  deaf  as  adder, 
Or  grow  with  hostile  rage  the  madder, 
I  swear  by  George,  and  by  St.  Paul, 
I  will  exterminate  you  all. 
Subscrib'd  with  my  manual  sign 
To  test  these  presents,  JOHN  BURGOYNE. 

VOL.  I.— 67          


IL  EXTRACT   FROM  GATES'S  AND   BURGOYNE'S 
CORRESPONDENCE. 

GENERAL  Burgoyne  had  complained  of  the  harsh 
treatment  experienced  by  the  provincial  prisoners 
taken  at  Bennington,  and  requested  that  a  surgeon 
from  his  army  should  be  permitted  to  visit  the 
wounded ;  and  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  fur 
nish  them  with  necessaries  and  attendants.  "  Duty 
and  principle,"  he  added,  "make  me  a  public 
enemy  to  the  Americaas,  who  have  taken  up 
arms  ;  but  I  seek  to  be  a  generous  one  ;  nor 
have  I  the  shadow  of  resentment  against  any  in 
dividual,  who  does  not  induce  it  by  acts  deroga 
tory  to  those  maxims,  upon  which  all  men  of 
honor  think  alike."  In  answer  to  this  letter, 
General  Gates,  who  had  just  taken  command  of 
the  American  army,  said,  "  that  the  savages  of 
America  should,  in  their  warfare,  mangle  and 
scalp  the  unhappy  prisoners  who  fall  into  their 
hands,  is  neither  new  nor  extraordinary,  but 
that  the  famous  Lieutenant-general  Burgoyne,  in 
whom  the  fine  gentleman  is  united  with  the  soldier 
and  the  scholar,  should  hire  the  savages  of  Amer 
ica  to  scalp  Europeans,  and  the  descendants  of 
Europeans ;  nay,  more,  that  he  should  pay  a  price 
for  each  scalp  so  barbarously  taken,  is  more  than 
will  be  believed  in  Europe,  until  authenticated 
facts  shall,  in  every  gazette,  confirm  the  truth  of 
the  horrid  tale. 

"  Miss  M'Crea,  a  young  lady,  lovely  to  the 
sight,  of  virtuous  character,  and  amiable  dispo 
sition,  engaged  to  an  officer  of  your,  army,  was, 
with  other  women  and  children,  taken  out  of  a 
house  near  Fort  Edward,  carried  into  the  woods, 
and  there  scalped  and  mangled  in  a  most  shock 
ing  manner.  Two  parents,  with  their  six  chil 
dren,  were  all  treated  with  the  seme  inhumanity, 
while  quietly  resting  in  their  once  happy  and 
peaceful  dwelling.  The  miserable  fate  of  Miss 
M'Crea  was  particularly  aggravated,  by  being 
dressed  to  receive  her  promised  husband  ;  but 
met  her  murderer  employed  by  you.  Upwards 
of  one  hundred  men,  women  and  children,  have 
perished  by  the  hands  of  the  ruffians,  to  whom,  it 
is  asserted,  you  have  paid  the  price  of  blood." 

To  this  part  of  his  letter,  General  Burgoyne  re 
plied,  "  I  have  hesitated,  sir,  upon  answering  the 
other  paragraphs  of  your  letter.  I  disdain  to 
justify  myself  against  the  rhapsodies  of  fiction 
and  calumny,  which,  from  the  first  of  this  contest, 


514 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  III. 


1IL 


it  has  beea  tin  unvaried  American  policy  to  prop 
agate,  but  which  no  longer  impose  on  the  world. 
I  am  induced  to  deviate  from  this  general  rule,  in 
the  present  instance,  lest  my  silence  should  be 
construed  an  acknowledgment  of  the  truth  of 
your  allegations,  and  a  pretence  be  thence  taken 
for  exercising  future  barbarities  by  the  American 
troops. 

"  By  this  motive,  and  upon  this  only,,  I  con 
descend  to  inform  you,  that  I  would  not  be  con 
scious  of  the  acts  you  presume  to  impute  to  me, 
for  the  whole  continent  of  America,  though  the 
Tvealth  of  worlds  was  in  its  bowels,  and  a  paradise 
npon  its  surface. 

"  It  has  happened,  that  all  my  transactions  with 
the  Indian  nations,  last  year  and  this,  have  been 
clearly  heard,  distinctly  understood,  accurately 
minuted,  by  very  numerous,  and  in  many  parts, 
very  unprejudiced  persons.  So  immediately  op 
posite  to  the  truth  is  your  assertion,  that  I  have 
paid  a  price  for  scalps,  that  one  of  the  first  regula 
tions  established  by  me  at  the  great  council  in 
May,  and  repeated  and  enforced,  and  invariably 
adhered  to  since,  was,  that  the  Indians  should  re 
ceive  compensation  for  prisoners,  because  it  would 
prevent  cruelty  ;  and  that  not  only  such  compen 
sation  should  be  withheld,  but  a  strict  account 
demanded  for  scalps.  These  pledges  of  conquest, 
for  such  you  well  know  they  will  ever  esteem 
them,  were  solemnly  and  peremptorily  prohibited 
to  be  taken  from  the  wounded,  and  even  the 
dying,  and  the  persons  of  aged  men,  women,  chil 
dren,  and  prisoners,  were  pronounced  sacred,  even 
in  an  assault. 


"  In  regard  to  Miss  M'Crea,  her  fall  wanted 
not  the  tragic  display  you  have  labored  to  give  it, 
to  make  it  as  sincerely  abhorred  and  lamented  by 
me,  as  it  can  be  by  the  tenderest  of  her  friends. 
The  fact  was  no  premeditated  barbarity.  On  the 
contrary,  two  chiefs,  who  had  brought  her  off  for 
the  purpose  of  security,  not  of  violence  to  her 
person,  disputed  which  should  be  her  guard,  and 
in  a  fit  of  savage  passion  in  one,  from  whose 
hands  she  was  snatched,  the  unhappy  woman  be 
came  the  victim.  Upon  the  first  intelligence  of 
this  event,  I  obliged  the  Indians  to  deliver  the 
murderer  into  my  hands,  and  though  to  have  pun 
ished  him  by  our  laws,  or  principles  of  j-ustice, 
would  have  been  perhaps  unprecedented,  he 
certainly  should  have  suffered  an  ignominious 
death,  had  I  not  been  convinced  from  my  cir 
cumstances  and  observation,  beyond  the  possibility 
of  a  doubt,  that  a  pardon  under  the  terms  which 
I  presented,  and  they  accepted,  would  be  more 
efficacious  than  an  execution,  to  prevent  similar 
mischiefs. 

"  The  above  instance  excepted,  your  intelli 
gence  respecting  the  cruelty  of  the  Indians  is 
false. 

"You  seem  to  threaten  mo  with  European 
publications,  which  affect  me  as  little  as  any  other 
threats  you  could  make  ;  but  in  regard  to  Amer 
ican  publications,  whether  your  charge  against 
me,  which  I  acquit  you  of  believing,  was  penned 
from  a  gazette,  or  for  a  gazette,  I  desire  and 
demand  of  you,  as  a  man  of  honor,  that  should 
it  appear  in  print  at  all,  this  answer  may  fol 
low  it." 


CH.  JV.J 


EFFECT  OF  THE  VICTORY  OF  SARATOGA. 


515 


CHAPTER    IV. 
1777-1778, 

PEOGEESS     OF     THE     WAE     DtJEING      1777-8. 

Effect  of  the  victory  of  Saratoga  —  Meeting  of  Parliament  —  Need  of  confederation  and  union  —  Measures  adopt*  I 

—  Circular  letter  of  Congress  —  Winter-quarters  at  Valley  Forge  —  Intense  suffering  of  the  army  —  Sad  details 

—  Causes  of  the  want  of  supplies  for  the  army  —  Distresses  among  the  officers  —  Washington  strongly  advocates 

the  half-pay  system  —  Washington's    trials — Invidious    comparisons  —  Attempt  to  ruin  his  reputation Con- 

way'a  Cabal  —  Persons  connected  with  it  —  Anonymous  letters,  etc.  —  Washington's  letter  to  Laurens  —  Party 
in  Congress  —  Board    of  War  —  Gates's   and  Mifflin's  asseverations — Conway's  confession  —  Magnanimity  of 
Washington's  conduct  — Course   of  the  French  ministry  —  Diplomatic  experiences —Effect  of  the' victory  of 
Saratoga  upon  the  views  of  the  French  court  —  Lord  North's  conciliatory  hills  —  France  determines  to  act  with 
decision  —  Treaty  with  France  —  Notice  of  it  to  the  English  court  —  Beaumarchais's  connection  with  American 
affairs  —  Conciliatory  plans  sent  to  America  —  Terms  offered  —  Rejoicings  at  the  treaty  with  France  —  Address  by 
Congress  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  United  States  —  Royal  Commissioners  —  Attempts  at  negotiation  —  Reply  of 
Congress — Botta's  remarks  on  the  course  pursued  by  the  Americans  —  British  foraging  expeditions  —  Lafayette 
at  Barren  Hill.     APPENDIX.  TO  CHAPTER  IV.  —  I.  Articles  of  Confederation.     II.  The  Battle  of  the  Kegs. 


THE  victory  of  Saratoga  made  it  cer 
tain,  that  the  Americans  had  entered 
upon  the  contest  with  England,  with  a 
determination  to  achieve  their  inde 
pendence.  Reverses,  many  and  severe, 
had  not  discouraged  them;  there  was 
no  appearance,  whatever,  of  a  dispo 
sition  to  yield;  there  was  every  evi 
dence,  that  the  people  were  resolved  at 
all  hazards,  to  maintain  their  rights  and 
liberties.  And  now,  when,  by  a  for 
tunate  concurrence  of  favoring  circum 
stances,  they  had  obtained  a  great  vie- 
tory,  they  were  better  than 
ever  prepared  to  persist  in  the 
attitude  they  had  assumed,  and  also  to 
enter  upon  alliances  with  foreign  pow 
ers,  suitable  to  the  dignity  and  import 
ance  of  a  brave  and  a  free  people. 

Parliament  met  as  usual  in  Novem 
ber  of  this  year.  The  customary  ad 
dresses  in  answer  to  the  royal  speech 


1777. 


were  moved,  but  they  were  not  carried 
without  opposition.     In  the  House  of 
Lords,  the  celebrated  Earl  of  Chatham, 
then  sinking  under  the  infirmities  of 
age  and  disease,  proposed  an  amend 
ment,  by  introducing  a  clause  recom 
mending  to  his  majesty  an  immediate 
cessation  of  hostilities,  and  the   com 
mencement  of  a  treaty  of  conciliation, 
"  to  restore  peace  and  liberty  to  Amer 
ica,  strength  and  happiness  to  England, 
security  and  permanent  prosperity  to 
both  countries."     In  his  speech,  he  ani* 
madverted  with  much  severity  on  the 
employment  of  the  savages  as  auxili 
aries  in  the  war,  although  it  is  true  that 
their  aid  had  not  been  disdained  under 
his  own  administration.     This  amend 
ment,  like  every  other  proposal  of  con 
cession  and  conciliation,  was  lost;  and 
the  ministerial  measures  received  large 
majorities  in  their  favor,  so  confident 


516 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1777-8. 


.  111. 


were  the  administration,  that  the  ex 
pedition  under  Burgoyne,  would  be 
crowned  with  success. 

On  the  3d  of  December,  the  news 
of  the  victory  of  Saratoga  reached 
England.  Astonishment  and  dismay 
were  the  consequence ;  Lord  North 
and  the  ministry  were  immediately  at 
tacked  by  the  opposition.  Profoundly 
mortified  and  vexed,  the  ministry  en 
deavored  to  shift  the  blame  from  them 
selves  to  the  commanders  of  the  army 
in  America.  They  asserted  that  they 
had  done  every  thing  which  could  be 
done,  to  warrant  success,  and  depre 
cated  condemnation  without  full  in 
quiry.  A  temporary  respite  was  ob 
tained  by  the  ministry,  by  the  adjourn 
ment  of  Parliament  to  the  20th  of 
January,  ITT 8. 

In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  spoken 
of  the  measures  taken  to  effect  a  more 
solid  and  effective  union  of  the  various 
colonies,  so  as  to  enable  Congress  to  act 
with  vigor  and  efficiency.  It  was  plain 
that  something  must  be  done,  for  Con 
gress  had  no  powers  or  rights,  except  in 
so  far  as  the  states  chose  to  recognize 
them,  by  carrying  out  its  resolves.  As  a 
government,  it  was  certain  that  Con 
gress  could  not  efficiently  discharge  the 
duties  expected  from  its  position :  in 
herent  defects  attached  to  the  revo 
lutionary  government,  and  it  was  fast 
breaking  down,  as  well  from  the  want 
of  executive  authority  over  the  people 
of  the  whole  country,  as  from  the  fu 
tility  of  any  federative  union  among 
sovereign  states,  which  leaves  the  ex 
ecution  of  the  measures.adopted  in  gen 
eral  council,  to  the  separate  members 
of  the  confederacy. 


Early  in  October,  the  approach  of 
the  British  having  compelled  Congress 
to  retire  to  Yorktown,  the  Articles  of 
Confederation    were    taken    up    and 
discussed    from    day    to    day, 

1777 

until  the  middle  of  November. 
At  that  date,  they  were  adopted  for 
recommendation  to  the  states,*  and  the 
following  circular  letter  was  addressed 
to  the  several  legislatures,  urging  their 
adoption.  "  Congress  having  agreed 
upon  a  plan  of  confederacy  for  secur 
ing  the  freedom,  sovereignty,  and  in 
dependence  of  the  United  States,  au 
thentic  copies  are  now  transmitted  for 
the  consideration  of  the  respective  legis 
latures.  The  business,  equally  intricate 
and  important,  has  in  its  progress  been 
attended  with  uncommon  embarrass 
ments  and  delay,  which  the  most 
anxious  solicitude  and  persevering  dili 
gence  could  not  prevent. 

"  To  form  a  permanent  union,  ac 
commodated  to  the  opinion  and  wishes 
of  the  delegates  of  so  many  states,  dif 
fering  in  habits,  produce,  commerce, 
and  internal  police,  was  found  to  be  a 
work  which  nothing  but  time  and  re 
flection,  conspiring  with  a  disposition 
to  conciliate,  could  mature  and  accom 
plish.  Hardly  is  it  to  be  expected  that 
any  plan,  in  the  variety  of  provisions 
essential  to  our  union,  should  exactly 
correspond  with  the  maxims  and  polit 
ical  views  of  every  particular  state. 
Let  it  be  remarked,  that,  after  the  most 
careful  inquiry  and  the  fullest  informa 
tion,  this  is  proposed  as  the  best  which 
could  be  adapted  to  the  circumstances 


*  See  Appendix  I.,  at  the  end  of  the  present  chap 
ter. 


CH  IV.] 


CIRCULAR  LETTER  OF  CONGRESS. 


517 


of  all,  and  as  that  alone  which  affords 
any  tolerable  prospect  of  general  rati 
fication.  Permit  us,  then,  earnestly  to 
recommend  these  articles  to  the  imme 
diate  and  dispassionate  attention  of  the 
legislatures  of  the  respective  states. 
Let  them  be  candidly  reviewed  under 
a  sense  of  the  difficulty  of  combining  in 
one  general  system  the  various  senti 
ments  and  interests  of  a  continent  di 
vided  into  so  many  sovereign  and  in 
dependent  communities,  under  a  convic 
tion  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  uniting 
all  our  councils  and  all  our  strength,  to 
maintain  and  defend  our  common  lib 
erties.  Let  them  be  examined  with  a 
liberality  becoming  brethren  and  fel 
low-citizens,  surrounded  by  the  same 
imminent  dangers,  contending  for  the 
same  illustrious  prize,  and  deeply  in 
terested  in  beino;  forever  bound  and 

O 

connected  together  by  ties  the  most  in 
timate  and  indissoluble. 

"  And  finally,  let  them  be  adjusted 
with  the  temper  and  magnanimity  of 
wise  and  patriotic  legislators,  who, 
while  they  are  concerned  for  the  pros 
perity  of  their  more  immediate  circle, 
are  capable  of  rising  superior  to  local 
attachments,  when  they  may  be  incom 
patible  with  the  safety,  happiness,  and 
glory  of  the  general  confederacy. 

"  We  have  reason  to  regret  the  time 
which  has  elapsed  in  preparing  this 
plan  for  consideration.  With  additional 
solicitude,  we  look  forward  to  that 
which  must  be  necessarily  spent  before 
it  can  be  ratified.  Every  motive  loudly 
calls  upon  us  to  hasten  its  conclusion. 

"More  than  any  other  consideration, 
it  will  confound  our  foreign  enemies, 
defeat  the  flagitious  practices  of  the  dis 


affected,  stiengthen  and  confirm  our 
friends,  support  our  public  credit,  re 
store  the  value  of  our  money,  enable  us 
to  maintain  our  fleets  and  armies,  and 
add  weight  and  respect  to  our  counsels 
at  home,  and  to  our  treaties  abroad. 

"  In  short,  this  salutary  measure  can 
no  longer  be  deferred.  It  seems  essen 
tial  to  our  very  existence  as  a  free 
people ;  and  without  it,  we  may  soon 
be  constrained  to  bid  adieu  to  inde 
pendence,  to  liberty,  and  to  safety; 
blessings  which,  from  the  justice  of  our 
cause,  and  the  favor  of  our  Almighty 
Creator,  visibly  manifested  in  our  pro 
tection,  we  have  reason  to  expect,  if,  in 
an  humble  dependence  on  his  divine 
providence,  we  strenuously  exert  the 
means  which  are  placed  in  our  power. 
To  conclude,  if  the  legislature  of  any 
state  shall  not  be  assembled,  Congress 
recommend  to  the  executive  authority 
to  convene  it  without  delay ;  and  to 
each  respective  legislature,  it  is  recom 
mended  to  invest  its  delegates  with 

o 

competent  powers  ultimately,  in  the 
name  and  behalf  of  the  state,  to  sub 
scribe  articles  of  confederation  and  per 
petual  union  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  attend  Congress  for  that  purpose  on 
or  before  the  10th  day  of  March,  1788." 
Washington,  whose  intimate  sym 
pathy  with  the  people  was  never  lost 
for  a  moment,  was  very  loth  to  exercise 
the  large  powers  with  which  he  had 
been  entrusted  by  Congress,  and  it  was 
a  severe  trial  to  him,  to  be  compelled 
to  use  forcible  means  to  obtain  supplies 
for  the  army.  In  every  step  which 
he  took,  he  manifested  a  deep  sense 
of  his  responsibility,  while  he  never 
failed  to  display  firmness  and  decision, 


518 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1777-8. 


[BK.  III. 


1T77. 


mingled  with  great  prudence  and  dis 
cretion.* 

In  a  council  of  the  officers,  a  great 
variety  of  opinions  was  expressed,  as  to 
the  most  eligible  place  for  winter-quar 
ters  for  the  army.  Washington,  com 
pelled  to  decide  the  -question  himself, 
fixed  upon  Valley  Forge,  as  we  have 
before  stated;  a  deep  and  rugged  val 
ley,  about  twenty  miles  from  Philadel 
phia;  bounded  on  one  side  by  the 
Schuylkill,  and  on  the  other  by  ridges 
of  hills.  The  soldiers  were  too  miser 
ably  deficient  in  suitable  clothing,  to  be 
exposed  to  the  inclement  winter  under 
tents  merely:  it  was  therefore  deter 
mined  that  a  sufficient  number  of  huts 
should  be  erected,  to  be  made  of  logs, 
and  filled  in  with  mortar,  in  which 
they  would  find  a  more  effec 
tual  shelter.f  The  whole  army 
began  its  march  towards  Valley  Forge, 

*  It  was  in  December,  J777,  that  Mr.  Bushncll, 
the  inventor  of  the  American  torpedo  and  other  sub 
marine  machinery,  set  afloat  in  the  Delaware  a  con 
trivance  which  frightened  the  British  not  a  little. 
This  was  a  squadron  of  kegs,  charged  with  powder, 
to  explode  on  coming  in  contact  with  any  thing. 
The  ice  prevented  the  success  of  this  contrivance, 
but  as  a  boat  was  blown  up,  and  some  of  the  kegs  ex 
ploded,  the  British,  at  Philadelphia,  not  knowing 
what  dreadful  affairs  might  be  in  the  water,  fired  at 
avery  thing  they  saw  during  the  ebb  tide.  For  Mr. 
rlopkinson's  "  Battle  of  the  Kegs,"  we  refer  the  reader 
to  Appendix  II.,  at  tho  end  of  the  present  chapter. 

f  It  is  not  pleasant  to  put  it  on  record,  but  the 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  vexed  at  the  loss  of 
Philadelphia,  found  it  in  their  hearts  to  complain  of 
Washington  going  into  winter-quarters.  This  drew 
from  him  some  pretty  plain  words  on  this  point: 
"  We  find  gentlemen,  without  knowing  whether  the 
army  was  really  going  into  winter-quarters  or  not, 
reprobating  the  measure  as  much  as  if  they  thought 
that  the  soldiers  were  made  of  stocks  or  stones,  and 
equally  insensible  of  frost  and  snow  ;  and  moreover? 
as  if  they  conceived  it  easily  practicable  for  an  in 
ferior  army,  under  the  disadvantages  I  have  de- 


in  the  middle  of  December:  some  of 
the  soldiers  were  seen  to  drop  dead 
with  cold ;  others,  without  shoes,  had 
their  feet  cut  by  the  ice,  and  left  their 
tracks  in  blood.  After  the  most  pain 
ful  efforts,  the  troops  at  length  reached 
their  destined  quarters.  They  immedi 
ately  set  about  constructing  their  habi 
tations  upon  a  regular  plan.  In  a  short 
time,  the  barracks  were  completed,  and 
the  soldiers  lodged  with  some  slight  de 
gree  of  comfort. 

It  is  impossible,  however,  to  express 
in  words,  the  intense  suffering  which 
the  army  was  called  upon  to  endure  at 
Valley  Forge.  Utterly  destitute  of  al 
most  every  thing  necessary  to  support 
life;  tattered  and  half-naked;  some 
few  of  the  soldiers  had  one  shirt ;  many 
only  the  moiety  of  one ;  and  the  greater 
part,  none  at  all.  Numbers  of  these 
brave  men,  for  want  of  shoes,  were 
compelled  to  go  barefoot  over  the 
frozen  ground.  Few,  if  any,  had 
blankets  for  the  night.  Great  num 
bers  sickened  ;  others,  unfitted  for  ser 
vice  by  the  cold  and  their  nakedness, 
were  excused  by  their  officers  from  all 
military  duty,  and  either  remained  in 


scribed  ours  to  be,  which  are  by  no  means  exagger 
ated,  to  confine  a  superior  one,  in  all  respects  well 
appointed,  and  provided  for  a  winter's  campaign, 
within  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  to  cover  from 
depredation  and  waste,  the  states  of  Pennsylvania 
and  New  Jersey I  can  assure  these  gen 
tlemen,  that  it  is  a  much  easier  and  less  distress 
ing  thing,  to  draw  remonstrances  in  a  comfortable 
room,  by  a  good  fireside,  than  to  occupy  a  cold,  bleak 
hill,  and  sleep  under  frost  and  snow,  without  clothes 
or  blankets.  However,  although  they  seem  to  haro 
little  feeling  for  the  naked  and  distressed  soldiers,  I 
feel  superabundantly  for  them,  and  from  my  soul  I 
pity  those  miseries,  which  it  is  nmthcr  in  my  powei 
to  relieve  nor  prevent." 


CH.  IV.] 


SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  ARMY  AT  VALLEY  FORGE. 


519 


their  barracks,  or  were  lodged  in  the 
houses  of  the  neighboring  farmers; 
and  nearly  three  thousand  men  were 
thus  rendered  incapable  of  bearing 
arms.  Sadly  in  want  of  even  straw,  to 
render  their  huts  fitted,  in  this  slight 
degree,  for  the  occupancy  of  human 
beings,  the  soldiers,  overwhelmed  with 
lassitude,  enfeebled  by  hunger,  and  be 
numbed  with  cold,  in  their  service  by 
day  and  by  night,  had  no  other  bed  in 
their  huts  except  the  bare  and  humid 
ground.  This  cause,  joined  to  the 
others  that  have  been  related,  propa 
gated  diseases :  the  hospitals  were  as 
rapidly  replenished  as  death  evacuated 
them ;  and  their  administration  was  no 
less  defective  in  its  organization  than 
that  of  the  camp.  The  unsuitablenes's  of 
the  buildings  in  which  they  had  been 
established,  the  excessive  penury  of 
every  kind  of  furniture,  and  the  multi 
tude  of  sick  that  crowded  them,  speed 
ily  produced  its  natural  result.  The 
hospital  fever  broke  out  in  them,  and 
daily  swept  off  .the  vigorous  and  more 
active,  as  well  as  the  feeble  and  worn- 
down  defender  of  his  native  land. 

It  was  not  possible  to  remedy  this 
sad  state  of  things,  by  needful  changes 
of  linen,  for  they  were  utterly  unpro 
vided  in  this  respect ;  nor  by  a  more 
salubrious  diet,  when  the  coarsest  was 
scarcely  attainable  ;  nor  even  by  medi 
cines,  which  were  either  absolutely 
wanting,  or  of  the  worst  quality,  and 
adulterated  through  the  shameless  cu 
pidity  of  the  contractors :  for  such,  in 
general,  as  has  been  justly  said,  has 
been  the  nature  of  these  furnishers  of 
armies,  that  they  should  rather  be  de 
nominated  the  artisans  of  scarcity; 


they  have  always  preferred  money  to 
the  life  of  the  soldier.  Hence  it  was, 
that  the  American  hospital  resembled 
more  a  receptacle  for  the  dying  than  & 
refuge  for  the  sick :  far  from  restoring 
health  to  the  diseased,  it  more  often 
proved  mortal  to  the  well.  This  pes 
tilential  den  was  the  terror  of  the  army. 
The  soldiers  preferred  perishing  with 
cold  in  the  open  air,  to  being  buried 
alive  in  the  midst  of  the  dead.  Whethei 
it  was  the  effect  of  inevitable  necessity, 
or  of  the  avarice  of  men,  it  is  but  too 
certain,  that  an  untimely  death  carried 
off  many  a  brave  soldier,  who,  with  bet 
ter  attentions,  might  have  been  pre 
served  for  the  defence  of  his  country  in 
its  distress. 

Certainly  nothing  could  be  imagined 
to  equal  the  sufferings  which  the  Amer« 
ican  army  had  to  undergo  in  the  course 
of  this  winter,  except  the  almost  super 
human  firmness  with  which  they  bore 
them.     A  small  number,  it  is  true,  se 
duced  by  the  royalists,  deserted  their 
colors,  and  slunk  off  to  the  British  army 
in  Philadelphia ;  but  these  were,  for  the 
most  part,  Europeans,  who  had  entered 
the  continental  service.     The  true-born 
Americans,  supported   by  their  patri 
otism,  and  by  their  profound  Venera 
tion  and  love  for  Washington,  display 
ed  invincible  perseverance ;  they  chose 
rather  to  suffer  all  the    extremes   of 
famine,  and  of  frost,  than  to  violate,  in 
this  dark  hour  of  peril,  the  faith  they 
had    pledged  to  their   country.     Had 
Howe  possessed   enterprise  enough  to 
attack  the  patriot  army  at  this  time, 
disastrous   must  have  been  the  conse 
quences.     Without  military  stores,  and 
without    provisions,    how     could    the 


520 


PROGRESS  OF   THE   WAR   DURING   1777-8. 


.[IMC.  Ill 


Americans  have  defended  their  en 
trenchments?  Besides,  to  enter  the 
field  anew,  in  the  midst  of  so  rigorous 
a  season,  was  become  for  them  an  ab 
solute  impossibility.  On  the  1st  of 
February,  177 8,  four  thousand  of  the 
troops  were  incapable  of  any  kind  of 
service,  for  want  of  clothing. 

l^TS. 

The  condition  of  the  rest  was 
very  little  better.  In  a  word,  out  of 
the  eleven  or  twelve  thousand  men 
that  were  in  camp,  it  would  have  been 
difficult  to  muster  five  thousand  fit  for 
duty. 

The  reader  cannot  fail  to  have  been 
surprised,  that  the  army  should  have 
been  deficient  in  supplies  of  food,  in  a 
country  abounding  with  provisions.  A 
few  words  of  explanation  seem  to  be 
needed,  to  account  for  such  a  fact. 
Early  in  the  war,  the  office  of  commis 
sary-general  had  been  conferred  on 
Colonel  Trumbull,  of  Connecticut,  a 
gentleman  well  fitted  for  that  import 
ant  station.  Yet,  from  the  difficulty  of 
arranging  so  complicated  a  department, 
complaints  were  repeatedly  made  of 
the  insufficiency  of  supplies.  The  sub 
ject  was  taken  up  by  Congress;  but 
the  remedy  administered,  served  only 
to  increase  the  disease.  The  system 
was  not  completed  till  near  midsum 
mer;  and  then  its  arrangement^  were 
such,  that  Colonel  Trumbull  refused 
the  office  assigned  to  him.  The  new 
plan  contemplated  a  number  of  subor 
dinate  officers,  all  to  be  appointed  by 
Congress,  and  neither  accountable  to,  or 
removable  by,  the  head  of  the  depart 
ment.  This  arrangement,  which  was 
made  in  direct  opposition  to  the  opin 
ion  of  the  commander-in-chief,  drove 


Colonel  Trumbull  from  the  army.  Con 
gress,  however,  persisted  in  the  system  ; 
and  its  effects  were  not  long  in  unfold 
ing  themselves.  In  every  military  di 
vision  of  the  continent,  loud  complaints 
were  made  of  the  deficiency  of  supplies. 
The  armies  were  greatly  embarrassed, 
and  their  movements  suspended,  by  the 
want  of  provisions.  The  present  total 
failure  of  all  supply  was  preceded  by 
issuing  meat  unfit  to  be  eaten.  Repre 
sentations  on  this  subject  had  been 
made  to  the  commander-in-chief,  and 
communicated  to  Congress.  That  body 
had  authorized  him  to  seize  provisions 
for  the  use  of  his  army  within  seventy 
miles  of  head-quarters,  and  to  pay  for 
them  in  money  or  in  certificates.  The 
odium  of  this  measure  was  increased  by 
the  failure  of  government  to  provide 
funds  to  take  up  these  certificates  when 
presented.  At  the  same  time,  the  pro 
visions  carried  into  Philadelphia,  were 
paid  for  in  specie  at  a  fair  price.  The 
temptation  was  too  great  to  be  resisted. 
Such  was  the  dexterity  employed  by 
the  inhabitants  in  eluding  the  laws 
that  notwithstanding  the  vigilance  o* 
the  troops  stationed  on  the  lines,  they 
often  succeeded  in  concealing  their  pro 
visions  from  those  authorized  to  impress 
for  the  army,  and  in  conveying  them  to 
Philadelphia.  Washington,  urged  on 
by  Congress,  issued  a  proclamation,  re 
quiring  all  the  farmers  within  seventy 
miles  of  Valley  Forge,  to  thresh  out 
one  half  of  their  grain  by  the  1st  of 
February,  and  the  rest  by  the  1st  of 
March,  under  the  penalty  of  having  the 
whole  seized  as  straw.  Many  farmers 
refused,  defended  their  grain  and  cattle 
with  muskets  and  rifle,  and  in  some  in- 


CH,  IV.] 


ANONYMOUS  LETTER  TO  HENRY. 


523 


part  of  a  letter  from  Con  way  to  Gates/ 
which  was  communicated  to  Washino-- 

Q 

ton  by  Lord  Stirling.  A  correspond 
ence  ensued,  which  is  well  worth  read 
ing,  especially  as  it  sets  forth,  in  a  very 
transparent  manner,  the  dignity  and 
uprightness  of  the  father  of  his  country. 
The  result  showed,  how  deep  a  hold  he 
possessed  upon  not  only  the  confidence, 
but  also  the  love  and  veneration  of  his 
country. 

One  of  these  anonymous  epistles  just 
spoken  of,  was  sent  to  Mr.  Laureus, 
president  of  Congress,  and  was  intend 
ed  to  operate  upon  that  body.  An 
other  was  dispatched  to  Patrick  Henry, 
governor  of  Virginia.  Both  these  gen 
tlemen  forwarded  the  letters  directly 
to  Washington.  We  quote  the  letter 
received  by  Henry,  as  illustrating  the 
mode  in  which  it  was  intended  to  ruin 
the  reputation  of  the  commander-in- 
chief. 

"YORKTOWN,  January  12,  1778. 

"  L)EAR  SIK, — The  common  danger 
of  our  country  first  brought  you  and 
me  together.  I  recollect  with  pleasure 
the  influence  of  your  conversation  and 
eloquence,  upon  the  opinions  of  this 
country  in  the  beginning  of  the  present 
controversy.  You  first  taught  us  to 
shake  off  our  idolatrous  attachment  to 
royalty,  and  to  oppose  its  encroach 
ments  upon  our  liberties  with  our  very 
lives.  By  these  means  you  saved  us 
from  ruin.  The  independence  of  Amer 
ica  is  the  offspring  of  that  liberal  spirit 
of  thinking,  and  acting,  which  followed 
the  destruction  of  the  sceptres  of  kings 
and  the  mighty  power  of  Great  Britain. 

"But,  sir,  we  have  only  passed  the 
.Red  Sea.     A  dreary  wilderness  is  still 


before  us,  and   unless   a  Moses   or  a 
Joshua  are  raised  up  in  our  behalf,  we 
must  perish  before  we  reach  the  prom 
ised  land.     We   have  nothing  to  fear 
from  our  enemies  on  the  way.     Gen 
eral  Howe,  it  is  true,  has  taken  Phila 
delphia  ;  but  he  has  only  changed  his 
prison.     His    dominions   are   bounded 
on  all  sides  by  his  out-sentries.     Amer 
ica   can   only   be   undone   by  herself. 
She  looks  up  to  her  councils  and  arms 
for   protection;    but    alas!    what   are 
they?    her  representation  in  Congress 
dwindled  to  only  twenty-one  members 
— her  Adams,  her  Wilson,  her  Henry, 
are  no  more  among  them.     Her  coun 
cils  weak,  and  partial  remedies  applied 
constantly  for  universal  diseases.     Her 
army — what  is  it?  a  major-general  be 
longing  to  it,  called  it  a  few  days  ago  in 
my  hearing,  a  mob.   Discipline  unknown, 
or  wholly  neglected.     The  quarter-mas 
ter  and  commissary's  departments  filled 
with  idleness,  ignorance  and  peculation ; 
our  hospitals  crowded  with  six  thou 
sand  sick,  but  half  provided  with  neces 
saries    or    accommodations,  and  more 
dying  in  them  in  one  month,  than  per 
ished  in  the  field  during  the  whole  of 
the  last  campaign. 

"  The  money  depreciating  without  any 
effectual  measures  being  taken  to  raise 
it — the  country  distracted  with  the  Don 
Quixote  attempts  to  regulate  the  prices 
of  provisions,  tm  artificial  famine  created 
by  it,  and  a  real  one  dreaded  from  it. 
The  spirit  of  the  people  failing  through 
a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
lauses  of  our  misfortunes ;  many  sub 
mitting  daily  to  General  Howe,  and 
more  wishing  to  do  it,  only  to  avoid 
;he  calamities  which  threaten  our  coun- 


524 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1777-8. 


[Bic.  III. 


try.  But  is  our  case  desperate  ?  by  no 
means.  We  have  wisdom,  virtue,  and 
strength  enough  to  save  us,  if  they  could 
be  called  into  action.  The  northern 
army  has  shown  us  what  Americans 
are  capable  of  doing  with  A  GENERAL 
at  their  head.  The  spirit  of  the  south 
ern  army  is  no  ways  inferior  to  the 
spirit  of  the  northern.  A  Gates,  a  Lee, 
or  a  Con  way  would,  in  a  few  weeks, 
render  them  an  irresistible  body  of 
men.  The  last  of  the  above  officers 
has  accepted  of  the  new  office  of  inspec 
tor-general  of  our  army,  in  order  to  re 
form  abuses ;  but  the  remedy  is  only  a 
palliative  one.  In  one  of  his  letters  to 
a  friend,  he  says,  '  a  great  and  good 
God  hath  decreed  America  to  be  free 
— or  the  *  *  *  *  and  weak  coun 
sellors  would  have  ruined  her  Ions' 

o 

ago ;'  you  may  rest  assured  of  each  of 
the  facts  related  in  this  letter.  The 
author  of  it  is  one  of  your  Philadelphia 
friends.  A  hint  of  his  name,  if  found 
out  by  the  hand- writing,  must  not  be 
mentioned  to  your  most  intimate  friend. 
Even  the  letter  must  be  thrown  in  the 
fire.  But  some  of  its  contents  ought  to 
be  made  public,  in  order  to  awaken, 
enlighten,  and  alarm  our  country.  I 
rely  upon  your  prudence,  and  am,  dear 
sir,  with  my  usual  attachment  to  yc/a, 
and  to  our  beloved  independence, 
"  Yours,  sincerely, 


"  His  Excellency  P.  HENRY." 

In  reply  to  the  letter  of  Mr.  Laurens, 
enclosing  the    anonymous  communica 
tion  received  by  him,  Washington,  un 
der  date  of  January  31st,  wrote 

177§. 

as    follows :     "  I    cannot    suffi 
ciently  express  the  obligation  I  feel  to 


you,  for  your  friendship  and  politeness 
upon  an  occasion  in  which  I  am  so 
deeply  interested.  I  was  not  unap- 
prized,  that  a  malignant  faction  had 
been  for  some  time  forming  to  my  pre« 
judice ;  which,  conscious  as  I  am  of 
having  ever  done  all  in  my  power  to 
answer  the  important  purposes  of  the 
trust  reposed  in  me,  could  not  but  give 
me  some  pain  on  a  personal  account. 
But  my  chief  concern  arises  from  an 
apprehension  of  the  dangerous  conse 
quences  which  intestine  dissensions 
may  produce,  to  the  common  cause. 

"As  I  have  no  other  view  than  to 
promote  the  public  good,  and  am  un 
ambitious  of  honors  not  founded  in  the 
approbation  of  my  country,  I  would 
not  desire  in  the  least  degree  to  sup 
press  a  free  spirit  of  inquiry  into  any 
part  of  my  conduct,  that  even  factioi- 
itself  may  deem  reprehensible.  TH* 
anonymous  paper  handed  to  you,  ex 
hibits  many  serious  charges,  and  it  is 
my  wish  that  it  should  be  submitted  to 
Congress.  This  I  am  the  more  inclined 

O 

to,  as  the  suppression  or  concealment 
may  possibly  involve  you  in  embar 
rassments  hereafter,  since  it  is  uncer 
tain  how  many,  or  who,  may  be  privy 
to  the  contents. 

"  My  enemies  take  an  ungenerous  ad 
vantage  of  me.     They  know  the  deli 
cacy  of  my  situation,  and  that  motives 
of  policy  deprive  me  of  the  defence  I 
misrht  otherwise  make  against  their  in- 

O  O 

sidious  attacks.  They  know  I  cannot 
combat  their  insinuations,  however  in 
jurious,  without  disclosing  secrets  which 
it  is  of  the  utmost  moment  to  conceal 
But  why  should  I  expect  to  be  exempt 
from  censure,  the  unfailing  lot  o:'  an 


CH. 


RESULTS  OF  CONWAY'S  CABAL. 


elevated  station?  Merit  and  talents, 
with  which  I  can  have  no  pretensions 
of  rivalship,  have  ever  been  subject  to 
it.  My  heart  tells  me,  that  it  has  been 
my  unremitted  aim  to  do  the  best  that 
circumstances  would  permit ;  yet  I  may 
have  been  very  often  mistaken  in  the 
judgment  of  the  means,  and  may  in 
many  instances  deserve  the  imputation 
of  error." 

It  is  evident,  from  the  proceedings 
of  Congress  for  some  time  preceding, 
that  there  was  a  considerable  party  in 
that  body,  which  lent  themselves  to 
this  disgraceful  attempt  against  "Wash 
ington's  good  name.  The  appointment 
of  a  new  Board  of  War,  of  which  Gates 
and  Mifflin  were  members,  together 
with  a  projected  expedition  to  Canada, 
without  at  all  consulting  Washington, 
were  clear  indications  of  the  purposes 
of  the  Cabal,  to  endeavor  to  force  the 
Commander-in-chief  to  resign  his  post 
in  disgust.*  But  Washington  was  not 
to  be  moved  from  his  steadfastness. 

*  Washington,  in  reply  to  certain  insinuations 
which  had  reached  him,  wrote  thus  to  a  friend  in 
New  England  :  "  I  can  assure  you,  that  no  person 
ever  heard  me  drop  an  expression  that  had  a  ten 
dency  to  resignation.  The  same  principles  that  led 
me  to  embark  in  the  opposition  to  the  arbitrary  claims 
of  Great  Britain,  operate  with  additional  force  at  this 
day  ;  nor  is  it  my  desire  to  withdraw  my  services, 
while  they  are  considered  of  importance  in  the  pres 
ent  contest :  but  to  report  a  design  of  this  kind,  is 
among  the  arts  which  those  who  are  endeavoring  to 
effect  a  change,  are  practicing  to  bring  it  to  pass.  I 
have  said,  and  1  still  do  say,  that  there  is  not  an  offi 
cer  in  the  United  States,  that  would  return  to  the 
sweets  of  domestic  life  with  more  heart-felt  joy  than 
I  should.  But  I  would  have  this  declaration  accom 
panied  by  these  sentiments,  that  while  the  public  arc 
satisfied  with  my  endeavors,  I  mean  not  to  shrink 
from  the  cause  ;  but  the  moment  her  voice,  not  that 
of  faction,  calls  upon  me  to  resign,  I  shall  do  it  with 
as  much  pleasure  as  ever  the  weary  traveller  re- 
thed  to  rest." 


Lafayette,  also,  whose  love  and  venera 
tion  for  the  man  who  called  him  his 
friend,  knew  no  bounds,  although  at 
tempted  to  be  nattered  and  cajoled  into 
favoring  the  Cabal,  openly  and  posi 
tively  refused  to  have  any  connection 
with  it.  "  I  am  bound  to  your  fate," 
he  wrote  to  Washington,  "  and  I  shall 
follow  it,  and  sustain  it,  as  well  by  my 
sword,  as  by  all  the  means  in  my  pow 
er."  And  the  army,  as  a  whole,  were 
roused  to  deep  indignation  at  the  au 
dacious  designs  of  certain  restless  and 
intriguing  men  against  the  beloved 
commander-m-chief. 

Gates  and  Mifflin,  in  letters  quoted 
by  Gordon,  strongly  asseverated  that 
they  were  in  nowise  partakers  in  any 
plan  for  removing  Washington  from 
his  post.  Con  way,  too,  made  some 
efforts  of  a  similar  kind ;  but  it  may  be 
regarded  as  certain,  that  the  two  for 
mer  knew  very  well  what  was  going 
on,  and  were  prepared  to  profit  by  the 
result;*  and  as  to  the  latter,  his  am- 

*  Shortly  after  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne,  Gates 
took  occasion  to  hold  with  Morgan  a  private  con 
versation.  In  the  course  of  tliis  he  told  him,  con 
fidentially,  that  the  main  army  was  exceedingly 
dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  of  General  Wash 
ington,  that  the  reputation  of  that  officer  was  rapidly 
declining,  and  that  several  officers,  of  great  worth, 
threatened  to  resign,  unless  a  change  was  produced 
in  that  department.  Colonel  Morgan,  fathoming 
in  an  instant  the  views  of  his  commanding  officer, 
sternly,  and  with  honest  indignation,  replied, 
"  Sir,  I  have  one  favor  to  ask.  Never  again  men 
tion  to  me  this  hateful  subject ;  under  no  other 
man  but  General  Washington,  as  commander-in- 
chief,  will  I  ever  serve."  Firm  that  time  Gates 
treated  Morgan  with  marked  coldness  and  neglect; 
and  in  the  official  account  of  the  surrender  of 
Bursoyne,  did  not  even  mention  Morgan's  name, 
although  that  distinguished  officer's  strvices  wera 
well  and  widely  known  to  the  army  and  the  coun 
try.  See  Graham's  "  Life  of  General  Morga-i,"  pp. 
172.  173. 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1777-8. 


177§. 


526 

bitious  aims  and  unscrupulous  conduct, 
soon  produced  an  unlocked  for  termi 
nation  of  his  career.  Excessively  un 
popular  in  the  army,  he  threw  up  his 
office  of  inspector-general,  and  in  the 
latter  part  of  February,  he  was 
wounded  in  a  duel  with  Gen 
eral  Cadwalader.  Supposing  his  wound 
to  be  mortal — though  he  afterwards  re 
covered — under  the  influence  of  sudden 
remorse,  he  wrote  to  "Washington  in 
the  following  terms:  "I  find  myself 
just  able  to  hold  the  pen  during  a  few 
minutes,  and  take  this  opportunity  of 
expressing  my  sincere  grief  for  having 
done,  written,  or  said  any  thing  disa 
greeable  to  your  Excellency.  My  ca 
reer  will  soon  be  over ;  therefore,  jus 
tice  and  truth  prompt  me  to  declare 
my  last  sentiments.  You  are,  in  my 
eyes,  the  great  and  good  man.  May 
you  long  enjoy  the  love,  veneration, 
and  esteem  of  these  States,  whose  lib 
erties  you  have  asserted  by  your  vir 
tues." 

It  is  superfluous,  perhaps,  to  call  the 
reader's  attention  to  the  fact,  but  no 
one,  we  are  sure,  can  examine  this  por 
tion  of  our  country's  history,  without  a 
feeling  of  profound  respect  and  admira 
tion  for  the  magnanimity,  the  modera 
tion,  the  self-command,  and  the  nobil 
ity  of  soul  which  marked  the  whole 
course  of  Washington  during  this  pain 
ful  and  vexatious  trial.  May  his  ex 
ample  never  be  without  effect  upon 
those  who  glory  in  the  name  of  coun 
trymen  of  Washington  !* 


*  Mr.  Irving  gives  the  following  anecdote,  fur 
nished  to  him  by  Judge  Jay.  "  Shortly  before  the 
rleith  of  John  Adams,  I  was  sitting  alone  with  my 


[_BK.  Ill 


1777. 


As  has  been  already  intimated,  in 
speaking  of  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
United  States,  France  was  only  waiting 
for  some  positive  surety,  that  the  Amer 
icans  would  sustain  the  contest  against 

o 

the  mother  country,  before  she  was 
willing  openly  to  enter  the  field 
as  the  ally  of  the  new  republic. 
Although  the  Americans  had  not  fal 
tered,  or  manifested  any  disposition  to 
yield  to  England,  yet  the  issue  was  still 
somewhat  uncertain.  It  was  not  im 
possible,  that  the  colonies  might  be  in 
duced  to  come  to  terms  with  the  mother 
country,  even  if  they  were  not  reduced 
by  force  of  arms.  The  French  minis 
try  were  apprehensive,  that  so  soon  as 
France  should  join  the  Americans, 
England  might  see  fit  to  concede  every 
thing  asked  for  by  the  colonies,  and 
thus  England  and  America  beiniy  at 

c >  o 

peace,  France  might  have  the  war  on 
her  hands  alone,  and  without  any  pur 
pose  to  be  gained  worthy  of  the  strug 
gle.  Hence  her  policy  was  so  shaped, 
that  she  held  out  encouragement,  just 
in  proportion  to  the  news  of  success,  or 
failure,  in  the  contest  with  England. 


father,  conversing  about  the  American  Revolution. 
Suddenly  he  remarked,  '  Ah,  William  !  the  history 
of  that  Revolution  will  never  be  known.  Nobody 
now  alive  knows  it,  but  John  Adams  and  myself.' 
Surprised  at  such  a  declaration,  I  asked  him  to  what 
he  referred.  He  briefly  replied  :  '  The  proceedings 
of  the  old  Congress.'  Again  I  inquired,  '  What  pro 
ceedings  T  He  answered,  '  Those  against  Washing 
ton  ;  from  first  to  last,  there  was  a  most  bitter  party 
against  him.'  "  As  the  old  Congress  held  its  sessions 
•with  closed  doors,  nothing  but  what  that  body  saw 
fit  to  disclose,  was  made  public.  We  have  no  doubt 
that,  had  it  not  been  for  this,  the  members  of  the 
Cabal  would  never  have  dared  to  venture  upon  an) 
open  attempt  to  injure  Washington  with  the  army 
and  the  people. 


Cu.  IV.] 


THE  FRENCH  ALLIANCE. 


521 


Pursuing  invariably  the  route  marked 
out  by  reason  of  state,  which  admir 
ably  suited  her  convenience,  France,  on 
the  one  hand,  amused  the  British  min 
isters  with'  protestations  of  friendship, 
and  on  the  other,  encouraged  the  Amer 
icans  with  secret  succors,  by  the  uncer 
tainty  and  scantiness  of  them,  inflaming 
their  ardor,  and  confirming  their  reso 
lution  by  continual  promises  of  future 
co-operation.  Unshackled  in  her  move 
ments,  she  thus  pledged  herself  to  no 
party,  but  tranquilly  waited  to  see  what 
course  things  would  take. 

The  agents  of  Congress  did  not  fail, 
however,  to  urge  and  besiege  the  cabi 
net  of  Versailles  to  come  at  length  to  a 
final  decision.  But  the  French  minis 
ters,  as  usual,  alleged  a  variety  of  ex 
cuses  in  support  of  their  system  of  pro 
crastination  ;  at  one  time,  that  the  fleet 
expected  from  Newfoundland,  crowded 
with  excellent  seamen,  was  not  yet  ar 
rived  ;  at  another,  that  the  galleons  of 
Spain  were  still  at  sea ;  and  at  another, 
some  new  excuse  was  invented.  Thus 
alternately  advancing  and  receding, 
never  allowing  their  intentions  to  be 
fathomed,  they  kept  the  Americans  in 
continual  uncertainty.  Finally,  the  com 
missioners,  out  of  all  patience,  and  de 
termined,  if  practicable,  without  wait 
ing  longer,  to  extricate  themselves  from 

O  O          I 

the  perplexing  and  annoying  position 
in  which  they  were  placed,  drew  up, 
about  the  middle  of  August,  a 
strongly  worded  memorial,  sug 
gesting  very  plainly  the  possibility, 
that  America  might,  after  all,  either 
give  up  in  despair,  or  yield  to  the  con 
cessions  of  England,  and  thus  France 
be  deprived  of  all  the  ardently  wished 


8777. 


for  advantages  she  would  gain  by  Eng 
land's  losing  her  rich  and  valuable  col 
onies  in  America. 

This  memorial,  however,  did  not  pro 
duce  the  desired  result,  and  England 
was  again  approached  with  a  propo 
sition  to  recognize  the  independence  of 
the  United  States,  and  secure,  after  that^ 
every  advantage  she  might  desire  to 
possess.  It  was  forcibly  represented, 
that  if  the  British  ministry  knew  how 
to  profit  by  the  occasion,  it  depended 
on  themselves  to  stipulate  an  arrange 
ment  so  conducive  to  the  prosperity  of 
Great  Britain,  that  she  would  seek  in 
vain  to  procure  herself  similar  advan 
tages  by  any  other  means.  But  the 
British  government,  elated  with  the 
first  successes  of  Burgoyne,  and  per 
suaded  that  victory  would  certainly  at 
tend  his  arms,  refused  to  listen  to  any 
overtures  for  accommodation,  and  re 
jected  the  proposition  with  disdain. 
The  blindness  of  the  British  ministers 
was  incurable,  and  they  persisted  in  re 
fusing  to  receive  America  as  an  ally, 

o 

while  it  was  possible,  choosing  rather 
to  treat  her  as  an  enemy,  to  be  reduced 
to  absolute,  unconditional  submission. 

The  victory  of  Saratoga  gave  a  new 
aspect  to  American  affairs  in  Europe, 
and  equal  sagacity  and  ability  were 
manifested  in  the  attention  devoted  to 
the  foreign  interests  of  the  United  States. 

-fc'-* 

The  same  express  that  carried  to  Eng 
land  the  news  of  the  surrender  of  Bur 
goyne,  was  the  bearer  of  dispatches,  the 
drift  of  which  was  to  insinuate,  that  the 
Americans,  disgusted  by  the  excessive 
delays  of  the  French,  and  indignant  at 
not  having  received,  in  the  midst  of 
their  reverses,  avowed  and  more  effica/- 


528 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1777-8. 


cious  succors,  were  eagerly  desirous  of 
an  accommodation  with  England,  and 
to  conclude  with  her  a  treaty  of  com 
merce,  provided  she  acknowledged  their 
independence.  In  order  to  give  more 
weight  to  this  suggestion,  it  was  added, 
that  the  colonists  would  feel  particular 
gratification  in  a  reconciliation  with 
the  mother  country;  whereas,  in  the 
contrary  case,  they  would  be  compelled 
to  throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of 
the  inveterate  and  implacable  enemy 
of  England. 

In  the  then  position  of  affairs,  the 
British  ministry,  anxious,  if  possible,  to 
terminate  the  quarrel  with  America, 
before  the  breaking  out  of  hostilities 
with  France,  introduced  two  bills  into 
the  House  of  Commons:  the  first  de 
clared,  that  Parliament  would  impose 
no  tax  or  duty  whatever,  payable  within 
any  of  the  colonies  of  North  America, 
except  only .  such  duties  as  it 
might  be  expedient  to  impose 
for  the  purposes  of  commerce,  the  net 
produce  of  which  should  always  be 
paid  and  applied  to,  and  for.  the  use  of 
the  colonies  in  which  the  same  shall  be 
respectively  levied,  in  like  manner  as 
other  duties  collected  under  the  au 
thority  of  their  respective  legislatures, 
are  ordinarily  paid  and  applied-;  the 
second,  authorized  the  appointment  of 
commissioners  by  the  crown,  with  power 
to  treat  with  either  the  constituted  au 
thorities,  or  with  individuals  in  Amer 
ica  ;  but  that  no  stipulation  entered  into 
should  have  any  effect  till  approved  in 
Parliament.  It  empowered  the  com 
missioners,  however,  to  proclaim  a  ces 
sation  of  hostilities  in  any  of  the  col 
onies  ;  to  suspend  the  operation  of  the 


[BK.  Hi. 

non-intercourse  act ;  also  to  suspend, 
during  the  continuance  of  the  act,  so 
ranch  of  all,  or  any  of  the  acts  of  Par 
liament  which  have  passed  since  the 
10th  day  of  February,  1763,  as  relate? 
to  the  colonies ;  to  grant  pardons  to 
any  number  or  description  of  persons ; 
and  to  appoint  a  governor  in  any  col 
ony  in  which  his  majesty  had  hereto 
fore  exercised  the  power  of  making  such 
appointment.  The  duration  of  the  act 
was  limited  to  the  1st  day  of  June, 
1779. 

As  soon  as  Lord  North  had  brought 
in  his  Conciliatory  Bills,  the  French 
clearly  perceived  that  the  time  had 
now  come  for  them,  to  act  with  de 
cision.*  Accordingly,  M.  Gerard,  in 
behalf  of  France,  informed  the  Amer 
ican  commissioners,  on  the  16th  of 
December,  "  that  after  a  long  and  ma 
ture  deliberation  upon  their  proposi 
tions,  his  majesty  had  determined  to 
recognize  the  independence  of,  and  to 
enter  into  a  treaty  of  commerce  and 
alliance  with,  the  United  States  of 
America ;  and  that  he  would  not  only 
acknowledge  their  independence,  but 
actually  support  it  with  all  the  means 

*  It  may  be  well  here  to  state,  that  as,  previous  to 
the  recognition  of  independence  by  the  court  of 
France,  it  was  necessary  that  the  intercourse  with 
the  American  agents  should  be  conducted  indirectly 
and  with  the  utmost  secrecy,  the  French  government 
rendered  their  secret  assistance  through  the  agency 
of  M.  Bcaurnarchais,  who,  so  far  as  appears,  was 
more  desirous  of  serving  himself  than  the  Americans 
The  mode  in  which  he  converted  the  gratuitous  aid 
of  the  French  court  into  articles  of  charge,  in  his  ac 
counts  with  Congress,  and  especially  his  retaining  in 
his  hands  a  million  of  livres  out  of  the  subsidy  grant 
ed  by  the  French  king,  are  matters  worthy  of  the 
reader's  investigation.  He  will  find  a  full  account, 
with  the  documents,  in  Pitkin's  "Political  and  Civii 
History  of  the  United  Statts,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  402-23. 


CH.  IV.] 


LORD   NORTH'S  CONCILIATORY  PLANS. 


1778. 


in  his  power ;  that  perhaps  he  was 
about  to  engage  himself  in  an  expen 
sive  war  upon  this  account,  but  that  he 
did  not  expect  to  be  reimbursed  by 
them ;  in  fine,  the  Americans  were  not 
to  think  that  he  had  entered  into  this 
resolution  solely  with  a  view  of  serving 
them,  since,  independently  of  his  real 
attachment  to  them  and  their  cause,  it 
was  evidently  the  interest  of  France  to 
diminish  the  power  of  England,  by  sev 
ering  her  colonies  from  her."  On  the 
6th  of  February,  1778,  a  treaty  of 
commerce  was  signed  by  Franklin, 
Deane,  and  Lee,  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States,  and  by  M.  Ge 
rard,  on  the  part  of  France, 
together  with  a  treaty  of  defensive 
alliance,  in  case  war  should  be  the  con 
sequence  of  this  commercial  connection. 
The  essential  and  direct  end  of  this  al 
liance  was,  "to  maintain  the  liberty, 
sovereignty,  and  independence,  abso 
lute  and  unlimited,  of  the  United  States, 
as  well  in  matters  of  government  as  of 
commerce." 

Official  notice  of  this  treaty  was 
communicated  in  March,  by  the  French 
ambassador,  to  the  court  of  London, 
couched  in  the  most  approved  diplo 
matic  terms,  but  by  no  means  free  from 
sarcastic  pungency.  We  give  the  con 
cluding  portion  of  this  document  as  an 
illustration  of  the  way  in  which  men 
can  say  one  thing,  while  they  mean 
quite  another. 

'( In  making  this  communication  to 
tLe  Court  of  London,  the  king  is  firmly 
persuaded,  that  it  will  find  in  it  fresh 
proofs  of  his  majesty's  constant  and  sin 
cere  dispositions  for  peace ;  and  that  his 
Britannic  majesty,  animated  by  the 

VOL.  I.— 09 


same  sentiments,  will  equally  avoid 
every  thing  that  may  interrupt  good 
harmony:  and  that  he  will  take,  in 
particular,  effectual  measures  to  hinder 
the  commerce  of  his  majesty's  subjects 
with  the  United  States  of  America  from 
being  disturbed,  and  cause  to  be  ob 
served,  in  this  respect,  the  usages  re 
ceived  between  trading  nations  and  the 
rules  that  may  be  considered  as  subsist 
ing  between  the  crowns  of  France  and 
Great  Britain. 

"  In  this  just  confidence,  the  under 
written  ambassador  might  think  it  su 
perfluous  to  apprize  the  British  ministry, 
that  the  king,  his  master,  being  deter 
mined  effectually  to  protect  the  lawful 
freedom  of  the  commerce  of  his  sub 
jects,  and  to  sustain  the  honor  of  his 
flag,  his  majesty  has  taken  in  conse 
quence  eventual  measures,  in  concert 
with  the  United  States  of  North  Amer- 


Truly,  such  a  communication  as  this, 
was  well  calculated  to  rouse  the  spirit 
of  England,  and  to  provoke  its  king 
and  people  to  seek  redress  in  war.  "  If — 
as  Botta  acutely  says — it  was  one  of 
those  shrewd  turns  which  are  not  un 
usual  among  princes  in  their  reciprocal 
intercourse,  it  was  also  one  of  those 
which  they  are  not  accustomed  to  for 
give." 

Copies  of  Lord  North's  plans  lor 
conciliation  were  dispatched  in  ad 
vance,  and  reached  America  about  the 
middle  of  April.  Governor  Tryon 
had  them  printed,  and  had  the  assu 
rance  to  send  copies  to  "Wash 
ington,  with  the  request  that 
he  would  aid  in  circulating  them,  "  that 
the  people  at  large  might  be  acquaint- 


1778. 


530 


PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR  DURING    17/7-8. 


.  m 


ed  with  the  favorable  disposition  of 
Great  Britain  towards  the  American 
colonies."  "Washington  immediately 
forwarded  the  papers  to  Congress. 

The  terms  now  offered  by  the  British 
ministry  would,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
struggle,  have  been  received  with  great 
satisfaction.  But  the  position  of  affairs 
was  very  different,  in  1778,  from 
what  it  was  three  or  four  years  before. 
Independence  had  been  resolved  upon, 
and  independence  the  Americans  were 
determined  to  have,  at  any  sacrifice. 
Washington  urged  with  great  force, 
.hat  nothing  less  than  independence, 
would  possibly  answer  ;  no  terms  short 
of  this,  would  be  of  any  avail ;  "  a  peace 
on  other  terms,  would  be  a  peace  of 
war."  Congress  held  the  same  views, 
and,  on  the  22d  of  April,  unanimously 
resolved,  that  the  offers  of  the  British 
ministry  could  not  be  accepted.  At  the 
same  time,  they  ordered  the  bills  to  be 
published  in  connection  with  their  pro 
ceedings,  and  circulated  throughout  the 
country.  It  deserves  to  be  noted  here, 
that  this  action  of  Congress  was  taken 
ten  days  before  it  was  known  that  the 
French  had  entered  into  a  treaty  with 
the  United  States. 

The  news  of  this  auspicious  event 
reached  Congress,  on  the  2d  of  May. 
The  treaties  were  immediately  ratified, 
and  great  rejoicing  spread  throughout 
the  whole  country.*  On  the  6th  inst., 
in  pursuance  of  the  orders  issued  by 

*  "  In  national  events,  the  public  attention  is 
generally  fixed  on  the  movements  of  armies 
and  fleets.  Mankind  never  fail  to  do  homage  to 
the  able  general  and  expert  admiral.  To  this 
they  are  justly  entitled ;  but  as  great  a  tribute  is 
due  to  the  statesman,  who,  from  a  more  elevated 
station,  determines  on  measures  in  which  the 


the  commander-in-chief,  the  whole  army 
in  camp  at  Valley  Forge,  participated 
in  the  general  joy  and  satisfaction,  and 
appropriate  religious  exercises  were  ob 
served  with  great  unanimity.  The 
whole  ceremony  was  conducted  with 
excellent  order,  and  was  closed  with  an 
entertainment,  music,  patriotic  toasts, 
etc.  A  few  days  later,  Congress  pre 
pared  an  "  Address  to  the  Inhabitants 
of  the  United  States."  It  is  a  docu 
ment  of  considerable  interest,  written 
in  an  animated  but  rather  turgid  style, 
and  was  calculated  to  have  a  powerful 
effect.  Congress  also  recommended, 
that  it  be  read  in  all  the  churches,  by 
the  ministers  of  various  denominations. 
The  reader  will,  we  are  sure,  be  inter 
ested  in  a  paragraph  or  two  from  this 
Address.  "The  haughty  prince  who 
spurned  us  from  his  feet  with  contumely 
and  disdain,  and  the  Parliament  which 
proscribed  us,  now  descend  to  offer 
terms  of  accommodation.  Whilst  in 
the  full  career  of  victory,  they  pulled 
off  the  maak,  and  avowed  their  intend 
ed  despotism.  But  having  lavished  in 
vain  the  blood  and  treasure  of  their 
subjects  in  pursuit  of  this  execrable  pur 
pose,  they  now  endeavor  to  ensnare  u& 
with  the  insidious  offers  of  reconciliation 
They  intend  to  lull  you  with  fallacious 
hopes  of  peace,  until  they  can  assemble 
new  armies  to  prosecute  their  nefarious 
designs.  If  this  is  not  the  case,  why 
do  they  strain  every  nerve  to  levy  men 

general  safety  and  welfare  of  empires  are  involved. 
This  glory  in  a  particular  manner,  belongs  to  the 
Count  de  Vergennes,  who,  as  his  Most  Christian 
Majesty's  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  conducted 
the  conferences  which  terminated  in  these  treaties.1' 
— Ramsay  s  "History  of  the  American  Rewluiion? 
p.  379. 


CH.  IV.] 


OFFERS   OF  THE  BRITISH  COMMISSIONERS. 


531 


throughout  their  islands  ?  why  do  they 
meanly  court  every  little  tyrant  of  Eu 
rope  to  sell  them  his  unhappy  slaves  ? 
why  do  they  continue  to  iinbitter  the 
minds  of  the  savages  against  you? 
Surely  this  is  not  the  way  to  conciliate 
the  affections  of  America.  Be  not, 
therefore,  deceived.  You  have  still  to 
expect  one  severe  conflict.  Your  for 
eign  alliances,  though  they  secure  your 
independence,  cannot  secure  your  coun 
try  from  desolation,  your  habitations 
from  plunder,  your  wives  from  insult  or 
violation,  nor  your  children  from  butch 
ery.  Foiled  in  their  principal  design, 
you  must  expect  to  feel  the  rage  of  dis 
appointed  ambition.  Arise  then !  to 
your  tents !  and  gird  you  for  battle ! 
It  is  time  to  turn  the  headlong  current 
of  vengeance  upon  the  head  of  the  de- 
Btroyer.  They  have  filled  up  the  meas 
ure  of  their  abominations,  and  like  ripe 
fruit,  must  soon  drop  from  the  tree. 
Although  much  is  done,  yet  much  re 
mains  to  do.  Expect  not  peace,  whilst 
any  corner  of  America  is  in  possession 
of  yonr  foes.  You  must  drive  them 
away  from  this  land  of  promise,  a  land 
flowing  indeed  with  milk  and  honey. 
Your  brethren  at  the  extremities  of  the 
continent,  already  implore  your  friend 
ship  and  protection.  It  is  your  duty 
to  grant  their  request.  They  hunger 
and  thirst  after  liberty.  Be  it  yours, 
to  dispense  to  them  the  heavenly  gift. 
And  what  is  there  now  to  prevent 
it  ?" 

Early  in  June,  the  Earl  of  Carlisle 
and  Messrs.  Eden  and  Johnstone,  ar 
rived  in  Philadelphia,  as  the  royal  com 
missioners,  sent  out  in  pursuance  of  the 
plans  for  conciliation  adopted  by  Lord 


North.  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  who  had 
succeeded  Howe  as  commander-iii-chief, 
requested  a  passport  for  Dr.  Ferguson, 
the  secretary  of  the  commissioners,  to 
proceed  to  Yorktown,  and  lay  certain 
papers  before  Congress.  Washington, 
not  deeming  the  matter  within  his 
province,  declined,  until  he  could  have 
the  instruction  of  Congress,  who  sus 
tained  him  in  refusing  the  passport. 
The  commissioners,  impatient  of  delay, 
sent  on  the  papers  through  the  ordi 
nary  medium  of  a  flag,  addressed  to  the 
president  of  Congress.* 

The  commissioners  offered,  in  their 
letter,  to  consent  to  an  immediate  ces 
sation  of  hostilities  by  sea  and  land  ;  to 
agree  that  no  military  force  should  be 
kept  up  in  the  colonies  without  the 
consent  of  Congress ;  and  also,  both  to 
give  up  the  right  of  taxation,  and  to 
provide  for  a  representation  in  ParhV- 
ment.  They  promised  to  sustain,  and 
finally  pay  off,  the  paper  money  then  in 
circulation.  Every  inducement,  short 
of  the  recognition  of  independence,  was 
held  out,  to  lead  the  colonists  to  return 
to  their  allegiance.  But  if,  when  rely 
ing  upon  their  own  strength  alone,  they 
had  refused  to  listen  to  such  overtures, 
they  were  not  likely  to  do  so  now  that 
they  were  assured  of  the  support  of 
France.  By  order  of  Congress,  the 
president  of  that  body  wrote  as  fol- 


*  Acting  under  a  strong  impulse,  Lafayette  -was 
induced  to  send  a  challenge  to  the  Earl  of  Carlisle, 
who,  as  he  thought,  had  impeached  the  honor  of 
France,  in  the  communications  which  were  made  by 
the  commissioners  to  Congress.  The  Earl,  we  are 
glad  to  say,  declined  a  resort  to  this  barbarous  mode 
of  settling  the  points  in  dispute  between  England 
and  France. 


I 


532 


PROGRESS   OF  THE  WAR  DURING   1777-8. 


[BK.  m. 


lows  to  the  commissioners  :  "  I  have  re 
ceived  the  letter  from  your  Excellencies, 
dated  the  9th  instant,  with  the  en 
closures,  and  laid  them  before  Congress. 
Nothing  but  an  earnest  desire  to  spare 
the  further  effusion  of  human  blood 
could  have  induced  them  to  read  a 
paper  containing  expressions  so  disre 
spectful  to  his  Most  Christian  Majesty, 
the  good  and  great  ally  of  these  States, 
or  to  consider  propositions  so  deroga 
tory  to  the  honor  of  an  independent 
nation.  The  acts  of  the  British  Parlia 
ment,  the  commission  from  your  sov 
ereign,  and  your  letter,  suppose  the 
people  of  these  States  to  be  subjects  of 
the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  and  are 
founded  on  the  idea  of  dependence, 
which  is  utterly  inadmissible.  I  am 
further  directed  to  inform  your  Excel 
lencies,  that  Congress  are  inclined  to 
peace,  notwithstanding  the  unjust  claims 
from  which  this  war  originated,  and  the 
savage  manner  in  which  it  hath  been 
conducted.  They  will  therefore  be 
ready  to  enter  upon  the  consideration 
of  a  treaty  of  peace  and  commerce,  not 
inconsistent  with  treaties  already  sub 
sisting,  when  the  king  of  Great  Britain 
shall  demonstrate  a  sincere  disposition 
for  that  purpose.  The  only  solid  proof 
of  this  disposition  will  be  an  explicit 
acknowledgment  of  these  States,  or  the 
withdrawing  his  fleets  and  armies." 

The  British  commissioners  remained 
several   months  in    the    country,""  and 


*  The  commissioners  published  their  final  mani 
festo  and  proclamation  to  the  Americans,  on  the  3d 
of  October,  and  on  the  10th,  Congress  issued  a  cau 
tionary  declaration  in  reply.  No  overtures  were 
made  to  the  commissioners  from  any  quarter;  and 
uot  long  alter  they  embarked  for  England.  Thacher. 


1778. 


made  many  and  various  attempts  to 
accomplish  the  objects  of  their 
mission ;  but  without  success. 
They  were  compelled  to  return  to  Eng 
land  baffled  and  disappointed.  Thus  the 
Americans, — as  an  eloquent  historian 
suggests — steady  in  their  resolutions, 
chose  rather  to  trust  to  their  own  for 
tune,  which  they  had  already  proved, 
and  to  the  hope  they  placed  in  that  of 
France,  than  to  link  themselves  anew 
to  the  tottering  destiny  of  England; 
abandoning  all  idea  of  peace,  war  be 
came  the  sole  object  of  their  solicitude. 
Such  was  the  issue  of  the  attempts  to 
effect  an  accommodation;  and  thus 
were  extinguished  the  hopes  which  the: 
negotiation  had  given  birth  to  in  Eng- 

o  o  o 

land.  By  not  consenting  to  concessions 
until  the  time  for  them  was  passed,  the 
English  themselves  furnished  a  justifi 
cation  of  the  refusal  of  the  Americans. 
It  cannot  be  positively  affirmed  that 
these  overtures,  on  the  part  of  England, 
were  only  an  artifice,  to  divide  the  Am 
ericans  among  themselves,  to  detach 
them  from  France,  and  to  have  them 
afterwards  at  their  discretion ;  but  it  is 
certain,  that  after  so  many  rancorous 
animosities,  so  many  sanguinary  battles, 

in  his  "  Military  Journal,"  states,  that  "  Governor 
Johnstone,  one  of  the  commissioners,  with  inex 
cusable  effrontery,  offered  a  bribe  to  Mr.  Reed,  a 
member  of  Congress.  In  an  interview  with  Mrs. 
Ferguson,  at  Philadelphia,  whose  husband  was  a  roy 
alist,  he  desired  she  would  mention  to  Mr.  Reed,  that 
if  he  would  engage  his  interest  to  promote  the  object 
of  their  commission,  he  might  have  any  office  in  the 
colonies,  in  the  gift  of  his  Britannic  majesty,  and  ten 
thousand  pounds  in  liand.  Having  solicited  an  in 
terview  with  Mr.  Reed,  Mrs.  Ferguson  made  her 
communication.  Spurning  the  idea  of  being  pur 
chased,  he  replied,  "  that  he  was  not  worth  pur 
chasing,  but  such  as  he  was,  the  king  of  Great 
Britain  was  not  rich  enough  to  do  it." 


0 


LAFAYETTE  AT  BARREN  HILL. 


533 


after  the  innumerable  excesses  of  rap 
ine,  cruelty  and  lust,  the  Americans 
could  not  be  blamed  for  believing  that 
the  British  ministers  designed  to  en 
snare  them.  The  wound  was  incurable, 
and  friendship  could  not  be  restored. 
This  was  universally  admitted  to  be 
true ;  and  whoever  will  reflect  atten 
tively  upon  the  long  series  of  events 
which  we  have  related  up  to  this  time, 
will  perceive  that  the  Americans  were 
always  constant  in  their  resolution, 
the  English  always  versatile,  uncertain, 
and  wavering.  Hence  it  is  not  at  all 
surprising,  that  those  found  new  friends, 
and  that  these  not  only  lost  theirs,  but 
also  made  enemies  of  them  at  the  very 
moment  when  they  could  do  them  the 
least  harm,  and  might  receive  the  most 
from  them.  Vigorous  resolutions  pre 
vent  danger ;  half  measures  invite  and 
aggravate  it. 

Washington's  position  and  activity 
during  the  winter  and  spring,  had  seri 
ously  straitened  the  British  army  in 
Philadelphia  for  forage  and  fresh  pro 
visions.  A  portion,  at  least,  of  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania  were  not  ill 
aifected  to  the  royal  cause,  nor  without 
a  desire  to  supply  the  troops,  while 
many  more  were  willing  to  carry 
victuals  to  Philadelphia,  where  they 
found  a  ready  market,  and  payment  in 
gold  or  silver;  whereas  the  army  at 
Valley  Forge  could  pay  only  in  paper 
money  of  uncertain  value.  But  it  was 
not  easy  to  reach  Philadelphia,  nor  safe 
to  attempt  it ;  for  the  American  parties 
often  intercepted  them,  took  the  pro 
visions  without  payment,  and  not  un- 
frequently  added  corporal  chastisement. 
The  first  operations  on  the  part  of  the 


1778. 


British,  therefore,  in  the  campaign  of 
1TY8,  were  undertaken  in  order  to  pro 
cure  supplies  for  the  army.  About  the 
middle  of  March,  a  strong  detach 
ment,  under  Lieutenant-colonel  Maw- 
hood,  made  a  foraging  excur 
sion,  for  six  or  seven  days,  into 
New  Jersey.  Acting  out  the  spirit  of  a 
threat,  made  by  the  royal  commission 
ers  to  increase  the  horrors  of  war,  they 
bayonetted  in  cold  blood  some  fifty  or 
sixty  of  the  militia,  and  returned  to 
Philadelphia  with  little  loss.  Early  on 
the  morning  of  the  4th  of  May,  the 
British  came  suddenly  upon  some  mil 
itia  at  Crooked  Billet,  about  seventeen 
miles  from  Philadelphia ;  but  the  Amer 
icans  effected  their  escape  with  the  loss 
of  their  baggage.  On  the  7th  of  May, 
the  British  undertook  an  expedition 
against  the  galleys  and  other  shipping 
which  had  escaped  up  the  Delaware, 
after  the  reduction  of  Mud  Island,  and 
destroyed  some  thirty  or  forty  vessels 
and  some  stores  and  provisions.  The 
undisputed  superiority  of  the  British 
naval  force,  and  the  consequent  com 
mand  of  the  Delaware,  gave  them  great 
facilities  in  directing  a  suitable  arma 
ment  against  any  particular  point ;  and 
the  movements  of  the  militia,  on  whom 
Congress  chiefly  depended  for  repelling 
sudden  predatory  incursions,  and  for 
guardi:?£  the  roads  to  Philadelphia, 
were  often  tardy  and  ineiiieiciiv.  The 
roads  were  ill  guarded ;  and  the  Brit 
ish  commonly  accomplished  their  forag 
ing,  and  returned  to  camp,  before  an 
adequate  force  could  be  assembled  to 
oppose  them. 

We  close  the  present  chapter  with 
a  brilliant  exploit  of  the  gallant  La- 


534 


PROGRESS  OF  THE   WAR  DURING   1777-8. 


Ifl. 


fayette.  Washington,  quite  certain  that 
the  British  were  preparing  to  evacuate 
Philadelphia,  ordered  Lafayette  to  cross 
the  Schuylkill,  and  take  post  at  Barren 
Hill,  about  twelve  miles  in  front  of  the 
army  at  Valley  Forge.  He  planned 
his  piquets  and  videttes,  and  sent  out 
patrols  on  all  the  roads  by  which  it 
was  probable  the  enemy  would  ap 
proach  him.  About  two  miles  on  his 
left  was  Whitemarsh,  where  a  number 
of  roads  form  a  junction.  The  mar 
quis  intrusted  the  guard  of  these  roads 
to  some  militia,  whom  he  ordered  there, 
but  who  never  went.  A  quaker,  infer 
ring  from  the  marquis's  directing  him 
to  provide  lodgings  for  the  night,  that 
he  intended  remaining  there,  sent  infor 
mation  of  it  to  the  enemy,  who  by  their 
spies  having  obtained  intelligence  of 
the  marquis's  situation,  formed  an  in 
stantaneous  design  of  surprising  him. 
For  that  purpose,  on  the  night  of  May 
the  19th,  General  Grant  marched  out 
of  Philadelphia  with  full  seven  thou 
sand  men,  und  a  number  of  cannon. 
By  taking,  the  Frankfort  road,  and 
crossing  the  country  through  the  old 
York  road  and  Whitemarsh,  the  next 
morning  he  entered  the  road  on  which 
the  marquis  was,  about  two  miles  in 
his  rear,  at  Plymouth  meeting-house. 
From  this  place  to  Matson's  Ford  on 
the  Schuylkill  is  about  one  mile  and  a 
quarter,  the  only  ford  by  which  the 
marquis  could  effect  a  retreat,  and 
about  two  miles  from  Barren  Hill 
church.  Other  troops  were  advancing 


to  take  the  marquis  in  front,  and  to  co 
operate  with  General  Grant-  who  in 
stead  of  hastening  to  and  securing  the 
ford,  marched  down  toward  the  ma^ 
quis  on  the  main  road,  by  which  mean 
the  latter  gained  intelligence  of  the 
other's  being  in  his  rear.  The  marquis, 
happily,  by  an  instant  decision,  re 
treated  by  the  road  leading  from  Bar 
ren  Hill  church  to  Matson's  Ford,  and 
had  nearly  effected  his  retreat  over  the 
Schuylkill  before  the  enemy  were  sen 
sible  of  their  error.  They  then  doubled 
their  pace  to  come  up  with  his  rear ; 
but  his  retreat  was  so  handsome  and 
timely,  that  the  troops  were  all  crossed 
and  formed  before  they  could  come 
near  the  ford  in  force.  His  whole  loss 
was  no  more  than  nine  men.  The 
American  army  had  early  information 
of  the  marquis's  danger,  and  were  in 
great  anxiety  about  him.  They  began 
firing  some  of  their  heaviest  artillery, 
hoping  as  the  wind  being  fair,  the 
sound  would  be  conveyed  to  the  enemy 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  excite  mistaken 
apprehensions ;  which  they  think  was 
the  case,  as  the  enemy,  after  the  mar 
quis  had  crossed,  made  a  precipitate 
march  back  to  Philadelphia,  seemingly 
under  an  apprehension  that  they  should 
be  pursued  and  attacked  by  the  whole 
army.  Had  General  Grant  marched 
down  at  once  to  Matson's  Ford,  and  se 
cured  it,  the  marquis,  with  his  select 
corps,  must  have  surrendered  or  been  cut 
to  pieces ;  and  their  loss  would  have  al 
most  fatally  endangered  the  entire  army, 


:u.  IV.] 


ARTICLES   OF  CONFEDERATION. 


5.",5 


APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    IV. 


I.    ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION. 

To  all  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come,  we,  the 
undersigned,  delegates  of  the  states  affixed  to 
our  names,  send  greeting. 
WHEREAS,  the  delegates  of  the  United  States 
of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  did,  on  the 
fifteenth  day  of  November,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven,  and  in  the  second  year  of  the  independence 
of  America,  agree  to  certain  Articles  of  Confedera 
tion  and  perpetual  Union  between  the  States  of 
New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode  Is 
land  and  Providence  Plantations,  Connecticut, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Caro 
lina,  and  Georgia,  in  the  words  following,  viz.  : — 

Articles  of  Confederation  and  perpetual  Union 
between  the  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massa 
chusetts  Buy,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 
Plantations,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jer 
sey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Vir 
ginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia. 

ARTICLE  1.  The  style  of  this  confederacy  shall 
be,  "The  United  States  of  America." 

ARTICLE  2.  Each  state  retains  its  sovereignty, 
freedom,  and  independence,  and  every  power, 
jurisdiction,  and  right,  which  is  not  by  this  Con 
federation  expressly  delegated  to  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled. 

ARTICLE  3.  The  said  states  hereby  severally  en 
ter  into  a  firm  league  of  friendship  with  each 
other,  for  their  common  defence,  the  security  of 
their  liberties,  and  their  mutual  and  general  wel 
fare  ;  binding  themselves  to  assist  each  other 
against  all  force  offered  to,  or  attacks  made  upon 
them,  or  any  of  them,  on  account  of  religion, 
sovereignty,  trade,  or  any  other  pretence  what 
ever. 


ARTICLE  4.  The  better  to  secure  and  perpetuate 
mutual  friendship,  and  intercourse  among  the  \<c<- 
pie  of  the  different  states  ill  this  Union,  the  frtv 
inhabitants  of  each  of  these  states,  paupers,  vaga 
bonds,  and  fugitives  from  justice,  excepted,  shall 
be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and  immunities  of  free 
citizens  in  the  several  states  ;  and  the  people  of 
each  state  shall  have  free  ingress  and  regress  to 
and  from  any  other  state,  and  shall  enjoy  therein 
all  the  privileges  of  trade  and  commerce,  subject 
to  the  same  duties,  impositions,  and  restrictions, 
as  the  inhabitants  thereof  respectively,  provided 
that  such  restrictions  shall  not  extend  so  far  as  to 
prevent  the  removal  of  property  imported  into 
any  state  to  any  other  state,  of  which  the  owner 
is  an  inhabitant  ;  provided  also,  that  no  imposi 
tion,  duties,  or  restriction,  shall  be  laid  by  any 
state  on  the  property  of  the  United  States  or 
either  of  them. 

If  any  person  guilty  of  or  charged  with  treason, 
felony,  or  other  high  misdemeanor,  in  any  state, 
shall  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  any  of  the 
United  States,  he  shall,  upon  demand  of  the  gov 
ernor  or  executive  power  of  the  state  from  which 
he  fled,  be  delivered  up  and  removed  to  the  state 
having  jurisdiction  of  his  offence. 

Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  of 
these  states  to  the  records,  acts,  and  judicial  pro 
ceedings  of  the  courts  and  magistrates  of  every 
other  state. 

ARTICLE  5.  For  the  more  convenient  manage 
ment  of  the  general  interests  of  the  United  States, 
delegates  shall  be  annually  appointed  in  such  man 
ner  as  the  legislature  of  each  state  shall  direct  to 
meet  in  Congress  on  the  first  Monday  in  Novem 
ber,  in  every  year,  with  a  power  reserved  to  each 
state  to  recall  its  delegates  or  any  of  them,  at  any 
time  within  the  year,  and  to  send  others  in  their 
stead  for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 
No  state  shall  be  represented  in  Congress  by 


536 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  IV. 


[BK.  in. 


less  than  two,  uor  by  more  than  seven  members  ; 
and  no  person  shall  be  capable  of  being  a  delegate 
for  more  than  three  years  in  any  term  of  six  years ; 
nor  shall  any  person,  being  a  delegate,  be  capable 
of  holding  any  office  under  the  United  States,  for 
which  he,  or  another  for  his  benefit,  receives  any 
salary,  fees,  or  emoluments  of  any  kind. 

Each  state  shall  maintain  its  own  delegates  in 
a  meeting  of  the  states,  and  while  th.cy  act  as 
members  of  the  committee  of  the  states. 

In  determining  questions  in  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  each  state  shall  have  one 
vote. 

Freedom  of  speech  and  debate  in  Congress  shall 
not  be  impeached  or  questioned  in  any  court  or 
place  out  of  Congress  ;  and  the  members  of  Con 
gress  shall  be  protested  in  their  persons  from  ar 
rests  and  imprisonments,  during  the  time  of  their 
going  to  and  from  and  attendance  on  Congress, 
except  for  treason,  felony,  or  breach  of  the  peace. 

ARTICLE  6.  No  state,  without  the  consent  of 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall 
send  any  embassy  to,  or  receive  any  embassy  from, 
or  enter  into  any  conference,  agreement,  alliance, 
or  treaty,  with  any  king,  prince,  or  state  ;  nor 
jhall  any  person  holding  any  office  of  profit  or 
trust  under  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them,  ac 
cept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office  or  title  of 
any  kind  whatever,  from  any  king,  prince,  or 
foreign  state  ;  nor  shall  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled,  or  any  of  them,  grant  any 
title  of  nobility. 

No  two  or  more  states  shall  enter  into  any 
treaty,  confederation,  or  alliance  whatever,  be 
tween  them,  without  the  consent  of  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  specifying  accurate 
ly  the  purposes  for  which  the  same  is  to  be  en 
tered  into  and  how  long  it  shall  continue. 

No  stato  shall  lay  any  imposts  or  duties,  which 
may  interfere  with  any  stipulations  in  treaties 
entered  into  by  the  United  States  in  Congress 
assembled,  with  any  king,  prince,  or  state,  in 
pursuance  of  any  treaties  already  proposed  by 
Congress  to  the  courts  of  France  and  Spain. 

No  vessel  of  war  shall  bo  kept  up  in  time  of 
pc-ace  by  any  state,  except  such  number  only  as 
shall  be  deemed  necessary  by  the  United  States 
!  in  Congress  assembled  for  the  defence  of  such  state 
or  its  trade  ;  nor  shall  any  body  of  forces  be  kept 
up  "by  any  state  in  time  of  peace,  except  such  num- 
tar  only  as,  in  the  judgment  of  the  United  States 


in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be  deemed  requisite 
to  garrison  the  forts  necessary  for  the  defence  of 
such  state  ;  but  every  state  shall  always  keep  up 
a  well  regulated  and  disciplined  militia,  sufficiently 
armed  and  accoutred,  and  shall  provide  and  have 
constantly  ready  for  use,  in  public  stores,  a  due 
number  of  field-pieces  and  tents,  and  a  proper 
quantity  of  arms,  ammunition,  and  camp  equipage. 

No  state  shall  engage  in  any  war  without  the 
consent  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assem 
bled,  unless  such  state  be  actually  invaded  by 
enemies  or  shall  have  received  certain  advice  of  a, 
resolution  being  formed  by  some  nation  of  In 
dians  to  invade  such  state,  and  the  danger  is  so 
imminent  as  not  to  admit  of  a  delay  till  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled  can  be  consulted  ; 
nor  shall  any  state  grant  commissions  to  any  ships 
or  vessels  of  war,  nor  letters  of  marque  or  reprisal, 
except  it  be  after  a  declaration  of  war  by  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  and  then 
only  against  the  kingdom  or  state,  and  the  sub 
jects  thereof,  against  which  war  has  been  so  de 
clared,  and  under  such  regulations  as  shall  be 
established  by  the  United  States  in  Congress  as 
sembled,  unless  such  state  be  infested  by  pirates 
in  which  case  vessels  of  war  may  be  fitted  out  for 
that  occasion,  and  kept  so  long  as  the  danger 
shall  continue,  or  until  the  United  States  in  Con 
gress  assembled  shall  determine  otherwise. 

ARTICLE  7.  When  land  forces  are  raised  by  anj 
state  for  the  common  defence,  all  officers  of  or 
under  the  rank  of  colonel,  shall  be  appointed  by 
the  legislature  of  each  state  respectively,  by  whom 
such  forces  shall  be  raised,  or  in  such  manner  as 
such  state  shall  direct,  and  all  vacancies  shall  be 
filled  up  by  the  state  which  first  made  the  appoint 
ment. 

ARTICLE  8.  All  charges  of  war,  and  all  other 
expenses  that  shall  be  incurred  for  the  common 
defence  or  general  welfare,  and  allowed  by  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  shall  be  de 
frayed  out  of  a  common  treasury,  which  shall  be 
supplied  by  the  several  states  in  proportion  to  the 
value  of  all  land  within  each  state  granted  to  or 
surveyed  for  any  person,  as  such  land  and  the 
buildings  and  improvements  thereon  shall  be  es 
timated  according  to  such  mode  as  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled  shall  from  time  to 
time  direct  and  appoint. 

The  taxes  for  paying  that  proportion  shall  be 
laid  and  levied  by  the  authority  and  direction  of 


CH.  IV.] 


ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION. 


537 


the  legislatures  of  the  several  states,  within  the 
time  agreed  upon  by  the  United  States  in  Con 
gress  assembled. 

ARTICLE  9.  The  United  States  in  Congress  as 
sembled  shall  have  the  sole  and  exclusive  right 
and  power  of  determining  on  peace  and  war,  ex 
cept  in  the  cases  mentioned  in  the  sixth  article  ; 
of  sending  and  receiving  ambassadors  ;  entering 
into  treaties  and  alliances — provided,  that  no 
treaty  of  commerce  shall  be  made  whereby  the 
legislative  power  of  the  respective  states  shall  be 
restrained  from  imposing  such  imposts  and  duties 
on  foreigners  as  their  own  people  are  subjected  to, 
or  from  prohibiting  the  exportation  or  importation 
of  any  species  of  goods  or  commodities  whatso 
ever  ;  of  establishing  rules  for  deciding  in  all 
cases,  what  captures  on  land  or  water  shall  be 
legal,  and  in  what  manner  prizes  taken  by  land  or 
naval  forces  in  the  service  of  the  United  States 
shall  be  divided  or  appropriated ;  of  granting 
letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  in  times  of  peace, 
appointing  courts  for  the  trial  of  piracies  and 
felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas,  and  estab 
lishing  courts  for  receiving  and  determining  finally 
appeals  in  all  cases  of  captures — provided,  that 
no  member  of  Congress  shall  be  appointed  a  judge 
cf  any  of  the  said  courts. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall 
also  bi!  the  last  resort  on  appeal  in  all  disputes 
and  differences  now  subsisting  or  that  hereafter 
may  arise  between  two  or  more  states  concerning 
boundary,  jurisdiction,  or  any  other  cause  what 
ever  ;  which  authority  shall  always  be  exercised 
in  the  manner  following  :  whenever  the  legislative 
or  executive  authority  or  lawful  agent  of  any 
state  in  controversy  with  another  shall  present  a 
petition  to  Congress,  stating  the  matter  in  ques 
tion,  and  praying  for  a  hearing,  notice  thereof 
shall  be  given  by  order  of  Congress  to  the  legis 
lative  or  executive  authority  of  the  other  state  in 
controversy,  and  a  day  assigned  for  the  appear 
ance  of  the  parties,  by  their  lawful  agents,  who 
shall  then  be  directed  to  appoint  by  joint  consent 
commissioners  or  judges,  to  constitute  a  court  for 
hearing  and  determining  the  matter  in  question  ; 
but  if  they  cannot  agree,  Congress  shall  name 
three  persons  out  of  each  of  the  United  States, 
and  from  the  list  of  such  persons  each  party  shall 
alternately  strike  out  one,  the  petitioners  begin 
ning  until  the  number  shall  be  reduced  to  thir- 

O 

teen  ;  and  from  that  number  not  less  than  seven 
VOL.  I.— -70 


nor  more  than  nine  names,  as  Congress  shall  direct, 
shall,  in  the  presence  of  Congress,  be  drawn  out 
by  lot  ;  and  the  persons  whose  names  shall  be  so 
drawn,  or  any  five  of  them,  shall  be  commissioners 
or  judges,  to  hear  and  finally  determine  the  con 
troversy,  so  always  as  a  major  part  of  the  judges, 
who  shall  hear  the  cause,  shall  agree  in  the  deter 
mination  :  and  if  either  party  shall  neglect  to  at 
tend  at  the  day  appointed,  without  showing  reasons 
which  Congress  shall  judge  sufficient,  or  being 
present  shall  refuse  to  strike,  the  Congress  shall 
proceed  to  nominate  three  persons  out  of  each 
state,  and  the  secretary  of  Congress  shall  strike 
in  behalf  of  such  party  absent  or  refusing  ;  and 
the  judgment  and  sentence  of  the  court  to  be  ap 
pointed  in  the  manner  before  prescribed,  shall  be 
final  and  conclusive,  and  if  any  of  the  parties 
shall  refuse  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  such 
court,  or  to  appear,  or  defend  their  claim  or  cause, 
the  court  shall  nevertheless  proceed  to  pronounce 
sentence  or  judgment,  which  shall  in  like  manner 
be  final  and  decisive,  the  judgment  or  sentence 
and  other  proceedings,  being  in  either  case  trans 
mitted  to  Congress,  and  lodged  among  the  acts 
of  Congress  for  the  security  of  the  parties  con 
cerned  :  provided,  that  every  commissioner,  be 
fore  he  sits  in  judgment,  shall  take  an  oath,  to  be 
administered  by  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme 
or  superior  court  of  the  state,  where  the  cause  shall 
be  tried,  "  well  and  truly  to  hear  and  determine  the 
matter  in  question,  according  to  the  bestof  his  judg 
ment,  without  favor,  affection,  or  hope  of  reward  :" 
provided  also,  that  no  state  shall  be  deprived  of 
territory  for  the  benefit  of  the  United  States. 

All  controversies  concerning  the  private  right 
of  soil,  claimed  under  different  grants  of  two  or 
more  states,  whose  jurisdictions,  as  they  may  re 
spect  such  lands  and  the  states  which  passed  such 
grants  are  adjusted,  the  said  grants  or  either  of 
them  being  at  the  same  time  claimed  to  have 
originated  antecedent  to  such  settlement  of  juris 
diction,  shall,  on  the  petition  of  either  paity  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  be  finally  de 
termined,  as  near  as  may  be,  in  the  same  manner  as 
is  before  prescribed  for  deciding  disputes  respect 
ing  territorial  jurisdiction  between  different  states. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall 
also  have  the  sole  and  exclusive  right  and  power 
of  regulating  the  alloy  and  value  of  coin  struck 
by  their  own  authority,  or  by  that  of  the  respec 
tive  states- -fixing  the  standard  of  weights  and 


538 


APPENDIX  TO   CHAPTER  IV. 


[BK.  III. 


measures  throughout  the  United  States — regulat 
ing  the  trade  and  managing  all  affairs  with  the 
Indians  not  members  of  any  of  the  states ;  pro 
vided  that  the  legislative  right  of  any  state  within 
its  own  limits  be  not  infringed  or  violated — estab 
lishing  and  regulating  post-offices  from  one  state 
to  another  throughout  all  the  United  States,  and 
exacting  such  postage  on  the  papers  passing 
through  the  same,  as  may  be  requisite  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  said  office — appointing  all  of 
ficers  of  the  land  forces  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States  excepting  regimental  officers — ap 
pointing  all  the  officers  of  the  naval  forces,  and 
commissioning  all  officers  whatever  in  the  service 
of  the  United  States — making  rules  for  the  gov 
ernment  and  regulation  of  the  said  land  and  naval 
forces,  and  directing  their  operations. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall 
have  authority  to  appoint  a  committee  to  sit  in 
the  recess  of  Congress,  to  be  denominated  "  a 
committee  of  the  states,"  and  to  consist  of  one 
delegate  from  each  state ;  and  to  appoint  such 
other  committees  and  civil  officers  as  may  be  ne 
cessary  for  managing  the  general  affairs  of  the 
United  States,  under  their  direction — to  appoint 
one  of  their  number  to  preside,  provided  that  no 
person  be  allowed  to  serve  in  the  office  of  pres 
ident  more  than  one  year  in  any  term  of  three 
years — to  ascertain  the  necessary  sums  of  money 
to  be  raised  for  the  service  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  appropriate  and  apply  the  same  for  defray 
ing  the  public  expenses — to  borrow  money  or  emit 
bills  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  transmit 
ting  every  half-year  to  the  respective  states  an 
account  of  the  sums  of  money  so  borrowed  or 
emitted — to  build  and  equip  a  navy — to  agree 
upon  the  number  of  land  forces,  and  to  make  re 
quisitions  from  each  state  for  its  quota,  in  pro 
portion  to  the  number  of  white  inhabitants  in 
such  state  ;  which  requisition  shall  be  binding, 
and  thereupon  the  legislature  of  each  state  shall 
appoint  the  regimental  officers,  raise  the  men,  and 
clothe,  arm,  and  equip  them,  in  a  soldier-like 
manner,  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States  ;  and 
the  officers  and  men  so  clothed,  armed,  and  equip 
ped,  shall  march  to  the  place  appointed,  and 
within  the  time  agreed  on  by  tne  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled  :  but  if  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  shall,  on  consideration 
of  circumstances,  judge  proper  that  any  state 
should  not  raise  men  or  should  raise  a  smaller 


number  than  its  quota,  and  that  any  other  state 
should  raise  a  greater  number  of  men  than  the 
quota  thereof,  such  extra  number  shall  be  raised, 
officered,  clothed,  armed,  and  equipped,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  quota  of  such  state,  unless 
the  legislature  of  such  state  shall  judge  that  such 
extra  number  cannot  safely  be  spared  out  of  the 
same  ;  in  which  case  they  shall  raise,  officer, 
clothe,  arm,  and  equip,  as  many  of  such  extra 
number  as  they  judge  can  be  safely  spared.  And 
the  officers  and  men  so  clothed,  armed,  and  equip 
ped,  shall  march  to  the  place  appointed,  and  with 
in  the  time  agreed  on  by  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled. 

The  United  States  in  Congress  assembled  shall 
never  engage  in  a  war,  nor  grant  letters  of  marque 
and  reprisal  in  time  of  peace,  nor  enter  into  any 
treaties  or  alliances,  nor  coin  money,  nor  regulate 
the  value  thereof,  nor  ascertain  the  sums  and  ex 
penses  necessary  for  the  defence  and  welfare  of 
the  United  States  or  any  of  them,  nor  emit  bills, 
nor  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United 
States,  nor  appropriate  money,  nor  agree  upon 
the  number  of  vessels  of  war, to  be  built  or  pur 
chased,  or  the  number  of  land  or  sea  forces  to  be 
raised,  nor  appoint  a  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  or  navy,  unless  nine  states  assent  to  the 
same  ;  nor  shall  a  question  on  any  other  point, 
except  for  adjourning  from  day  to  day,  be  >deter- 
mined,  unless  by  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  shall  have 
power  to  adjourn  to  any  time  within  the  year,  and  to 
any  place  within  the  United  States,  so  that  no  pe 
riod  of  adjournment  be  for  a  longer  duration  than 
the  space  of  six  months  ;  and  shall  publish  the  jour 
nal  of  their  proceedings  monthly,  except  such  parts 
thereof  relating  to  treaties,  alliances,  or  military 
operations,  as  in  their  judgment  require  secrecy  : 
and  the  yeas  and  nays  of  the  delegates  of  each 
state  on  any  question  shall  be  entered  on  the 
journal,  when  it  is  desired  by  any  delegate  ;  and 
the  delegates  of  a  state  or  any  of  them,  at  hia 
or  their  request,  shall  be  furnished  with  a  tran 
script  of  the  said  journal,  except  such  parts  as 
are  above  excepted,  to  lay  before  the  legislatures 
of  the  several  states. 

ARTICLE  10.  The  committee  of  the  states,  or 
any  nine  of  them,  shall  be  authorized  to  execute, 
in  the  recess  of  Congress,  such  of  the  powers  of 
Congress  as  the  United  States  in  Congress  as 


Cn.  IV.] 


ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION. 


Bembled,  by  the  consent  of  nine  states,  shall  from 
time  to  time,  think  expedient  to  vest  them  with ; 
provided  that  no  power  be  delegated  to  the  said 
committee,  for  the  exercise  of  which,  by  the  Articles 
of  Confederation,  the  voice  of  nine  states  in  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States  assembled  is  requisite. 

ARTICLE  11.  Canada,  acceding  to  this  confeder 
ation,  and  joining  in  the  measures  of  the  United 
States,  shall  be  admitted  into,  and  entitled  to,  all 
the  advantages  of  this  Union;  but  no  other  colony 
shall  be  admitted  into  the  same  unless  such  ad 
mission  be  agreed  to  by  nine  states. 

ARTICLE  12.  All  bills  of  credit  emitted,  moneys 
borrowed,  and  debts  contracted,  by  or  under  the 
authority  of  Congress,  before  the  assembling  of 
the  United  States,  in  pursuance  of  the  present 
confederation,  shall  be  deemed  and  considered  as 
a  charge  against  the  United  States,  for  payment 
and  satisfaction  whereof  the  said  United  States 
and  the  public  faith  are  hereby  solemnly  pledged. 

ARTICLE  13.  Every  state  shall  abide  by  the 
decision  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  as 
sembled,  on  all  questions  which,  by  this  confed 
eration,  are  submitted  to  them.  And  the  ar 
ticles  of  this  confederation  shall  be  inviolably  ob 
served  by  every  state,  and  the  Union  shall  be 
perpetual ;  nor  shall  any  alteration  at  any  time 
hereafter  be  made  in  any  of  them,  unless  such  al 
teration  be  agreed  to  in  a  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  and  be  afterward  confirmed  by  the  legis 
lature  of  every  state. 

And  whereas  it  has  pleased  the  great  Governor 
of  the  world  to  incline  the  hearts  of  the  legisla 
tures  we  respectively  represent  in  Congress,  to 
approve  of  and  to  authorize  us  to  ratify  the  said 
Articles  of  Confederation  and  perpetual  Union  : 
know  ye,  that  we,  the  undersigned  delegates,  by  vir 
tue  of  the  power  and  authority  to  us  given  for  that 
purpose,  do>  by  .these  presents,  in  the  name  and 
in  behalf  of  our  respective  constituents,  fully  and 
entirely  ratify  and  confirm  each  and  every  of  the 
said  Articles  of  confederation  and  perpetual  Union, 
and  all  and  singular  the  matters  and  things  therein 
contained  ;  and  we  do  further  solemnly  plight  and 
engage  the  faith  of  our  respective  constituents,  that 
they  shall  abide  by  the  determinations  of  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  on  all  questions 
which,  by  the  said  confederation,  are  submitted  to 
them  ;  and  that  the  articles  thereof  shall  be  in 
violably  observed  by  the  states  we  respectively 
represent;  and  that  the  Union  be  perpetual. 


In  witness  whereof,  we  have  hereunto  set  our 
hands,  in  Congress.  Done  at  Philadelphia,  in  the 
state  of  Pennsylvania,  the  ninth  day  of  July,  ic 
the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hun 
dred  and  seventy-eight,  and  in  the  third  year  of 
the  independence  of  America. 

New  Hampshire.  "WILLIAM  CLINGAN, 

JOSIAH  BAETLETT,          JOSEPH  REED. 
JOHN  WENTWORTH,  JR. 

Delaware. 

Massachusetts  Bay.        THOMAS  M'KEAN, 
JOHiN  HANCOCK,    '  JOHN  DICKINSON, 

SAMUEL  ADAMS,  NICHOLAS  VAN  DYKE, 

ELBRIDGE  GERRY, 

FRANCIS  DANA,  Maryland. 

JAMES  LOVELL,  JOHN  HANSON, 

SAMUEL  HOLTEN.  DANIEL  CARROLL. 


Rhode  Island. 
WILLIAM  ELLERY, 
HENRY  MARCHANT, 
JOHN  COLLINS. 


Virginia. 

RICHARD  HENRY  LEE, 
JOHN  BANISTER, 
THOMAS  ADAMS, 
JOHN  HARVIE, 

Connecticut.  FRANCIS  LIGHTFOOT 

ROGER  SHERMAN,  LEE. 

SAMUEL  HUNTINGTON, 

OLIVER  WOLCOTT,  North  Carolina. 

TITUS  HOSMER,  JOHN  PENN, 

ANDREW  ADAM&  CONSTABLE  HARNETT, 

JOHN  WILLIAMS. 
New  York. 

JAMES  DUANE,  South  Carolina. 

FRANCIS  LEWIS,  HENRY  LAURENS, 

WILLIAM  DUER,  WILLIAM  HENRY  DRAY 

GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.      TON, 

JOHN  MATTHEWS, 
New  Jersey.  RICHARD  HUTSON, 

JOHN  WITHERSPOON,      THOMAS  HEYWARD,  JR. 

NATH.  SCUDDER. 

Georgia. 

Pennsylvania.  JOHN  WALTON, 

ROBERT  MORRIS,  EDWARD  TELFAIR, 

DANIEL  ROBERDEAU,     ED.  LANGWORTHY. 
JONATH.  BAYARD  SMITH. 


II.  BATTLE  OF  THE  KEGS. 

BY  FRANCIS  HOPKIXSON.* 

GALLANTS,  attend,  and  hear  a  friend, 

Trill  forth  harmonious  ditty, 
Strange  things  I'll  tell,  which  late  befell, 

In  Philadelphia  city. 

*  The  Messrs.  Duyckinck,  in  the  "  Cyolopadia  of  Antertoan 
Literature,"  (vol.  i.  p.  209)  giro  an  interesting  account  of  the  lift 
and  valuable  services  of  this  distinguished  man.  The  ballad  her* 
given  is  one  of  the  best  known  of  his  many  effective  eoitribuU»M 
in  behalf  of  his  country's  cause. 


540 


BATTLE  OF  VHE  KEGS. 


K.  III. 


Twas  early  day,  as  poets  say, 

Just  when  the  sun  was  rising, 
A.  soldier  stood,  on  a  log  of  wood, 

And  saw  a  thing  surprising. 

As  in  amaze  he  stood  to  gaze, 

The  truth  can't  be  denied,  sir, 
He  spied  a  score  of  kegs  or  more, 

Come  floating  down  the  tide,  sir. 

A  sailor,  too,  in  jerkin  blue, 

This  strange  appearance  viewing, 

First  damned  his  eyes,  in  great  surprise, 
Then  said,  "  Some  mischief's  brewing. 

"  These  kegs,  I'm  told,  the  rebels  hold, 
Packed  up  like  pickled  herring, 

And  they're  come  down,  t'  attack  the  town, 
In  this  new  way  of  ferrying." 

The  soldier  flew,  the  sailor  too, 
And  scared  almost  to  death,  sir, 

"Wore  out  their  shoes  to  spread  the  news, 
And  ran  till  out  of  breath,  sir. 

Now  up  and  down,  throughout  the  town 
Most  frantic  scenes  were  acted  ; 

And  some  ran  here,  and  others  there, 
Like  men  almost  distracted. 

Some  fire  cried,  which  some  denied, 
But  said  the  earth  had  quaked ; 

And  girls  and  boys,  with  hideous  noise, 
Ran  through  the  streets  half  naked. 

Sir  "William,  he,  snug  as  a  flea, 

Lay  all  this  time  a  snoring  ; 
Nor  dreamed  of  harm,  as  he  lay  warm, 

In  bed  with  Mrs.  Loring. 

Now  in  a  fright,  he  starts  upright, 

Awaked  by  such  a  clatter  ; 
He  rubs  his  eyes,  and  boldly  cries, 

"  For  God's  sake,  what's  the  matter  ?" 

At  his  bedside,  he  then  espied, 

Sir  Erskine  at  command,  sir, 
Upon  one  foot  he  had  one  boot, 

And  t'other  in  his  hand,  sir. 

w  Arise  I  arise  1  Sir  Erskine  cries, 
The  rebels — more's  the  pity — 


Without  a  boat,  are  all  afloat, 
And  rang'd  before  the  city. 

"  The  motley  crew,  in  vessels  new, 
With  Satan  for  their  guide,  sir, 

Pac  ked  up  in  bags,  or  wooden  kegs, 
Come  driving  down  the  tide,  sir. 

"  Therefore  prepare  for  bloody  war  j 
These  kegs  must  all  be  routed, 

Or  surely  we  despis'd  shall  be, 
And  British  courage  doubted." 

The  royal  band,  now  ready  standr 
All  ranged"  in  dread  array,  sir, 

With  stomachs  stout,  to  see  it  out, 
And  make  a  bloody  day,  sir. 

The  cannons  roar  from  shore  to  shore, 
The  small  arms  make  a  rattle  ; 

Since  wars  began,  Pm  sure  no  man 
Ere  saw  so  strange  a  battle. 

The  rebel  dales,  the  rebel  vales, 

With  rebel  trees  surrounded, 
The  distant  woods,  the  hills  and  floods; 

With  rebel  echoes  sounded. 

The  fish  below  swam  to  aed  fror 
Attack'd  from  every  quarter  ; 

Why  sure,  thought  they,  the  deviFs  to  pay 
'Mongst  folks  above  the  water. 

The  kegs,  'tis  said,  though  strongly  made 
Of  rebel  staves  and  hoops,  sir, 

Could  not  oppose  their  powerful  foes, 
The  conquering  British  troops,  sir. 

From  morn  till  night,  these  men  of  might 

Displayed  amazing  courage  ; 
And  when  the  sun  was  fairly  down, 

Retired  to  sup  their  porridge. 

An  hundred  men,  with  each  a  pen, 

Or  more,  upon  my  word,  sir, 
It  is  most  true  would  be  too  few, 

Their  valor  to  record,  sir. 

Such  feats  did  they  perform  that  day, 
Against  those  wicked  kegs,  sir, 

That  years  to  come,  if  they  get  home, 
They'll  make  their  boasts  and  brags,  sir. 


END     OF    VOL.     I. 


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